Something I should get around to doing myself, not only at Epic, but with some at Steam too that can be made DRM-Free.

I would definitely recommend doing so, especially because in some cases they patch a DRM back in (seems to have happened a few times on Steam lately.)

Yeah I know, the problem for me is finding the time and energy ... so many fingers, so many pies.

Lucky for us however it still is possible to download older versions from Steam as well (not sure about Epic) even though it is still not as easy anymore than it used to be.

I'd tested Super Meat Boy back when i first got the game for free, and confirmed this detail. Sorry i didn't reply back late December when it was asked.

My assumption is they don't bother rebuilding the game and just drop it on as is. Newer games might have more DRM added, but older ones are less likely because the process may be too annoying, or the game is too old. Biggest disadvantage is no achievements/awards, but i'm fine with that.

Seems like Crying Suns works without EGS. You need to rename or delete "EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping.dll" in CryingSuns\cs_Data\Plugins. Appears to save fine as after leaving the game and entering once more "Continue Game" is selectable.

So you "de-update" the game and archive it somewhere, before Steam updates the game again? (because you can't disable automatic updates on Steam).

Yes, exactly. Using console commands and steamdb you can download older builds of a certain game (these will be downloaded into a different directory). Not long ago it was a piece of cake to do this unfortunately they have changed something since they released the new client and now you will have to use cheattmachine first to re-enable this possibility ... and you will have to use cheat machine in each session you want to use this feature ... it is a bit annoying but at least still possible to get those older files.

This is the usual way
https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/611h5e/guide_how_to_download_older_versions_of_a_game_on/

And here in the comments you will find a few instructions for fixing it
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1805934840

Current list
*Alien Isolation
launch with -epicportal
*Costum Quest 2
Launch with -epicportal
*Dungeons 3
Rename "\Dungeons3\Dungeons3Bin_Data\Plugins\EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping.dll"
Launch games with "Dungeons3Bin.exe"
*Killing Floor 2
Launch with -epicportal
*OxenFree
May need to delete or rename d3d.dll and dxgi.dll
*Subnautica
Subnautica "Subnautica.exe -vrmode none -EpicPortal"
*What Remains of Edith Finch
Launch with -epicportal


