If you paid that much for Elemental, then perhaps you bought it early enough to get Fallen Enchantress for free? A while ago, Stardock stated that customers who purchased Elemental before a certain date, would receive Fallen Enchantress for free. Which is nice, and shows that they have recognized their mistake, and are trying hard to make up for it, and actually give their customers the game that Elemental was supposed to be. I'm just skeptical about their capability of doing so.

I remember reading that a while back. I might check it out. Thanks for reminding me lol.

I only have 4 games listed, Elemental, Sid Meier's Pirates, Eschalon Book 2 and Majesty 2. I guess I didn't get the free game. On their forums, some guy like me, bought the collector's edition but didn't sign-up for the forums and didn't get the game. That's pretty cheesy.

Contact Stardock support. They were very helpful when I had problems (very different issue though). It's possible that the offer was limited, but asking doesn't hurt.

This killed it for me.... What happened to the DRM-free stance of stardock?

That was given up years ago when they switched their delivery method from "Stardock Central" (which could be backed up locally) to "Impulse" (which required online authentication).

Recently, they sold Impulse to Gamespot, and are now releasing their games with Steamworks DRM. According to Brad Wardell, the advanatges of doing so outweigh the disadvantages. He has said that he's aware that using Steamworks will lose him some customers, but he believes that developing similar multiplayer functionality and social features on their own would be more expensive.

That may be true but I won't be buying it...

I wont be buying the game either.

But I do give Brad credit for at least acknowledging the negative sides of Steam, instead of clumsily stating "Our game will be released on Steam. Isn't Steam the best?", as a certain kickstarter project did (before they came to their senses and offered a DRM-free version as well).

FE isnt a steamwork game. If you want FE on steam> must buy from steam, if you buy from stardock you dont get steam key ( drm free).


I buy from Stardock and want steam key but dont get now or in future :( (game is great ! )

Argh. I checked every single distributor before making my statement (GamersGate, Gamestop, Gamefly ...) and everywhere it's listed as a Steamworks game. But of course I forgot to check Stardock's own download. Although, checking it seems to be impossible, since the purchase page has no info about the game's DRM (or lack thereof) whatsoever.

The page does state, however: "Internet connection required for activation and to play."

Internet connection required to play? What the ...? That does _not_ sound like "DRM free" ...

Is the dress a playable in the game? It would be the main reason to get this game. Without the dress it just don't make any sense.

DRM free or Stardock's "DRM free" meaning the very first update will add online activation?
It's Stardock and B. Wardell. Their word is worth about as much as used toilet paper.

The book review is lovely. That dress needs its own game.

Internet connection required to play> only for beta to test. From SD games is 100% drm-free (each palyer can change .ini file and play without Internet connection if dont want support beta test), just ask on FE forum other testers.

and as far as I know, you can register you kep with Stardock and download the DRM free key from them. Pre-order of the limited edition of Elemental :War of Magic here BTW. $40 is what you pay WITHOUT DISCOUNT. Non-steam keys cannot be redeemed on Steam (devs stated this). Yes it MAY use steam for achievments but the .exe ain't tied to steam if you don't want it to be. PS: did you like the civ IV mod Fall From Heaven 2? the guy that made THAT is the guy in charge of Fallen Enchantress.

In conclusion, The game so VERY removed from the original and I'd say to take a chance on buying it. the ONLY two games Stardock has released that REQUIRE Steam to run are Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion (reason is for matchmaking, preventing smurfs, and achievments) and the Political Machine 2012. I believe this snippit of a post by on of the guys at Stardock says it best: "Fallen Enchantress does not use Steamworks. It is available on Steam as a product, but thats all."
To make a comparson versus another game on steam, you can buy all the AI war expansions as well as the base game on steam but download the .exe's from the developer's site and input the keys into the game (I did that and it worked). No achievments but you got a DRM free install of the game.

The only games I can not download (and I own pretty much their entire catalog save Political machine series) direct from Stardock are Galactic Civilizations 2, Sins of a Solar Empire (& all add-ons/expansions), and the Corporate machine. All the other game I own (Elemental, Fallen Enchantress, Gal civ 1: Ultimate edition, and Demigod, I can download and install DRM free. Everything else I gotta use the former Impulse client OR Steam to download and run the game.