Game News Alpha Protocol gets an enhanced rerelease on GOG after five years in licensing hell

[Roguey]

How low are GOG sales if this is one of their best sellers? Either it's currated or GOG's audience never buys stuff on Steam.

It's been 5 years, a number of zoomers have come of age and want to see what the buzz is about.

 

[NwNgger]

Tags: Alpha Protocol; Obsidian Entertainment; Sega

https://af.gog.com/en/news/alpha_pr...o_on_the_process_of_its_revival?as=1649904300

​

​

When we started our journey 15 years ago, one of our most important goals was to do our best to preserve games and make them last forever. Allowing video games history, once-loved gems, to be lost in time, is something we cannot just stand and watch – we fight, for current and future generations to be able to enjoy games; all games, not just the newest, popular releases. Today, we stand proudly by our mission, and we’re extremely happy to announce the re-release of a cherished classic that, thanks to our efforts, has been successfully archived in the GOG catalog, to enjoy anew.​

​

Alpha Protocol is back – better than ever, with a -10% launch discount until April 3rd, 2 PM UTC!​

​

That’s right, this Alpha Protocol, the Espionage RPG, is making a grand return 14 years after its initial premiere. With conjoined forces of GOG, Obsidian Entertainment and SEGA, we’ve made sure to make it better than ever; compatible with modern PCs, with licensed soundtrack and performance improvements that are sure to make this timeless classic, yet again, your favorite spy story.​

​

But that’s not all we have up our sleeves, of course! For this incredibly special occasion, we’ve prepared a one-of-a-kind documentary video, where the process of bringing back Alpha Protocol is extensively explained – including interviews with its creators, as well as our own team members. You can watch it below!​

​

Good, old adventures of agent Michael Thorton come back with:​

​

Licensed soundtrack;​

Achievements support;​

Full controller support (Dualsense, DualShock 4, Nintendo Switch Pro, Xbox Series or Xbox One controller);​

Localization support;​

Compatibility with modern operating systems;​

Cloud saves support.​

​

Now, buckle up, and jump right into this timeless gem – now preserved forever!​

https://af.gog.com/game/alpha_protocol?as=1649904300

I don't see the big deal here beyond the game being available for purchase again. That's nice. Alpha Protocol is not a hard game to run on modern operating systems like Gog are claiming. All the other fixes are something you could do in 5 minutes by copy and pasting ini tweaks from PCGamingWiki. It's not hard at all and not worth $20 for buying the same game all over again.

 

[Sinder Velvin]

If you've ever enjoyed a 3rd person cover shooter from the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 era and can remember to actually put some skill points into the weapons you want to use, Alpha Protocol plays fine, and — between the stealth and the gadgets and the special abilities you get — actually has more going on combat-wise than comparable games. It doesn't have great gameplay, but anyone calling it atrocious is probably approaching it from the perspective of not liking the genre itself.

Then, of course, there's the dialogue, which lets you befriend or antagonize almost every named character you come across and provides one of the finest examples of choices and consequences in games. Sure, some of the characters and the plot twists are a bit silly, but they follow spy film logic instead of going for realism, which allows for a lot of humor too.

When I first tried playing the game, the starting area put me off because of how clumsy your character is initially, but I tried it again later on and had a lot of fun playing it to completion.

 

[Morgoth]

I tried the GOG version and it is indistinguishable from the Steam version, other than new gamepad support. The "modern OS compatibility" stuff is probably just the updated PhysX Software so that it runs on Win11. You still have to do all the APEngine.ini changes to smooth everything out. Not worth it if you already own it on Steam.

 

[NwNgger]

I tried the GOG version and it is indistinguishable from the Steam version, other than new gamepad support. The "modern OS compatibility" stuff is probably just the updated PhysX Software so that it runs on Win11. You still have to do all the APEngine.ini changes to smooth everything out. Not worth it if you already own it on Steam.

So this is what took "A year and a half" to fix? What disingenuous cunts. There's no need for the lie there. Just having Alpha Protocol on Gog to purchase was good enough. Bundle the ini tweaks so you don't have to do them and that's all that was needed. But they didn't even do that lol.

