They’re Back on Steam, With GOG’s Fixes
Capcom’s original Resident Evil trilogy just returned to Steam with GOG’s modern tune-ups—and a hitch for purists: Enigma DRM. These are the same refreshed PC releases GOG co-developed over the last couple of years, now brought to Valve’s storefront as of April 2. That means Resident Evil (1996), Resident Evil 2 (1998), and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999) arrive with a fresh coat of PC-focused polish rather than straight ports from the late ’90s.
Capcom didn’t stop at survival horror. Classic RPG Breath of Fire IV made the jump too, rounding out a mini-migration of retro hits that previously lived most comfortably on GOG. If you’ve been waiting to stack these in your Steam library, this is the moment.
What’s Included in the Upgrades
GOG’s work focuses on making the games play nice on current machines without breaking what fans remember. In practical terms, that means rendering fixes, stability improvements, and settings you’d expect on PC today. For the first Resident Evil in particular, the Steam build mirrors GOG’s feature set.
- All four localizations included: English, German, French, Japanese
- Improved DirectX game renderer
- New rendering options: Windowed Mode, V-Sync control, Gamma Correction, Integer Scaling, Anti-Aliasing, and more
- Better cutscene timing
- Upgraded video playback
- Cleaner registry handling
- Reliable quitting and task switching
Expect similar “made-for-modern-PC” conveniences across Resident Evil 2 and 3, since these Steam releases draw from the same GOG refreshes. The goal isn’t to reinvent the trilogy; it’s to stabilize it, sharpen it, and let you tweak basics without fan patches.
If you’re playing on a Steam Deck, reports suggest these builds run well once you set up controls. Valve’s handheld doesn’t map classic tank controls out of the box, so you’ll either craft custom inputs or grab a community layout to get comfortable.
DRM Catch and Steam Deck Notes
Here’s the trade-off. Unlike GOG’s DRM-free downloads, all four Steam versions use third-party “Enigma DRM.” That’s the same anti-piracy solution Capcom recently stripped from the Resident Evil 4 remake after Digital Foundry said it “hurt performance.” Different engine, different era, but anyone sensitive to overhead or launchers will want to keep that in mind.
Functionally, you’re getting the same content and fixes as GOG, but with an extra layer during execution on Steam. If you prioritize ownership and a clean offline setup, GOG still has the advantage. If you want achievements, cloud saves, and your library in one place, Steam now offers the convenient path—just with that DRM asterisk.
Pricing, Dates, and One More Classic
There’s a limited-time discount across the board. Each game is 50% off—£4 / $5 / €5—until April 15 at 6 PM BST / 1 PM ET / 10 AM PDT. That applies to Resident Evil 1–3 and Breath of Fire IV, making this a low-cost way to revisit some foundational PS1-era design or finally see what the fuss was about.
It’s a smart preservation step, even with the DRM caveat. These versions play nicer on modern PCs, avoid the usual fan-mod scavenger hunt, and keep the tone of the originals intact. The question is whether Enigma sticks around on Steam after RE4’s rollback, or if Capcom decides performance and goodwill outweigh the protection. For now, the choice is simple: go DRM-free on GOG, or snag the Steam builds with their “fresh coat of paint” and live with the padlock.