GOG has made a 2018 PC game, a sci-fi adventure game, free for all its users. Normally, as it does on Steam right now, the PC game costs $20, but until September 9 at 8:30 ET, the PC game in question is free to add to your GOG library. Once added, it’s a permanent addition, but it has to be redeemed within this window. This is notably the first time the PC game has ever been given away for free on GOG, and it doesn’t support the Steam Deck, so you lose nothing by having it on GOG as opposed to Steam.
Back in 2018, German studio Daedalic Entertainment released a sci-fi game that we notably awarded a 4/5 in our official review of it, 8 years ago. This game is State of Mind. State of Mind is a standalone experience with no sequel, predecessor, or DLC. At release, it earned a 69 on Metacritic, which isn’t great, but an undersell of the sci-fi game, according to our official review of it. And it appears PC gamers agree, because on Steam, after 1,547 user reviews, it has a 78% approval rating. Meanwhile, on GOG, it has a 3.8 out of 5 after 66 user reviews.
For those unfamiliar with State of Mind, it’s a narrative-driven adventure game set in 2048 Berlin, where the world is on the brink due to a lack of resources, a rising rate of illness due to rampant pollution, endless wars, and crime everywhere. In the backdrop of this, technological progress has disrupted society. Surveillance has ushered in a nanny state; drones and humanoid robots have replaced humans in the public sector,
Berlin, 2048 – The world is on the brink. Lack of resources, illnesses caused by polluted air and water, crime on the rise, war. Governments and companies promise remedies through technological progress. Drones and humanoid robots replace humans in the public sector; everything is interconnected; surveillance has become omnipresent, and a super AI looms.
In this world, you play as Richard Nolan, a journalist who has been critical of this technological development and finds himself in the hospital at the start of the game, with his wife and son mysteriously missing. It quickly becomes apparently Nolan finds himself in the middle of a massive conspiracy involving the fate of humanity.
Does the game hold up in 2026? For the most part. The sci-fi dystopian tropes it explores are more played out now than they were back then, but otherwise it’s still an interesting sci-fi adventure. Meanwhile, if this free download doesn’t tickle your fancy, GOG did add a free game to its storefront last month, which happens to be a classic PC game from 2008.