 

[SpaceWizardz]

So this is what took "A year and a half" to fix? What disingenuous cunts. There's no need for the lie there.

Most of that time was undoubtedly trying to convince SEGA not to let the IP collect dust in their vault.

 

[Infinitron]

If you watch the video, GOG actually had the game's source code. So while they may not have changed much, it's not just an ini tweak or whatever.

I think the achievements they added (which are nice to have in this sort of C&C-heavy game) are based on the game's Xbox version.

 

[Maxie]

I like turtles

 

[ZACKIE]

No console port?

 

[Maxie]

I like turtles

Infinitron did you edit this

 

[Jvegi]

No console port?

Hey, that avatar is off limits.

I'm going to hold off with obtaining the game since it is possible gog will release additional patches in the future.

 

[Azdul]

How low are GOG sales if this is one of their best sellers? Either it's currated or GOG's audience never buys stuff on Steam.

You don't want to buy decade old Windows games on Steam.

While trying to run it on modern PC - outdated DRM is one less hassle to worry about. Alpha Protocol is the best proof for that - one fine day its fancy copy protection just stopped working - and Ubisoft just couldn't be bothered to fix it.

Sure - sometimes when the game is released on GOG first - publisher sells exactly the same version on Steam later on. But it is far from guaranteed.

 

[3 others]

How low are GOG sales if this is one of their best sellers? Either it's currated or GOG's audience never buys stuff on Steam.

I've been wondering for ages if GOG puts their thumb on the scale a bit in the bestseller charts. SWAT 4 (as great a game it is) is hovering near the top10 year after year, and I have a hard time believing it just keeps finding new sales all the time.

If the staff must have a hard-on for a game, SWAT 4 is certainly among the best candidates for that, but still...

 

[Zeriel]

I dont think anyone playing AP and wishing for a remaster to fix its issues ever spared a single thought about any of this.
So fear its just a minimal effort remake for maximum gain to please investors with a low risk high yield investment, meh.

That's a good thing. You know they'd fuck it up if they tried.

I don't see how it's a good thing. If you wanted to just experience the game as it was, you could already pirate it.

 

[Zeriel]

Tags: Alpha Protocol; Obsidian Entertainment; Sega

https://af.gog.com/en/news/alpha_pr...o_on_the_process_of_its_revival?as=1649904300

​

​

When we started our journey 15 years ago, one of our most important goals was to do our best to preserve games and make them last forever. Allowing video games history, once-loved gems, to be lost in time, is something we cannot just stand and watch – we fight, for current and future generations to be able to enjoy games; all games, not just the newest, popular releases. Today, we stand proudly by our mission, and we’re extremely happy to announce the re-release of a cherished classic that, thanks to our efforts, has been successfully archived in the GOG catalog, to enjoy anew.​

​

Alpha Protocol is back – better than ever, with a -10% launch discount until April 3rd, 2 PM UTC!​

​

That’s right, this Alpha Protocol, the Espionage RPG, is making a grand return 14 years after its initial premiere. With conjoined forces of GOG, Obsidian Entertainment and SEGA, we’ve made sure to make it better than ever; compatible with modern PCs, with licensed soundtrack and performance improvements that are sure to make this timeless classic, yet again, your favorite spy story.​

​

But that’s not all we have up our sleeves, of course! For this incredibly special occasion, we’ve prepared a one-of-a-kind documentary video, where the process of bringing back Alpha Protocol is extensively explained – including interviews with its creators, as well as our own team members. You can watch it below!​

​

Good, old adventures of agent Michael Thorton come back with:​

​

Licensed soundtrack;​

Achievements support;​

Full controller support (Dualsense, DualShock 4, Nintendo Switch Pro, Xbox Series or Xbox One controller);​

Localization support;​

Compatibility with modern operating systems;​

Cloud saves support.​

​

Now, buckle up, and jump right into this timeless gem – now preserved forever!​

https://af.gog.com/game/alpha_protocol?as=1649904300

I don't see the big deal here beyond the game being available for purchase again. That's nice. Alpha Protocol is not a hard game to run on modern operating systems like Gog are claiming. All the other fixes are something you could do in 5 minutes by copy and pasting ini tweaks from PCGamingWiki. It's not hard at all and not worth $20 for buying the same game all over again.

