Just a week after the strange PEGI rating for the PC version of "Resident Evil" was posted on the ratings board's website, the aura of mystery has been lifted. It turns out that the original "Resident Evil" trilogy will be released on digital stores for the first time.

The distributor is, you guessed it, GOG, no doubt buoyed by the success of rescuing the excellent spy RPG "Alpha Protocol" from licensing hell. The company has partnered with Capcom to distribute "Resident Evil" (released in 1996), "Resident Evil 2" (1998), and "Resident Evil 3" (1999) on the World Wide Web. For now, only RE1 can be purchased and played, with 2 and 3 to follow.

Of course, there is already a version of "Resident Evil 1" in digital storefronts, but it is an HD remaster of the 2002 game cube remake released by Capcom in 2015, not the original game that was a hit on PS1 and PC in the 90's.

Following standard GOG practice, RE1, available in the store, is completely DRM-free, with "improved quality of life and enhanced compatibility with modern systems." Beyond that, it is pure Resident Evil with "the original content intact."

I am perhaps unusually excited about this. In this day and age of remakes and remasters, it often feels as if older titles are being abandoned in favor of their RTX-compatible successors. However, as good as these remakes are (especially in the case of Resident Evil), we should go back to the originals. These games are too important and iconic to be locked away in physical editions that no one has a disk drive to play anymore.

I asked GOG if the games would be permanently exclusive to this store or if they might someday migrate to Steam, but GOG would not tell me. If you're craving Spencer Mansion and a Jill sandwich, don't waste your patience with your preferred launcher.