If you use a copy form GOG, launch it and watch your %appdata% and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software locations you will see Securom is not installed and nothing is written to the registry.

I just tested with a standalone EXE install and though GOG Galaxy. The current files don't install Securom anymore that i can find on a clean system with monitor program watching and reg change tracker active.

FEAR.exe, FEARXP.exe, FEARXP2.exe launch there processes access graphic runtimes and there own files in install directory like most games do. There is literally no trace of Securom found anywhere from launching these on a Win10 1909 System.

sidenote: F.E.A.R. doesn't seem to have the FPS slowdown anymore, maybe a windows patch or something changed in new Nvidia drivers but YAY!

Unfortunately there is no specific definition of DRM. GOG is right if the meaning is: "You can copy and use the version freely, without any CD check or product activation."

Of course you can claim that SecuROM's anti-debugging measures are also a type of DRM, because they restrict the software you can use.
However then every anti-cheat measure would be DRM too: Valve's VAC tries to prevent you from using a wallhack while playing Counter-Strike on your own computer. That is a kind of restriction. Hey, there are even some old MS-DOS games which scramble their save games in order to restrict the use of hex editors.

Should GOG remove this save game scrambling too? ;)

That is GOG's meaning. You can back it up, run it without ever using the internet, and thus it is DRM free. If you don't agree with that definition that's your right, but I don't think you can demand GOG agree with you.

Technically GOG still sell limited licenses they can revoke, according to the terms. Yet you'd never actually delete a backup because they told you to. Sometimes you have to accept a company is doing the best they can and understand no one else is even trying.

This is excellent news...I wonder what changed, though?

I've heard that SecuROM is being installed when you run one of the addons or multiplayer...

Has SecuROM also been removed from FEARMP.exe?

I don't like the idea of accidently installing SecuROM by clicking the multiplayer button on the main menu.

According to GOG Team member MP does not install SecuROM, but creates some useless files and registry entry: www.gog.com/forum/general/fear_installed_securom_all_over_my_computer_does_anyone_know_how_to_get_rid_of_it/po st162

I've checked main game and expansions, they work just fine and they do not create SecuROM directories in appdata or registry on the most recent build since 2015-03-16: www.gogdb.org/product/1423058413#builds

As for accidental click on multiplayer, do not worry about that, mutliplayer require admin privileges, and game by default stat without them, so no one can by accident launch multiplayer. AFAIK SecuROM cannot be installed without admin privileges either.

PS. Sorry for no links, cannot link to anything because of low rep on this forum.

I literally laughed out loud and almost spat my coffee when I read that experience line in the OP

This post simply begs for undeserved attention. Even if what OP is stating here is true, they should be asking the IP owner for explanations or fixes for this. This is the same situation that happened with Deus Ex:Mankind Divided. The IP owner publishes the game, and GOG simply publish it on their storefront, creating packages for the installers. It's like blaming Steam when games use Denuvo, it doesn't make any sense. Even worse, in this specific case, the issue has been fixed and OP doesn't give any more explanations or updates on their findings here (and cs.rin.ru).

Yes, copy protection is one type of DRM, but it can still have DRM even if it doesn't have copy protection.
"Product activation" You can't use your GOG download license without an account, download license, and authorization from their server. Some old physical copies with offline DRM such as offline keys and disc checks never required online DRM such as an account, download license, or online authorization unlike GOG and you could even copy and paste the files after activation and play some of them without ever having to go through the offline DRM again, and you can sell them and the buyer can use it just as much as the initial purchaser without the developer or publisher ever knowing despite it having DRM. GOG download licenses can be easily and legally revoked, old physical copies, even those with offline DRM cannot.
They claimed the day 1 "physical" Witcher 3 release for PC was somehow DRM free even though you need a download from GOG servers to be able to install the game from the discs. That physical release isn't DRM free despite what they said, but they inadvertently admit that copy protection isn't the only type of DRM despite what they claim.
GOG uses that incomplete definition to make themselves look better when in reality they aren't any better than the other scumbags and to attack physical releases.
Games with Denuvo are not DRM free even though after they are cracked they can be copy and pasted and played without ever having to be authorized.
CDPR/GOG don't care about being DRM free as proven by the fact that they have single-handedly changed the perception of what is and isn't DRM in many video game players' minds and the day one "physical" releases for PC of all three Witcher games have had DRM, as will Cyberpunk 2077 as it is already confined to be a download code which is inherently DRM. Before you give the typical digital distribution pay pig straw man response of "but no one has disc drives anymore" - CDPR/GOG have helped to make it that way with their brainwashing, optical media is the king of data storage for longevity despite what the video game and digital distribution industries want you to think, external drives exist and while being more expensive than internal drives, you can get a BDXL and M-disc compatible external drive for less than what a download license of Witcher 3 cost on release day and the two expansion and they can be moved from build to build, and they could always use some of their money to develop a "USB ROM" for PC, a USB drive that uses ROM instead of shitty flash memory, they have plenty of money to do so, but alas, that isn't as profitable and if they did that and more people went with that instead of paying for a download license which is what would happen if it got even a small fraction of the push that digital got then they wouldn't have as many people to harvest data from (which GOG and every other digital distributor does), be encouraged to release games finished and have no way to easily shill people DLC since fewer people would be connected to some platform and so on, and they prefer to release their games unfinished anyways because more $ with less effort and have tricked people into thinking expansions and """""free DLC""""" are a good thing when all that means is the game was released unfinished.
My definition of DRM is anything intentionally added in to the mix that doesn't have to be there to prevent unauthorized use of the original source, the server for digital and physical media for physical. GOG doesn't have to require an account, download license, or authorization to download from their servers just as those old physical copies didn't have to have keys, disc checks, or securom. You could have took a laptop into a store and installed and played a game from one of those old physical copies without paying, and if someone bought that opened copy they would have been able to use it just fine, same as the person that opened it, and so would the person that bought it from the initial purchaser if they ever decided to sell it. Of course CDPR/GOG could have always called for physical copies to be DRM free but that isn't as profitable, and they and Valve wouldn't be able to use "no keys" as a marketing tactic (which is ironic because Valve's download license system uses keys and I assume GOG does too) even though those keys never needed to be there to begin with, if they didn't want keys then they could have stopped adding them to the physical releases.
People are way too lenient on the video game industry. They are companies, not your friends, just because what they make is fun doesn't change that.

Thanks for this OP!

I'm glad that this topic had already been discussed. Thank you!

Thanks for the info, OP. I regret buying this.

I don't get why they don't just remove the multiplayer select from the menus, since the multiplayer is completely offline. (outside of the community made one that requires a different app anyway)

Can someone explain what is the real problem to me?
I love F.E.A.R.
Why should I "stop playing" or "regret buying" because of SecuROM!?

Have a good day!