GoG does this a lot now that the low-lying fruit of actually good old games that needed a DosBox shell are all depleted. Just cashing in desperately on whatever game they can put in the minimum amount of effort to toss out a desktop shortcut, a config file, and whatever dumb-ass extras no one cares about. (Like achievements. Fucking lol, remember when Codex made fun of achievements existing at all?)

 

[Hell Swarm]

How low are GOG sales if this is one of their best sellers? Either it's currated or GOG's audience never buys stuff on Steam.

You don't want to buy decade old Windows games on Steam.

While trying to run it on modern PC - outdated DRM is one less hassle to worry about. Alpha Protocol is the best proof for that - one fine day its fancy copy protection just stopped working - and Ubisoft just couldn't be bothered to fix it.

Sure - sometimes when the game is released on GOG first - publisher sells exactly the same version on Steam later on. But it is far from guaranteed.

There's plenty of issues with games on GOG as well. Steam is usually much cheaper and games this old are so cheap as to be disposable so I'm not too concerned if the official version broke. Always back ups if you want to find them.

How low are GOG sales if this is one of their best sellers? Either it's currated or GOG's audience never buys stuff on Steam.

I've been wondering for ages if GOG puts their thumb on the scale a bit in the bestseller charts. SWAT 4 (as great a game it is) is hovering near the top10 year after year, and I have a hard time believing it just keeps finding new sales all the time.

If the staff must have a hard-on for a game, SWAT 4 is certainly among the best candidates for that, but still...

Pretty much all lists on store fronts and social media are faked. Either they're waited so some sales mean more than others or they're straight up lies. SWAT 4 at least has coop and the potential for group buys doesn't it?

 

[Roguey]

GoG does this a lot now that the low-lying fruit of actually good old games that needed a DosBox shell are all depleted. Just cashing in desperately on whatever game they can put in the minimum amount of effort to toss out a desktop shortcut, a config file, and whatever dumb-ass extras no one cares about. (Like achievements. Fucking lol, remember when Codex made fun of achievements existing at all?)

In the video they said it took them 18 months to make this deal happen. It's definitely Obsidian fanboyism above all else.

 

[Azdul]

How low are GOG sales if this is one of their best sellers? Either it's currated or GOG's audience never buys stuff on Steam.

You don't want to buy decade old Windows games on Steam.

While trying to run it on modern PC - outdated DRM is one less hassle to worry about. Alpha Protocol is the best proof for that - one fine day its fancy copy protection just stopped working - and Ubisoft just couldn't be bothered to fix it.

Sure - sometimes when the game is released on GOG first - publisher sells exactly the same version on Steam later on. But it is far from guaranteed.

There's plenty of issues with games on GOG as well. Steam is usually much cheaper and games this old are so cheap as to be disposable so I'm not too concerned if the official version broke. Always back ups if you want to find them.

Sure - there are also issues with GOG games.

If the game won't start on 64-bit Windows or Windows 10/11 - Valve will give you refund. But they don't feel responsible for checking if the game they sell even runs and most definitely not for fixing it - and for wasting your time.

GOG at least try to run the game on modern hardware and OS. Even if the game does not run great - it can be finished on default settings.

If the game is new and actively supported by developer or publisher - It's less of an issue. But for older games Valve hands-off approach doesn't work.

 

[Hell Swarm]

If the game won't start on 64-bit Windows or Windows 10/11 - Valve will give you refund. But they don't feel responsible for checking if the game they sell even runs and most definitely not for fixing it - and for wasting your time.

GOG at least try to run the game on modern hardware and OS. Even if the game does not run great - it can be finished on default settings.

If the game is new and actively supported by developer or publisher - It's less of an issue. But for older games Valve hands-off approach doesn't work.

I know this comes off as a bit 'Works on my machine' but Valve do an incredible job of making older games run on modern Operating systems. There are loads of games I know won't run on Windows 10 but work perfectly on the Steam deck. I've had issues with even new games on my desktop while they ran great on the deck. Setting up GOG games on the deck is also viable but Valve do support a lot of older titles through Proton.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

I thought Alpha Protocal was very flawed and don't know if I will play it again but I bought this because it's cool seeing lost games come back with a little love.

