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GOG and Steam Re-Releases

Last updated: May 11, 2026

Overview

The legal commercial path to playing Sierra adventure games on modern systems runs primarily through two digital storefronts: GOG.com (DRM-free) and Steam. GOG carries the majority of the Sierra adventure catalogue with pre-packaged DOSBox or ScummVM configurations; Steam carries a smaller subset plus most post-2014 re-releases.12

This page is a snapshot of legal availability as of May 2026. The picture changes as Activision Blizzard (now Microsoft Gaming, since the October 2023 close) periodically adjusts back-catalogue licensing — see Corporate Lineage for the IP-rights context.

Verification protocol: Never trust a GOG link in a citation without first checking the title is actually available — Brave/Google search site:gog.com "Game Title" is the recommended verification step.3

GOG.com Sierra catalogue

GOG carries roughly 40 distinct Sierra-published titles as of May 2026, mostly bundled into thematic collections. The packages typically ship with DOSBox preconfigured for AGI titles, ScummVM for SCI-engine titles, and native Windows binaries for SCI32 and later. Each title has been patched for compatibility with modern Windows 10/11, macOS, and Linux through GOG’s compatibility-shim layer.4

Adventure flagship series on GOG

SeriesGOG bundleCoverage
King’s QuestKing’s Quest 1+2+3 · King’s Quest 4+5+6 · King’s Quest 7+8 · King’s Quest (2015)KQ1-8 plus the 2015 reboot
Space QuestSpace Quest 1+2+3 · Space Quest 4+5+6SQ1-6
Police QuestPolice Quest CollectionPQ1-4
Leisure Suit LarryLeisure Suit Larry Collection · LSL: Reloaded · LSL: Wet DreamsLSL1-7 + Reloaded + post-Sierra entries
Quest for GloryQuest for Glory CollectionQFG1-5
Gabriel KnightGabriel Knight 1+2+3 · GK1: 20th AnniversaryGK1-3 + GK1 anniversary remake
Laura BowRoberta Williams Anthology (includes Colonel’s Bequest + Dagger of Amon Ra)Both Laura Bow games
PhantasmagoriaPhantasmagoria CollectionPhantasmagoria 1 + 2
ShiversShivers CollectionShivers 1 + 2

Other Sierra titles on GOG

What’s NOT on GOG

  • Most acquired-studio non-flagship titles — Many smaller Sierra-published games (Stunt Flyer, A.G.E., Bargon Attack, etc.) are not available from any official storefront.
  • Most Hoyle entries — The franchise’s licensing situation makes the back-catalogue scarce digitally.
  • Most 3D Ultra entries — The Lionel TrainTown and Radio Control Racers titles are particularly hard to find.
  • Coktel pre-Gobliiins titles — 20,000 Leagues, Asterix, Geisha, Cougar Force, etc.
  • Some Phoenix/AGDI fan remakes — Available via the developers’ own sites, not GOG.

For these titles, the legal preservation path runs through ScummVM + original game data (if the user owns physical copies) or, for genuinely abandoned titles, archive.org / MyAbandonware preservation copies.5

Steam Sierra catalogue

Steam’s Sierra coverage overlaps GOG’s but is smaller. Steam carries:

Adventure flagship series on Steam

  • King’s Quest (2015) — The Odd Gentlemen episodic remake; the only KQ entry on Steam.6
  • Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded (Replay Games HD remake of LSL1)
  • Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry / Wet Dreams Dry Twice (Assemble Entertainment, post-Sierra)
  • Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition (Pinkerton Road remake)
  • Phantasmagoria 1 and 2 (re-release)
  • Quest for Infamy (spiritual successor, post-Sierra)
  • Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption (Coles)
  • Gobliiins 4, Gobliiins 5, Gobliins 6 (Pierre Gilhodes independent continuations)
  • Mage’s Initiation: Reign of the Elements (spiritual successor, Phoenix Online)
  • Homeworld Remastered Collection and Homeworld 3 (Gearbox)
  • Pharaoh: A New Era (Triskell/Dotemu 2023 remake)

Other Sierra-adjacent Steam titles

  • Impressions city-builders: Caesar III, Pharaoh + Cleopatra, Zeus + Poseidon, Emperor
  • Half-Life and expansion packs (Valve owns and re-releases these)
  • Various Activision-revived Sierra-label digital titles (King’s Quest 2015 chapters)

Notable Steam-exclusive vs. GOG

Most modern alumni-spiritual-successor releases (Hero-U, SpaceVenture, the Pierre Gilhodes Gobliiins continuations, Pharaoh: A New Era) appear on Steam first or simultaneously with GOG. Replay Games’ Leisure Suit Larry re-releases are typically Steam-and-GOG dual-released.

Modern remakes and re-releases by license category

Official licensed re-releases (post-1999)

Fan / spiritual-successor releases on commercial storefronts

Some fan-remake projects of Sierra titles are available commercially:

Fan-game policy: AGDI, Infamous Adventures, and similar fan-developer studios have always released their Sierra remakes free of charge. Commercial fan-derived titles (Quest for Infamy, Mage’s Initiation, etc.) are original IP that occupies the same design space, not Sierra IP.

For Sierra titles NOT available on GOG or Steam:

  1. Verify legal status — Some are “abandonware” by community convention but technically remain under Activision Blizzard / Microsoft IP. For research/archival purposes the Internet Archive and MyAbandonware preserve copies; this is a grey area legally and ethically.
  2. Use ScummVM if you own original game data (CDs, floppies) — Run any AGI or SCI-engine title legally on modern hardware.
  3. Watch for Activision/Microsoft licensing announcements — Periodically the catalogue expands. The 2023 Pharaoh remake licensing suggests Microsoft is open to back-catalogue deals.
  4. Wishlist GOG dreamlist — The GOG dreamlist lets users vote for titles to receive licensed re-releases. Several Sierra entries have active dreamlist campaigns (Crazy Nick’s Software Picks series, several Coktel titles, Manhunter, the missing Hoyle volumes).11

Citation protocol for vault pages

When adding a GOG or Steam URL to a vault page’s References section, follow these rules:

  1. Verify the URL resolves by visiting it in a browser (Brave Search site:gog.com "Game Title" is the fastest way to find canonical URL).3
  2. Use the canonical short URL — gog.com/en/game/<slug> for English; gog.com/game/<slug> is the slug-only form.
  3. Include in ## Downloads section under a **Purchase / Digital Stores** heading, not in the main References list (unless the GOG listing is the source for a factual claim, in which case both).
  4. Update on commercial-availability changes — A title removed from GOG should be moved to the preservation section.

See Also

References

Footnotes

  1. GOG.com — Sierra catalogue — Official Sierra listings ↩

  2. Steam — Sierra catalogue — Steam Sierra listings ↩

  3. Brave Search — Recommended verification engine for GOG/Steam URL checks ↩ ↩2

  4. GOG.com — Modern Windows compatibility — Compatibility-shim documentation ↩

  5. Internet Archive — DOS games library — Preservation fallback ↩

  6. Steam — King’s Quest (2015) — 2015 reboot ↩

  7. Pinkerton Road — Gabriel Knight 20th Anniversary — Licensed remake page ↩

  8. Activision — King’s Quest (2015) imprint announcement — Sierra Entertainment digital imprint relaunch ↩

  9. Replay Games — LSL: Reloaded — Crowdfunded HD remake ↩

  10. Dotemu — Pharaoh: A New Era — 2023 licensed remake ↩

  11. GOG.com Dreamlist — Sierra entries — Community wishlist ↩

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