The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director’s Cut is now free to play via GOG Galaxy

In light of yesterday’s news that The Witcher is getting a remake, in which it’s being built from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5, the original title is now free forever on GOG Galaxy.

The Witcher is a whopping 13 years old, and definitely more deserving of a remake than some other titles getting them lately (looking at you, Horizon Forbidden West). This is also not the first time that the game is free, but this time, it will be free forever.

If you haven’t played the game yet, or just feel like revisiting it before more news about the remake breaks, here’s your chance to do so without spending a dime. Regardless, though, fans on the GOG forums aren’t happy about this.

A free game? How can people be upset? Well, the theme is GOG Galaxy. Rather than being one of the many other games you can simply purchase and install through the GOG website, you actually need to install GOG’s Galaxy client to install The Witcher. This, to many, is seen as “another example of GOG aggressively pressuring people to install their shoddy, non-portable, proprietary ‘optional’ spyware DRM client.”

That said, some users noted that complaining about GOG Galaxy is “dumb” in their opinion, and that people should just be happy that they can get the game for free. Another user also pointed out that while the Galaxy client is required to add the game to your account, you can uninstall Galaxy and install The Witcher however you like.

That said, if you want to install The Witcher, you’ll need to install and open the GOG Galaxy client. You will then find The Witcher sat in ‘discover’ where you can claim it. From here, go to your game library and install it. Or you can uninstall GOG Galaxy and claim it from the website, the choice is yours!

What do you think of the GOG Galaxy debate? And on that note, will you be picking up The Witcher, or are you one of the many who already have it from the other times it was made free or put up for sale?