GOG Launches Revolution Software Sale, Discounting Classic Point-and-Click Adventures

Digital storefront GOG has launched a new publisher sale focused on the catalog of Revolution Software, the British studio responsible for some of the 1990s' most enduring point-and-click adventure games. According to a post on Bluesky, the sale covers the developer's library of narrative-driven titles, with the storefront urging users to ensure these games "join your library and stay there forever."

For those who spent the mid-90s trying to combine a dirty tissue with a stick of gum to solve a puzzle, the name Revolution Software likely triggers a very specific kind of nostalgia. While LucasArts often dominates the conversation regarding the golden age of adventure games, Revolution carved out a distinct niche with a slightly more grounded, cinematic approach to the genre.

The British Adventure Legacy

Founded in 1990 by Charles Cecil, Revolution Software entered the market with Lure of the Temptress in 1992. This debut title was significant for introducing the Virtual Theatre engine. Unlike the static NPCs of Sierra or LucasArts games, who generally stood in one spot waiting for the protagonist to interact with them, Virtual Theatre allowed non-player characters to wander around the game world independently, executing their own looping scripts.

From a technical standpoint, this was impressive for 1992. From a gameplay standpoint, it occasionally meant standing in a virtual blacksmith's shop for five minutes waiting for the owner to walk back into the room so you could hand him a quest item. It was ambitious, messy, and undeniably innovative.

Broken Sword and the Templar Obsession

The centerpiece of any Revolution Software sale is inevitably the Broken Sword series. The first entry, The Shadow of the Templars (released as Circle of Blood in the US), launched in 1996. This was a precarious time for the genre, as the industry was collectively losing its mind over the transition to 3D polygons. Revolution stuck to high-resolution 2D hand-drawn backgrounds and sprite animation, a decision that has allowed the game to age significantly better than many of its 3D contemporaries.

The game follows American tourist George Stobbart and French journalist Nicole Collard as they unravel a conspiracy involving the Knights Templar. It predated the Da Vinci Code craze by several years, offering a mix of historical fiction and dry humor that became the studio's trademark. It is also famous for the "Goat Puzzle," a sequence in Ireland so notoriously obtuse that it has its own Wikipedia entry. If you buy the game during this sale, you have been warned: the goat is not your friend.

Cyberpunk Roots

Also likely included in the promotion is 1994's Beneath a Steel Sky, a cyberpunk adventure that stands as one of the genre's high-water marks. The game was a collaboration between Charles Cecil and comic book artist Dave Gibbons, best known for co-creating Watchmen. Gibbons' art style gave the game a distinct visual identity that separated it from the pixel art norms of the day.

The game uses the same Virtual Theatre engine as Lure of the Temptress but refined the mechanics significantly. It tells the story of Robert Foster and his sentient robot companion, Joey, navigating a dystopian city dominated by a central computer system. The banter between Foster and the sarcasm-module-equipped Joey remains some of the best writing in adventure game history.

Preservation and DRM

GOG's emphasis on the games staying in a library "forever" highlights the platform's standard DRM-free policy. For retro enthusiasts, this is a practical consideration. Getting 30-year-old DOS executables to run on Windows 11 is a headache usually solved by ScummVM, a utility that GOG wrappers typically employ automatically. Buying these titles digitally ensures access to versions that have been patched to function on modern hardware without requiring original CD-ROMs or manual configuration of DOSBox cycles.

While Revolution Software is still active and released a sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky in 2020, this sale is a good opportunity to revisit the foundational texts of the European adventure game canon. Just remember to keep a walkthrough handy for that goat.