Genesis Alpha One, a roguelike FPS about building, maintaining, and navigating a ship through a galaxy that’s very eager to kill you, did not blow our doors off when it came out in 2019. It had some interesting ideas, we said in our 59% review (opens in new tab), but failed to pull them together in an interesting or compelling way. It’s been through a number of updates since then, and while I can’t say how much it’s improved, now would be a great time to find out because it’s free in GOG’s Hallo (opens in new tab)w (opens in new tab)een Sale (opens in new tab).
The underlying premise certainly sounds like fun, in the way that so many “fun” things in videogames would be absolutely horrific if you had to deal with them in real life: “In a near future ravaged by wars, corrupt regimes and devastating pollution, influential corporations have created the Genesis program in a last-ditch attempt to save humanity. As the Captain of a Genesis starship, you journey into uncharted space on the ultimate mission. Build and manage a space vessel, farm resources, deal with terrifying alien infestations, clone creatures and explore a vast, randomly generated universe.”
This is the deluxe edition (opens in new tab) of Genesis Alpha One, by the way, which along with the base game includes the art book, soundtrack, and Rocket Star Corporation DLC. And very generally, people seem to dig it: It’s got a 3.8/5 overall rating on GOG, and “mostly positive” user reviews on Steam—not universally beloved, but interesting enough to be worth a look, especially when it’s free.
The Genesis Alpha One freebie isn’t the only thing going on at GOG: There’s also the whole Halloween Sale itself, which has some pretty sweet deals including Cyberpunk 2077 (opens in new tab) at half price, Disco Elysium (opens in new tab) at 75% off, Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition (opens in new tab) at 60% off, and Prey Digital Deluxe (opens in new tab) for a tenner, which is a stupidly good deal.
My favorite part of GOG sales, though, is always the really cheap stuff, which in this case can be found in the Sweet Treats category, which has a minimum discount of 89%: Memoria (opens in new tab) for $2, Styx: Master of Shadows (opens in new tab) that’s also $2, Edna and Harvey: Harvey’s New Eyes (opens in new tab) for $2, Leisure Suit Larry in Wet Dreams Don’t Dry (opens in new tab) for $3, Ken Follet’s The Pillars of the Earth (opens in new tab) for $2, Candle (opens in new tab) for $1, and on it goes. GOG may be aiming to become a more mainstream digital storefront, but this is the kind of stuff that I come out for.
Genesis Alpha One is free on GOG until 10 am ET on October 30. GOG’s Halloween Sale is live until November 3.