Many Steam games are actually DRM free. You can just copy the game folder onto a flash drive, sometimes modify a single file, and then run it from the flash drive in any PC.

You should still buy from GOG first imo, but I wouldn't entirely count out Steam.

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 2 points 2 months ago

Well, it's still a hack, not something officially supported, I wouldn't really consider them DRM-free when you still need Steam to run the game officially.

I'm not ruling out Steam either, they've done a lot of good for gaming and I buy games there if I really want them and there's close to no chance they're coming to GOG (like the recent Dragon Age), but more and more often I decide that I don't actually want that game that much.

[–] carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 2 months ago

if it’s not on GOG, you can also check itch.io!

iirc all games there are DRM-free as well (tho I could be wrong)

[–] original_reader@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago

...or Humble Bundle if they offer the actual software download.

Not if they just offer Steam keys.

In my opinion.

[–] windowsphoneguy@feddit.org 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

But then you should also back up the optional downloadable install files for each game. Just using the launcher is not a fail proof way to keep your game collection

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 11 points 2 months ago

Indeed, there are many tools to do that, one of them of my own making: https://github.com/RikudouSage/GogDownloader

But even if you don't back them up, at least you signal that DRM-free is important to you by buying there.