Wheezyyyy: facts matter and if a game is playable without a launcher it’s drm free….Fact
It isn't automatically a "fact" though. SafeDisc, SecuROM, StarForce, Tages, Code wheels, serial keys, hardware 'dongles',
"enter the 2nd word on the 5th line of page 8 from the manual", etc, are all different forms of DRM. That some games may not require clients or online connections doesn't automatically make them "DRM-Free".
Likewise, many titles on the
Steam and
Epic lists (that don't need a client) are obviously "accidentally" DRM-Free and very 'hacky'. Examples:-
- A Hat In Time on Steam the base game is DRM-Free but the DLC needs the client running
- Alien Isolation on Epic Games and several games like Adventures of Shuggy, Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller, etc, on Steam, the games will start but you cant save your progress without the respective Epic Launcher / Steam client running.
- Several Steam games are only DRM-Free on Linux after patching the file libCSteamworks.so taken from another Unity Engine game that is DRM-Free.
- Afterparty on Steam is only DRM-Free if you download an older build.
- Many DRM-Free builds on Humble Store are outdated. The number of new DRM-Free Humble builds has also significantly shrunk vs where it was several years back.
- Many other games like Deponia Complete, Dex, Manual Samuel, Mount & Blade Warband, Oxenfree, Superhot, Wuppo, etc, were removed from the
"Steam games that run without the Steam client" list after DRM was added to them in an update, so what's DRM-Free today may not be tomorrow. Sure you can back today's files up, but tomorrow's update that adds DRM may well also contain a highly desired fix for a pre-existing bug.
- Several titles that were on the Epic Games that run without the launcher list were moved from the green DRM-Free tab to the red DRM'd tab after integration of new Epic Games Services, which "hard-codes" the game to making Epic Client API calls (on the assumption it will always be running) causing the game to crash / not startup if it isn't, no different to DRM.
- Some games "DRM-Free-ness" depends on the platform, eg, Steam's Victor Vran is DRM-Free on Linux but not Windows, whilst Cook, Serve, Delicious! is the reverse.
If you want to research what's DRM-Free or not using above mentioned 3rd party lists (because Steam & Epic do not display such information), then buy them, download them using a client, temporarily rename the client folder, test the game to see if it works properly without the client (including the ability to save properly beyond just reaching the main menu, and ideally on a 2nd PC with different HWID), then double check there are no silent registry entries, then zip up the game folder, then rename the client folder back, then rinse & repeat for not just every game, but every update of every game (possibly multiple platforms if you dual-boot), you could technically call your zipped up file "DRM-Free" or even turn them into proper .exe installers using InnoSetup. I've done that for a few games too, but it's certainly not an experience I'd want to do for hundreds / thousands of regularly updated games, and is definitely no "hassle free" substitute for a proper DRM-Free store.