Ah, NOX. Poor NOX. Westwood's 2000 ARPG last graced our pages three years ago, as one of eight PC gaming classics that are still worth playing today, where Russell Adderson wrote that it "might have been everyone’s favorite ARPG" had it not, you know, come out in the year 2000—just a few months before Diablo 2.
Alas, that's how it shook out. But hey, it looks like NOX is getting a second chance over a quarter of a century on: GOG has announced it won its latest patron poll to choose a game to induct into its Preservation Program—meaning GOG will commit to keeping the game supported and easy-to-run from now until the end of all things. Or at least the end of GOG.
It was not an especially close-run thing. The games patrons could vote to induct into the program were: Lands of Lore 1 + 2, Might and Magic 7: For Blood and Honor, Silver, Albion, and NOX. With almost 10,000 total votes, NOX came away with 3,068. The game in second place, with 2,239 votes, was Might and Magic.
GOG hasn't said exactly what it's gonna do to NOX. Some games—like the recent GOG Star Ocean releases—don't get much more than a quick check to make sure they still work, but I suspect the storefront will go further with this one.
This is the second game, after Thief, to enter the Preservation Program this way, and as I wrote yesterday, GOG pushed the boat out with the work it did on Thief and created an excellent version of that game in the process. I have to imagine NOX will undergo similar treatment.
Serendipitously—almost like it was planned this way—NOX is currently on sale on GOG for $1.39 right now, and will be for another 15 hours at the time of writing. If you own the game, you'll get whatever GOG does to it for free. Did I just go and buy NOX as soon as I heard this news? Yes. I figure you might want to do that too.
