Hybrid Wars on GOG makes you create a wargaming multiplayer account to unlock one of the three base characters. This seems like DRM which probably shouldn't be a thing on GOG?

Are there other games on GOG like this?

Am afraid it's not. They say you can play the single player content fully drm free. Any additional content, online play etc. Is not covered by the drm free promise. So yes there are others. Absolver for instance is a multiplayer game with minimal single player content, the rest is online only. It's not called drm so online only is fine - I.e. Gwent. Goblins inc got away with it by providing a separate offline module. Most multiplayer is via Galaxy. Some kickstarter/pre order stuff you need other accounts or to provide information to get various parts of the package.
It's all got very complex. But yes, basically drm free here means there is a part which can be played offline without protection or online requirement.

That's staying true to the letter but not to the spirit of DRM-free.

Except one of three (five with dlc) characters being locked doesn't seem like the singleplayer is DRM free. Weird

Indeed, but drm free was just a gimmick to get the store up and running and to provide a unique selling point along with old games. I would imagine they would do most anything to drop it now as it really ties their hands in some ways. I would send a ticket to support to find out.

It still is there unique selling point. It would be corporate suicide to throw it away.

Hardly. Look at the success of Gwent or witcher series. I don't doubt that cyberpunk will be the next must have. That and client driven data capture will be the big earners going forward. The world is becoming a rental I am afraid and no-one can stop it

Oh someone did when I mentioned it. They're adding a notice to the store page... But still

Yes. And I feel less and less inclined to support GOG with my money. But they have made it abundantly clear that DRM-free is really an annoying relic of the past for them. They would like to get rid of it, but they can't because it would mean that a significant part of their userbase leaves. So they wiggle bit by bit and sneakily accept one game after the other wich stretches the definition of DRM-free further.

DRM-ed multiplayer is already normal around here. Now they experiment how much singleplayer-content they can lock behind DRM without generating a huge outcry. But one question, just to be clear: that Ivan character is used in single player after being unlocked?

Yes, he is locked for use in single player unless you create a wargaming account.

OK. Then the 'warning' they added is misleading, since they specifically call it a 'Multiplayer notice'.

@GOG: please fix that! Ask WG labs to unlock that Ivan for single-player. Locking even a part of the game behind DRM is ... well ... DRM!

If you exclusively look at GOG as a store unto itself I'd agree with you but I'd argue there's enough sales from the Witcher series/Gwent + MT's etc to keep the store afloat solely based on that for keeping the 30% cuts, even if the rest of the store wasn't doing that great.

Werent Gwent microtransactions the bulk of GOG's income recently or something of the sort?

An account being required for an online-only game, or the online component of a singleplayer/online multiplayer game, I don't see as being DRM. Whether an account is strictly necessary is another matter though, it may be something required by design (such as an inventory or unlock system) or completely extraneous. And whether or not any game that requires an account for multiplayer content belongs on GOG is a topic I'll stay out of (The Witcher 3 and it's Gwent minigame was entirely offline and contained to the save file(s) on your computer. The multiplayer Gwent could not exist in its current form without the online save). Singleplayer content/unlocks requiring an account, I'm not sure how exactly to classify that. Maybe not DRM in a strict sense, though certainly questionable.

Well if their servers are down, you can't create an account. So the character would be locked forever. Sure seems like DRM.

How important would you consider that character for the single player base experience?

I am leaning towards not DRM, more like "free bonus for registering an account with us".