GOG has made a classic PC game from the 2000s available for free. And fans of sci-fi games or real-time tactics games are going to enjoy this new free PC game because it is both of these things. And it’s an old one of these games, hailing from 2004, a year headlined by the likes of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Halo 2, Need for Speed: Underground 2, Star Wars: Battlefront, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGeen, Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft, Fable, Far Cry, Monster Hunter, Metal Gear Solid 3, and more. This is to say, it was a stacked year, so even if you were playing games in 2004, you may have missed this one.
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If you were really into PC real-time tactics games and were playing video games in 2004, there’s a good chance you played Nexus: The Jupiter Incident. If you didn’t, you can now do so and pay nothing in the process because it is free on GOG. That said, it’s only free on GOG for the next two days and 17 hours. After this, it will revert to its normal price point of $10. If claimed before this deadline, though, it is free to keep as a permanent addition to your GOG library. Of course, like every GOG game, this is a DRM-free copy of the 22-year-old classic strategy game.
Forgotten 2004 PC Classic
Developed by Mithis Entertainment, before it was acquired by Square Enix and shut down, and published by HD Interactive — which also no longer exists — Nexus: The Jupiter Incident is a standalone sci-fi real-time tactics game, and a decent one at that. To this end, it has a 77 on Metacritic, a 4.4 out of 5 stars on GOG, and an 86% approval rating on Steam. At one point, a sequel was in development for it, but obviously nothing ever came of it, and the IP seems as good as dead, though it’s owned by THQ Nordic, so there is always a possibility it will be revived.
Does it hold up in 2026? Actually, yeah, it does. Like many strategy games from this era, Nexus: The Jupiter Incident is more than playable in 2026. And, in particular, if you like IP such as Star Trek, then it can really scratch an itch. Above all else, its tactical gameplay is as good now as it was back then, as this gameplay genre has not overly evolved since then. In fact, it arguably peaked in the 2000s.
All of that said, and as always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think, or join the video game conversations over on the ComicBook Forum.
