GOG
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 6 game stores by recommenders
Recommended for DRM-free games with offline installers you can download, back up and keep without a client, though critics cite strict curation, a smaller catalog and occasionally broken ownership promises.
Recommended for DRM-free games with offline installers you can download, back up and keep without a client, though critics cite strict curation, a smaller catalog and occasionally broken ownership promises.
299 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 250
- criticize it
- 49
- approval share
- 84%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 250 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Offline installers, no client required
“My favourite thing about GOG is that it uniquely does not demand that you install their software, instead letting you download installers straight from the website.”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Today's Layoffs” “Buy from GoG instead. It's better. At least you can download the install files and don't need to install any 3rd party software to login to play them.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?” “it uniquely does not demand that you install their software, instead letting you download installers straight from the website”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “Today's Layoffs” - Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client”
- Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Today's Layoffs”
- Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder: What it means for you”
- Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder: What it means for you”
- Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?”
- Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “Games Preservation Is Hard and Sometimes Involves Private Detectives”
- Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client”
DRM-free games
“GOG.com treats you well wrt cloud/privacy/etc. All games they sell are drm-free and can be downloaded, installed and played offline.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “What Are Your Guilty Displeasures?” “I love GOG, and prefer a DRM-free digital copy for PC that I can backup redundantly, as it is the most future-proof option”
Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation” “every game you purchase through their platform is DRM free and they go to a lot of effort to preserve retro titles”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation” - Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client”
- Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Steam Machine”
- Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “PS5 Jailbreaks Are Escalating at an Unprecedented Pace”
- Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Resetting Xbox”
Back up and truly own games
“With GOG you can download the games's installer, vy backing up those you can still install your games even if you get banned”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?” “I love GOG, and prefer a DRM-free digital copy for PC that I can backup redundantly, as it is the most future-proof option”
Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation” “all of my downloaded games and installers should be copyable to another PC relatively easily (so far this has worked 100%)”
Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future” - Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder: What it means for you”
- Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc”
- Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc”
- Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “It's not about physical vs. digital games, it's about ownership”
Retro games and preservation focus
“every game you purchase through their platform is DRM free and they go to a lot of effort to preserve retro titles”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation” “I am also happy to buy more old games from GOG than I ever have the time to play, so they already get my money.”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “GOG Patrons- Join gamers keeping classics alive” “GOG is saying a lot of the right things in terms of Game Preservation being a long term goal for them”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client” - Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “NY announces game ownership bill requiring ownership rather than licensing”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Strict curation turns developers away
“they are very selective: Unlike Steam or Itch, you have to convince them that it's worth their while to sell your game”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks” “I've seen multiple developers of games that I like, saying that they've given up on GOG because of the curation”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks” Ownership promises sometimes broken
“GOG still has the right to revoke your license, effectively making your "offline installer" no different”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder: What it means for you” “DRM-free ala GOG doesn't even allow used sales, as your game ownership is still tied to an account”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc” “there have been two games where the "it's your game, offline installer" promise was broken on Gog”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder: What it means for you” - Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future”
Smaller, niche catalog than Steam
“GoG is the alternative that proves the rule - it is smaller, but they have their niche offering.”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls” “there's also DRM free ones like GOG so PC gamers have choice, but those feel niche mostly”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Sony Deletes a Bunch More Movies from the Accounts of People Who 'Bought' Them”
Other game stores people recommend
The four most recommended other game stores, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam | 716 | 384 | 65% | 13 | 20 yrs45 owners | — |
| GOGThis page | 250 | 49 | 84% | 12 | — | Approved |
| itch.io | 39 | 2 | 95% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Epic Games Store | 37 | 155 | 19% | 12 | — | — |
| Humble Bundle | 20 | 6 | 77% | 11 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 377 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“GOG exists, & there's so many games in this world that it'll last me a lifetime to play all the ones that seem interesting to me”
“GOG might put forth their DRM-free versions of games as an example of how to successfully counter”
“GoG or Steam offer a lot of retro games these days, but the 4k upgrades sometimes come with a gameplay emulation downgrade”
“DRM-free ala GOG doesn't even allow used sales, as your game ownership is still tied to an account”
“you can burn games you bought from GOG on a cd and play it 10 years later without internet connection”
“That’s why I’ve been shifting over to GOG and making sure to back up my library in an organized fashion.”
“I also had a game on GOG that got delisted and had to get a refund because it got removed.”
“all of my downloaded games and installers should be copyable to another PC relatively easily (so far this has worked 100%)”
“there's also DRM free ones like GOG so PC gamers have choice, but those feel niche mostly”
“no microtransactions or DRM on a storefront where 100% of proceeds fed back into the same studio”
“If you buy games at GOG, you get entirely non-physical products, but you own and control those bits.”
“I've seen multiple developers of games that I like, saying that they've given up on GOG because of the curation”
“they are very selective: Unlike Steam or Itch, you have to convince them that it's worth their while to sell your game”
“every game you purchase through their platform is DRM free and they go to a lot of effort to preserve retro titles”
“they haven't released any movies for many years, and the product category isn't even visible if you don't already own a movie through them”
“I love GOG, and prefer a DRM-free digital copy for PC that I can backup redundantly, as it is the most future-proof option”
“Gog being alive and well and being in the perfect position to say "we told you all along that you shouldn't have to trust Steam"”
“They just released four games yesterday and looking at the news reel it seems they release a bunch of games every day.”
“it uniquely does not demand that you install their software, instead letting you download installers straight from the website”
“GoG is the alternative that proves the rule - it is smaller, but they have their niche offering.”
“The majority of games on Gog offer fully offline installers, where the copy you download is enough to run forever”
“My favourite thing about GOG is that it uniquely does not demand that you install their software, instead letting you download installers straight from the website.”
“GOG.com treats you well wrt cloud/privacy/etc. All games they sell are drm-free and can be downloaded, installed and played offline.”
“GOG is saying a lot of the right things in terms of Game Preservation being a long term goal for them”
“You can download the games directly from their website, install them, and run them without running any GOG software.”
“GoG is a DRM-free platform (for the most part) and I see it as the only positive competition Steam has.”
“if you buy Disco Elysium on GOG, download the "offline game installer" without using Galaxy”
“I've got a lot of Linux games from GOG and have never encountered any situation in which the Linux build stopped working”
“I am also happy to buy more old games from GOG than I ever have the time to play, so they already get my money.”
“GOG still has the right to revoke your license, effectively making your "offline installer" no different”
“as long as services like GOG let me re-download my library it frees up literally terabytes of space on my disk array”
“I think the only thing I've bought on GOG was the Yakuza 0-6 collection, the other hundred+ games were free.”
“Having those offline patches and installers is a freedom you just cannot match on Steam or any other platform”
“there have been two games where the "it's your game, offline installer" promise was broken on Gog”
“GOG is fine because after the transaction you can download the install media and they're out of the mix”
“there is at least an unofficial, supported way to get an offline installer for each of your games”
“With GOG you can download the games's installer, vy backing up those you can still install your games even if you get banned”
“Buy from GoG instead. It's better. At least you can download the install files and don't need to install any 3rd party software to login to play them.”
“GOG, Zoom Platform (not related to the Zoom telething) and itch.io, all of which are DRM-free stores”
“GoG does exactly what I want, let me download offline installers and store them away myself.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.