GameRager: You forgot to mention the console only main story drm for some games that will likely be lost for years if not longer(if not ported to new systems over time) once the servers that allow it to be DLd go down for older consoles & people lose their locally stored copies due to console malfunction/etc.

StingingVelvet: I think a lot of games require day one updates to really work well nowadays, and of course a ton of games are digital only. Even ignoring all that though, the fact console games are tied to specific hardware is pretty much just as concerning to me as PC DRM is anyway. Especially since PC DRM can easily be circumvented when necessary.

SirPrimalform: No, that's not true. Developers can make the games invoke the client to do a basic "is the game on this account" check, much like the lowest level Steam DRM. Like Steam, as far as I know even that is optional, so the devs can put DRM-free games on there if they want.

StingingVelvet: Not saying you're wrong, but none of the games I've tested so far have forced the client. If you use the desktop shortcut it makes then it will launch the client, but using the .exe does not. Companies can add their own DRM though, like Borderlands 3 did.

SirPrimalform: I'm not saying there aren't DRM-free games, just that there is an optional Epic Launcher provided DRM.

teceem: some may still remember Steam before mandatory updating became a thing.

RoboPond: I hate the way PC games are tbh. Mandatory clients and downloading, then updating. I miss the good old days of CDs and patches, back when game companies charged less and newer games were worth it. Where as now days its all i'm gonna charge you £80 odd for a digital copy.....

teceem: Some of that nostalgia is misplaced (IMO). Before clients and digital distributions, there were:
(just a few examples)
- Online DRM with limited activations (like some Securom)
- Starforce
- physical copy protections (both on CD-Rom and floppies)
- Etc. - I'm not going to start a Wikipedia page here ;-)

Most new games nowadays are actually cheaper than they were 20 years ago. Don't forget to add inflation.

RoboPond: They can be patched though. And whilst Steam games can be, it can be harder to find.

RoboPond: Not really. You look at most games on Steam and they are double for the price for a new game. Here in the UK most expensive was 29.99 and that was retail where as now Borderlands 3 is over £50 for digital.

AB2012: Steam have two "layers" of DRM - the basic Steamworks client check that's been there since Half Life 2 (2004) and CEG (Custom Executable Generation) that was added as a second optional layer in 2009. The extremely primitive Steam (2004) at the time was indeed little more than a DRM wrapper for HL2 though (with a huge amount of negative sentiment at the time), and many of Steam's social / community features only came years after this (eg, cloud functionality was only added in 2009, user reviews added only in 2013, etc).

AB2012: It wasn't originally DRM-Free back in 2004 but the DRM has since been removed but not for all Valve games. Eg, HL1 (Source), HL2 and Portal 1 are "portable" & DRM-Free but other Valve games like HL1 (non-Source) and Portal 2 are still DRM'd and refuse to start without the client.

KiNgBrAdLeY7: GOG was (and still is) my favorite. BUT...

1. It turns down games that i really want (as well as many other gamers, judging by wishlist votes). One example, Celeste; another one, Agony Unrated.

2. I don't like Censor (and "fixing", "correctness"), much. Especially the dishonest, silent, stealthy pushing way of shoving it on you. In fact, Censorship is my number one deal-breaker, right after DRM and obligatory client.

I would greatly appreciate, reccomendations of known stores, that sell COMPLETELY DRM-FREE games.

Humble store, for instance, has a selection of DRM-Free games. Same goes for itchio. What are the other friendly to gamers storefronts?

teceem: DRM is never "optional".

Ok, with some games on the Epic Store you have to add something to the shortcut value to make it run without the client. But can you really call that DRM? e.g. would you call a game "non-moddable" because you have to edit a text config file?

And I know, publishers or Epic themselves could also add DRM where none was before in the future. But that could happen to GOG too (yes, I know, not the same probability).

But for now, most Epic games are DRM free - turn off auto updating or zip them up while they're (still) DRM free. The latter is the better idea - some may still remember Steam before mandatory updating became a thing.

.Ra: Is there a way to tell what games on Epic have drm and which ones dont?

.Ra: Try https://www.zoom-platform.com/

They even have duke nukem and some other games where you can't find elsewhere. I also believe they will be having a redesign for their website soon and more games added.