20XX (Vista 32bit)
3 out of 10 EP 2 (64bit)
3 out of 10 EP1 Welcome to Shovelworks (64bit)
A Short Hike (Vista 32bit)
Abzu (64bit)
Aer Memories of Old (Vista 32bit)
Alan Wake (XP 32)
Alan Wake's American Nightmare (XP 32)
Alien Isolation
Amnesia A Machine For Pigs
Amnesia The Dark Descent (XP 32)
Anodyne 2 (Vista 32)
Ape Out (64bit)
ARK ModKit (64bit)
Axiom Verge (XP 32)
Aztez (Vista 32)
Bad North (2000 BWC XP 32 Xompie)
Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY (XP 32)
Batman Arkham City GOTY (2000 BWC)
Batman Arkham Knight (Vista 64bit)
Blair Witch
Cave Story +
Celeste (Vista 32bit)
Cities Skylines
City of Brass (Vista 64bit)
Close to the Sun (64bit)
Conarium (64bit)
Control (64bit)
Costume Quest (Vista 32bit)
Costume Quest 2
Crashlands (Vista 32bit)
Darkest Dungeon
Darksiders (Vista 32bit)
Darksiders 2 (Vista 64bit)
Dungeons 3
Enter The Gungeon (Vista 32bit)
Everything (Vista 32bit)
Fez (XP 32)
Figment (64bit)
ForTheKing (64bit)
FTL Faster Than Light (XP 32)
Ghostbusters The Video Game Remastered
Gnog (Vista 32bit)
God's Trigger (Vista 32bit)
Gone Home (Vista 32bit)
GoNNER (XP 32)
Hello Neighbor (64bit)
Hob (Vista 32bit)
Horace (Vista 32bit)
Hue (XP 32)
HyperlightDrifter (XP 32)
InnerSpace (Vista 32)
Inside (Vista 32)
Into The Breach (XP 32)
Jackbox Party Pack (Vista 32)
Jotun (Vista 32)
Killing Floor 2 (64bit)
Kingdom New Lands (XP 32)
Last Day of June (64bit)
Layers of Fear (64bit)
Layers of Fear 2
Lego Batman
Lego Batman 2
Lifeless Planet
Limbo
Little Inferno
Metro 2033 Redux
Metro Exodus
Minit
Moonlighter
Mutant Year Zero RTE
Mutazieone
My Time at Portia
Night In The Woods
Nuclear Throne
Observer
Oddworld New 'n' Tasty!
Overcooked
OxenFree
Pathway
Pikuniku
Pillars of Eternity
Qube 2
Rebel Galaxy
Remnant From The Ashes
RiME
Rocket League
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3
Ruiner
Shadow Tactics Blades of The Shogun
Shadowrun Dragonfall
Shadowrun Hong Kong
Shadowrun Returns
Sherlock Holmes Crimes and Punishments
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Slime Rancher
Sludge Life
Solitairica
SOMA
Stick It To The Man!
Stories Untold
Stranded Deep
Stranger Things 3
Subnautica
Sundered
Super Hot
Super Meat Boy
Superbrothers Sword & Sorcery
Surviving Mars
Tacoma
The Alto Collection
The Bridge
The End Is Nigh
The Escapists 2
The Messenger
The Outer Worlds (NOT THE DLC)
The Stanley Parable
The Textorcist
The Witness
The Wolf Among Us
The World Next Door
TheEndIsNigh
Thimbleweed Park
This War of Mine
Torchlight
Torchlight 2
Tormentor X Punisher
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
Totally Reliable Delivery Service
Towerfall Ascension
Tropico 5
Tyranny
What Remains of Edith Finch
Wheels of Aurelia
Where The Water Tastes Like Wine
Wilmot's Warehouse
World Of Goo
World War Z

Here's one for your negative list:

Yooka-Laylee and the impossible lair requires Epic Games Launcher.

Thanks for the list DOSFreak. Have you tested all of these? I had most on the list, however there are two games with issues:-

1. Alien Isolation will start and appear to run with the -epicportal switch but it won't save the game without the client running. Anyone testing this game needs to play, save, quit, then start the game again and load all offline without the client running (and ideally renamed) to make sure. It's one of those games where simply being able to reach the main menu / start the game is highly misleading.

2. Metro Exodus may have had Denuvo removed from it, but PCGW still lists it as requiring the Epic Games Launcher. If someone can confirm it works, plays and saves properly without the launcher, then I'll add it.

I have tested all without the launcher. I have not tested saving games for all.

I run a bhyve vm on my freeNAS server to download all games and then copy to my desktop to test. My desktop has no launchers installed. The games were tested on release so if a game was updated later to add DRM I haven't gone back to test. I review yearly. Currently doing the yearly review for all of my steam games which includes verifying methods to remove or bypass DRM from games that have been updated.

If the save game issue with Alien Isolation is valid then I'll make a note to test with the Epic emulator but probably best not to talk about that here.

Metro Exodus works without the launcher and doesn't have Denuvo. I wouldn't have played it otherwise. As with all Denuvo infested games I wait for it's official removal or 5 years (and then move myself) until I play them. Made damn sure I bought the game on sale and with a coupon as well due to their idiocy.

When I tested Alien Isolation without the launcher, one of the objectives near the beginning wouldn't trigger, making it impossible to progress with the game. So, while in theory you can launch the game without the client, it would do little good if you can't actually play it.

Haven't got to Alien Isolation yet.

For the above ignore:
Killing Floor 2 - In an old version you could use the EpicPortal switch and play offline
Subnautica - In an old version you could use the EpicPortal switch

This war of mine
The 32bit version was DRM free
The current 64bit version is not.

It seems that as the EOS SDK has evolved that when the games are updated then games will slowly require the launcher. Sadly the Epic emulators are nowhere near the state of the Steam emulators, this is mainly due to Epic still being a small market compared to steam so not much effort put towards it.