Publisher SNEG has announced that several classic Gold Box RPGs are getting a Steam release later this year. These include formative franchises for the genre like Krynn, Ravenloft, and Forgotten Realms, and they'll be getting some modern enhancements as well.
What are the games coming as part of these Gold Box Steam releases?
The success of throwback RPGs like Solasta: Crown of the Magister and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous suggests that there's still a market for old-school RPG experiences. It seems publisher SNEG agrees, as it's bringing a whole bunch of classic Gold Box RPGs (named for the original games' gold-colored boxes) to Steam. The games will have modern enhancements such as companion apps, a launcher that works across all titles, and a character party transfer tool so you can bring your group adventuring across many different stories.
In total, SNEG is bringing a stunning 22 Gold Box RPGs to Steam, so if you love old-school adventures like this, you'll be well catered for. Here's a full list of all the games that are coming to Steam later this month, courtesy of SNEG.
- Forgotten Realms: The Archives Collection One (includes three Eye of the Beholder games)
- Forgotten Realms: The Archives Collection Two (includes eight Dungeons and Dragons adventures)
- Forgotten Realms: The Archives Collection Three (includes Dungeon Hack and Menzoberranzan)
- Krynn series (includes Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn, and The Dark Queen of Krynn)
- Dark Sun series (includes Shattered Lands and Wake of the Ravager)
- Ravenloft series (includes Strahd's Possession and Stone Prophet)
- D&D Stronghold: Kingdom Simulator
- Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse
As you can see, you're getting a huge amount of game here for your buck. Just like Beamdog updated its classic Infinity Engine re-releases, though (and it's a real shame we won't be seeing its Knights of the Old Republic remake, given its good work on those releases), SNEG is putting some effort into making sure these games don't feel as archaic as they could. A new Gold Box launcher will let you carry over party members between games, and DOSBox support will be enhanced, ensuring these games will run as well as they can on modern systems. In addition, there will be companion apps for the Eye of the Beholder games and "the majority of other Gold Box Classics" that will introduce dungeon mapping features (so you don't need to make your own paper map), journal access, spellbooks, and more.
When are these classic Gold Box Steam RPGs launching?
SNEG is launching its lineup of classic Gold Box Steam RPGs on March 29th. Be sure to mark that date down in your calendar, because if you're a fan of old-school RPGs, you're going to have a lot on your plate when these games launch. You can actually already pick up a lot of these RPGs on GOG.com, but this is the first time they've been available for Steam, so if you want to keep everything on Valve's launcher, then you don't have too much longer to wait.
You can check out all of the Steam pages for the Gold Box RPGs by searching up SNEG. There, you'll also find a few other retro re-releases from the publisher, including the classic shooter Witchaven and the 1996 sim Fantasy General. Along with studios like Nightdive, it's good to see SNEG out here doing work to bring classic and somewhat obscure RPGs to the forefront and let gamers experience them with some of the rough edges sanded off. Here's hoping this leads to more retro RPG releases.
