One of Steam’s fastest-growing competitors is coming of age today.
GOG Galaxy, the software client for the GOG PC gaming service, is finally launching out of beta. While players have had the opportunity to download and use GOG Galaxy to install and manage the games they buy through GOG since 2014, this update takes the service into its full-release form while bringing important features to players who use it. The biggest new tool is universal cloud saves, but GOG has also worked to improve the overall user experience by introducing a plethora of requested additions. Version 1.2 is rolling out now to anyone who opts into beta testing in the client settings. It will launch for everyone soon.
With GOG Galaxy’s latest update, players can have cloud saves in any game in their library. This is a feature that enables you to play a game on your laptop or another PC and then continue from where you left off on another computer. With universal cloud saves, however, players can use this feature with games that were never meant to work with the feature.
“Thanks to [universal cloud saves], excellent games like Planescape: Torment, Heroes of Might & Magic III, or Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines gain the benefits of saves syncing and cloud backup for the first time ever,” reads a GOG blog (a glog?). “Of course, if you prefer to keep your precious saves close at hand, GOG Galaxy also lets you download a backup of your saves data at any time and use it as you see fit.”
Other new features include a hibernate mode that will limit the impact that GOG Galaxy has on your CPU during gameplay. This is also a crucial feature for road warriors who play games while running their laptop on battery power. GOG Galaxy can now also limit bandwidth, gauge your FPS, take screenshots, provide in-game controls with an overlay, and explain the rarity of achievements. GOG also updated its chat system.
Finally, you can customize by GOG Galaxy by turning off features you don’t want or use. This enables you to customize the client to your specific needs. So if you just need a Witcher III launcher, you can pare it down to close to just that. But if you want a complete replacement for Steam, you can have all of those features as well.