From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

https://www.gog.com/redeem/WELCOMEGIFT from https://gg.deals/freebie/get-4-games-for-free-as-part-of-gogs-welcome-gift-promo/
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 10 Feb 2026 01:56:10 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) said
this thing:

https://www.gog.com/redeem/WELCOMEGIFT from https://gg.deals/freebie/get-4-games-for-free-as-part-of-gogs-welcome-gift-promo/

The four free games are:

- Ultima: Savage Empire (DOS-era CRPG)
- Ultima: Martian Dreams (DOS-era CRPG)
- Lure of the Temptress (DOS-era adventure)
- Betrayer (modern horror-FPS/adventure)

Alas, I can't take advantage of the offer as I (qué sorpresa!) already
have the games in my GOG library. But while I'm all for more people
having Ultima games in their collection, the offer is not quite as
generous as it first looks, as I'm pretty sure that several of those
games are permanent freebies on GOG anyway.

Then again... I /could/ use this as another opportunity to start
rambling about the Ultima games. Wait, why are you all pulling out
shotguns? ;-)




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Verily, in article <10me37q$39b75$2@dont-email.me>, did
ant@zimage.comANT deliver unto us this message:

https://www.gog.com/redeem/WELCOMEGIFT from https://gg.deals/freebie/get-4-games-for-free-as-part-of-gogs-welcome-gift-promo/

Are they any good? I got some free games when I first signed up with
GOG, but I didn't enjoy any of them. Evil Genius wasn't completely
hopeless, but it mostly just made me want to play Dungeon Keeper for a
similar yet better experience.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

https://www.gog.com/redeem/WELCOMEGIFT from >https://gg.deals/freebie/get-4-games-for-free-as-part-of-gogs-welcome-gift-promo/

Got it, thx Ant

rms

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 10 Feb 2026 01:56:10 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant)
wrote:

https://www.gog.com/redeem/WELCOMEGIFT from https://gg.deals/freebie/get-4-games-for-free-as-part-of-gogs-welcome-gift-promo/

I am not sure if I already had these games but I wanted three out of
the four of them anyway in my GOG library so I just took the bundle to
make sure.

Thank you Ant.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 2/10/2026 8:13 AM, The True Melissa wrote:

Verily, in article <10me37q$39b75$2@dont-email.me>, did
ant@zimage.comANT deliver unto us this message:

https://www.gog.com/redeem/WELCOMEGIFT from https://gg.deals/freebie/get-4-games-for-free-as-part-of-gogs-welcome-gift-promo/

Are they any good? I got some free games when I first signed up with
GOG, but I didn't enjoy any of them. Evil Genius wasn't completely
hopeless, but it mostly just made me want to play Dungeon Keeper for a similar yet better experience.

They are Ultima games or spin-offs of Ultima. EARLY Ultima.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:41:27 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> said this thing:

Verily, in article <10me37q$39b75$2@dont-email.me>, did
ant@zimage.comANT deliver unto us this message:

https://www.gog.com/redeem/WELCOMEGIFT from https://gg.deals/freebie/get-4-games-for-free-as-part-of-gogs-welcome-gift-promo/

They are Ultima games or spin-offs of Ultima. EARLY Ultima.

Not /that/ early. "Savage Empire" released in 1990; "Martian Dreams"
the year later. They re-used the engine from "Ultima VI". The last of
the single-player Ultimas ("Ultima IX: Ascension" released in 1999).
These two spin-offs were very much middle-era Ultima.

They are old, though. I'd accept them as being early CRPGs. Just not
early Ultimas. ;-)


They weren't bad games, either... especially for their era. The two
games were, very obviously, spin-offs and as such didn't have quite
the depth or care put into them as the mainline games. The worlds were
smaller, the plot more repetitive (especially "Savage Empire") and
there was just a bit less polish put into the project. They at times
felt almost experimental; not only in their settings ("Savage Empire"
used a pulp-adventure lost-world, "Martian Dreams" sent you to a
steam-punk Mars 'as envisioned by scifi authors of the 1880s' world).
These were a far cry from the usual generic fantasy-medieval setting
of the main games. The two games, arguably, weren't as enjoyable but
they had a sense of fun to them that the more serious numbered games
lacked.

Are they worth playing today? It depends on how much you enjoy classic
CRPG mechanics. The biggest sin against the game is its engine; the
"Ultima 6" engine -which is used by both "Savage Empire" and "Martian
Dreams"-- was /graphically/ a huge step up over the previous titles in
the franchise, but its interface is extremely clunky, and its tiny
view-window makes everything feel a bit cramped. Fortunately, there is
a solution to this problem: NUVIe, a fan-made project that plays
"Ultima 6", "Martian Dreams" and "Savage Empire". It improves the
mouse control and makes everything full-screen. (available here: https://github.com/nuvie ). It makes playing the games much more
bearable.




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