 

[Azdul]

If the game won't start on 64-bit Windows or Windows 10/11 - Valve will give you refund. But they don't feel responsible for checking if the game they sell even runs and most definitely not for fixing it - and for wasting your time.

GOG at least try to run the game on modern hardware and OS. Even if the game does not run great - it can be finished on default settings.

If the game is new and actively supported by developer or publisher - It's less of an issue. But for older games Valve hands-off approach doesn't work.

I know this comes off as a bit 'Works on my machine' but Valve do an incredible job of making older games run on modern Operating systems. There are loads of games I know won't run on Windows 10 but work perfectly on the Steam deck. I've had issues with even new games on my desktop while they ran great on the deck. Setting up GOG games on the deck is also viable but Valve do support a lot of older titles through Proton.

Games that are compatible with 95/98/2000/XP would run on Linux through Wine much better than on modern Windows ...

... except Wine developers do not like implementing compatibility for invasive copy protections - for ideological and practical reasons. So for many years cracked copy would run on Linux - while legit one would not.

Proton is just a fork of older version of Wine - and I can believe that it is well supported on Valve hardware - and that buying Steam games for Steam Deck makes sense.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Games that are compatible with 95/98/2000/XP would run on Linux through Wine much better than on modern Windows ...

This is something we were talking about in the shoutbox last night. Why is it that with Windows, you have games like Star Fleet Command Gold which can run on Windows 7 but not Windows 10 or 11, and other games that can run on Windows 10 and 11, but not on Windows 7 - when you can run both of them with Proton under Linux?

So for many years cracked copy would run on Linux - while legit one would not.

I don't pirate games, but I will snag a cracked version of a game I own so I don't have to deal with the copy protection particularly on older DOS games which had the "refer to the manual" schemes and "spin the wheel" schemes. Since I do a lot of DOS emulation using a 3DS, I really don't want to carry around copies of the manuals or look up the PDFs on my phone. The big problem with copy protection for decades is that it tarnishes the experience. The people who end up suffering from these copy protection schemes are the people who actually paid for your product.

I'm also running Linux on my NUC for a variety of reasons, one of which is the compatibility issues mentioned above. So, basically, the choices there are to get games are primarily from GOG or Steam with checking the Proton compatibility list since, as you mentioned, copy protection can seriously screw with Proton. Or.. I can find a cracked version of the game.

 

[luj1]

Heard a lot about this game but I just dont see it

Seems like nothing special tbh and dialogue is kinda similar to FNV

I am just very skeptical about anything made by Obsidian after SWKotOR 2...

 

[Azdul]

Games that are compatible with 95/98/2000/XP would run on Linux through Wine much better than on modern Windows ...

This is something we were talking about in the shoutbox last night. Why is it that with Windows, you have games like Star Fleet Command Gold which can run on Windows 7 but not Windows 10 or 11, and other games that can run on Windows 10 and 11, but not on Windows 7 - when you can run both of them with Proton under Linux?

I've analyzed few cases of old game not working on new Windows - and it was never Microsoft's fault.

Certain revered RPG was insisting on setting window size to 0x0. Older Windows system was just ignoring such function call. Newer Windows will just kill the process. WINE was trying to render the game as the desktop background - but after switching renderer to OpenGL the game behaved as expected.

Another well known RPG is using rarely used DirectX "mirror" flag. Drivers get certified by Microsoft only if they work correctly on newest DirectX - and can do whatever when called through older API. So at least two vendors completely ignore old (DirectX7) "mirror" flag - because their goal is to get fastest performance and be certified on newest DirectX.

WINE / Proton gracefully handles nonsensical input - assuming that it is some unimplemented Windows feature. It's not their job to be a development platform for Windows applications - so whatever weird thing software tries to do is just written to logs as a warning - and the process is allowed to continue.

 

[Sinder Velvin]

Certain revered RPG was insisting on setting window size to 0x0.

Another well known RPG is using rarely used DirectX "mirror" flag.

Will you tell us their names?