The Proper XIII Is Free On GOG Right Now

Remember a while back when PlayMagic and Microids released the remake of Ubisoft’s 2003 first-person shooter, XIII? Remember how bad that was? It looked like crap, played poorly, was buggier than a nest of spiders, and no one liked it? My, that was a simpler time, before we saw the excitement of some people turn to vitriolic hatred for anyone who wasn’t blinkered to the many, many issues of Cyberpunk 2077. Well, it seems someone has had common sense injected into them, as the proper version is currently free on the GOG storefront.

At the time this article goes out, you’ll only have about 24-ish hours to claim it for free. A “gift” to highlight that the storefront is currently doing its big “Spring Sale” through until the 5th of April, with deals up to 90% off. However, you aren’t here to hear about Mad Max, Disco Elysium, Divinity Original Sin 2, or The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt being cheap. The 2003 game by Ubisoft and Southend Interactive is what you are here about. It is a cel-shaded shooter somewhat based on the 1984 Belgian graphic novel by the same name.

It is set against the background of conspiracy, presidential assassination, and waking up with Pamela Anderson watching over you as you wake up from Amnesia. Obviously it is very much a PlayStation 2-era of game. You can really tell it was the early 2000s when it was released, as X-Files recently ended and we’d not see another Batman for a couple of years. It also had a star-studded cast of Eve (model, singer, and actress) as Jones, David Duchovny as XIII, and Adam West as General Carrington. The only thing that would make it more of an early 2000s casting would be David Beckham, Ice Cube, Jack Black, The Rock, and Nick Cage.

Honestly, just pick it up to see how games used to be. This was back when we could stylize games without being yelled at by 12-year-olds moaning that, “It doesn’t look realistic!” While you are at it, there is a collection of other free games in GOG’s stay-at-home effort (akin to PlayStation’s Play-At-Home program), with several classic RPGs and shooters in there.