14 DAY TRIAL // Game launchers certainly took many gaming communities for a spin. Epic's offerings, though controversial, remain tempting, and the GOG Store is a place where you can frequently find great prices for great games. If you wish to access both storefronts from a singular interface, consider giving Heroic Games Launcher a chance to live up to its name.
Perhaps users may be right to be dissatisfied when an increasingly larger number of publishers are moving to create their own storefronts. Installing a launcher just to play one or two games from the respective storefront is hardly ideal, as many would say.
This market trend has frequently been dubbed as one that is strictly anti-consumer, which is why community-made launchers are gaining traction. For Epic and GOG users, Heroic Games Launcher acts as an interface that encapsulates both storefronts, granting users access to their respective libraries from a single place.
Supports Epic and GOG, but you can add other games too
Naturally, as is often the case when using a launcher of any kind, you'll have to authenticate with the relevant Epic and GOG credentials. The process is just as quick as on the default launchers, so you shouldn't encounter any problems. With that said, there are times when Epic refuses to communicate, which will require you to use the alternate method. Paste the authentication code upon logging in, and Heroic should be able to retrieve your library.
Once logged in, you'll be able to start enjoying the games from your Epic and GOG libraries from the Library interface. Each game will appear along with its cover art, and the overall interface design looks sleek. When adding other games, you'll have to add their cover arts yourself.
Clicking a game will reveal a quick synopsis about it, and the launcher will also retrieve the respective download and install sizes for each title. The synopsis is not available for non-Epic and GOG games, and there's currently no way to provide that data yourself.
Some nice-to-haves for your game collection
Aside from the quick synopsis that is provided when clicking a game, users can take a peek at the How Long to Beat and System Requirements sections while they're at it. It's worth pointing out that the former is an added feature that is wholly absent from the official GOG and Epic launchers.
If you're a completionist, or simply one who likes finishing their games, How Long To Beat can help you gauge the time required to do so. Unless your specs are below the minimum, knowing a game's system requirements can't hurt either, so being able to see all of that in the interface is very much welcome. Metacritic and IGDB scores are also provided, which can help you gauge the reception of a game.
Once you've decided on what games to install, clicking the Download button can reveal some options that may be of interest. Depending on the game, you may be able to select which components to install. With Fortnite, for example, users can opt to download high-resolution textures, the Save the World expansion, as well as a language pack suitable for them.
Keep in mind that not all games allow you to individually select the components to download. Regardless, seeing the Download and Install sizes for each game before downloading is a nice quality-of-life feature users will appreciate.
Shop around
Epic and GOG both have their own storefronts, which the app accommodates for by giving you the option to freely switch between them in the Stores tab. The storefronts themselves seem unchanged, so you should be able to check the latest deals, look through your wishlists, and even add new games to your library.
If you look at it closely, you'll notice that the storefronts are opened in the app's browser. Given that we're dealing with an Electron-based piece of software, emulating a browser is not at all surprising. You can thus expect the same functionality as on the web-based storefronts.
Once again, it should be noted that Epic may not be all too happy to collaborate at times, which may require you to input your credentials once more in the Store tab. A bit of an inconvenience, but this is mainly Epic's doing from the looks of it.
You can create your own themes
As far as the Settings menus are concerned, some behaviors of the app can be modified by the user. Several visual themes are available for those who like switching things up every now and then, and custom CSS files are also supported here, so you can come up with your own themes if that's your thing.
Some added convenience can be brought about by toggling a few options. For instance, you can have the tool add games to your Steam library automatically. Synchronizing with your Epic installed games is likewise possible. More advanced users can take a look at the Game Defaults and Advanced menus. The former lets you manage Wine versions, while the latter allows one to choose alternative binaries for their game collection.
In terms of the app's overall accessibility, the UI elements are quite pleasing to look at: text is large enough to read without straining your eyes, and the icons are sufficiently distinguishable. If the default configuration is not to your liking, the Accessibility menu lets you modify the UI scale, the fonts used, as well as a quick link to select a different theme.
The Good
Numerous themes are provided by default, so even if you're not a fan of the initial color scheme, you're sure to find something more appealing to your tastes. If you're more adventurous, then the possibility of using custom CSS themes should sound enticing to you.
The more accessible an app is, the better. The accessibility settings here are a nice touch, as they enable users to configure the launcher in a way that makes them most comfortable. Most commendably, in an effort to provide a launcher that feels like home, Heroic Games Launcher is available in more than 30 languages.
The Bad
The options for adding a non-Epic or GOG game are rather limited. While you can add such games, the tool has no way to retrieve details about them, making their pages look quite barren. Being able to add those details yourself would have been much appreciated.
Logging in with multiple Epic or GOG accounts would be an interesting addition. There might be some technical limitations at play, however, which is why this is more of a guilty pleasure suggestion than anything.
