Two years after being removed from Steam, 2014's strangest horror shooter is back on GOG, and it's free

Two years after it was unceremoniously removed from Steam, the mostly-monochromatic first-person stealth-action game Betrayer has returned to life on GOG—and it's free, too.

Set in the early days of colonial America, Betrayer begins with players washed up on the shores of what is now Virginia, alone and unprovisioned. A short path leads to a nearby fort, which is oddly abandoned except for the presence of strange, slightly disturbing figures of ashes. The surrounding landscape is filled with Native American warriors and Spanish conquistadors, all of them hostile; the one non-enemy in the game, the Maiden in Red, is clearly working through some issues of her own.

The default monochrome-and-blood-red color palette was striking, but unfortunately Betrayer worked better as a concept than an actual game, and was kind of uneven and tedious overall. It wasn't bad, it just fell short of its ambitions: "I want to celebrate its creativity and commend the commitment to a unique vision, but the quality of Betrayer's ideas only makes their execution more disappointing," executive editor Tyler Wilde wrote in his 62% review.

For reasons unknown, Betrayer was yoinked from Steam in 2021, an unfortunate but not uncommon fate. But now, without warning (or any kind of context at all) it's been resurrected on GOG, and it's totally free. And it doesn't appear to be a time-limited giveaway: It's just straight-up free, take it and go, have a nice day. For the record, it's still not back on Steam—it is, for now at least, a GOG exclusive. Development studio Blackpowder Games, formed by ex-Mololith Productions staffers, hasn't released another game since and seemingly shut down sometime after Betrayer's release.

I'm not really sure what to make of this sudden, unexpected return from digital purgatory, but I am quite certain that for the low low price of absolutely nothing, Betrayer is worth at least a few minutes of your time: It might turn into something of a grind midway through but it really nails the spooky, haunted ambience of a rugged, lonely land gripped by something... evil.

The GOG forums for Betrayer are currently all but empty—fortunately for anything with issues or questions, there's plenty of help to dig into on Steam.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.