pedrovay2003: Hey, everybody! This thread is meant to provide an updated link to the database of DRM-free Steam games. The old thread was getting pretty outdated, so everyone thought it would be a good idea to update it a little bit. The list of games can be found here:
http://steam.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games WHY KEEP THIS LIST?
While it's obvious that we all love GOG's DRM-free digital distribution stance, it's also pretty clear that some developers/publishers won't ever stray away from using Steam as their sole method of digital distribution on the PC. What seems to be lesser known, however, is that these developers/publishers have the option of tying their games to the Steam client itself, and a lot of them choose to not do this. This list is a compilation of all of the known Steam games that don't actually require the client to be installed anymore after the initial download of said games. By keeping a log of the titles, players will be able to know which Steam games will NEVER be a problem to run in the future, at least not because of DRM in the games themselves. Essentially, we want to keep track of the Steam games over which the paying customer has complete, unrestricted control.
ABOUT THESE GAMES
Every game listed here can be run without the Steam client even being installed anymore after the game is downloaded. In these cases, Steam is used as the method of distribution and nothing else; the games are essentially portable programs once they're on your hard drive. These particular games have no restrictions whatsoever, and can be copied/pasted to any number of machines and external hard drives or flash drives and played without any network connections present at all. You can bring them to friends' houses, public libraries, college campuses, etc., and never worry about being online or logged into any accounts.
HOW TO TEST GAMES FOR STEAM CLIENT DRM
Checking Steam games for DRM is a simple process: Just rename your main Steam program file and try to run a game. If the game runs, then it's DRM-free, and it does not require Steam at all. If it doesn't run, then it's dependent upon Steam or some other third-party DRM. An even better way of testing would be to copy the game folder to a totally different machine, but I understand that this may be difficult for a lot of people. In my experience, renaming the main Steam program file should suffice. Keep in mind, however, that renaming the main Steam program file will ONLY work to check for Steam DRM, and third-party restrictions may be missed; moving the game to an entirely different system really is the best way to check, if possible. If you discover a DRM-free Steam game that isn't on this list, please leave a comment with the game title and the operating system on which it was tested. We'll all love you forever!
ONE FINAL NOTE
Please, PLEASE don't use this thread to discuss whether or not you like Steam, whether or not Steam is DRM, etc., as the debates/arguments have already been done to death. This list is for people who don't mind installing Steam onto their PCs, and who don't mind buying games through Valve's service. I understand that some people don't like Steam, and that's totally fine; this topic is here for the people who don't mind using it, and it's meant to be informative and helpful to GOG users and anyone else who finds this page through search engines or direct links in the future.
Mentioning this in Steam main board is what got me banned from those boards eternally
...the fact that running Skyrim with NoCD fixed some huge issues Steam gamers were having at the time with the game.
Not saying that is just but it goes to show how anal retentive Steam is especially when years later Steam support won't lift the ban slapped on me by a spoiled thirteen year old moderator.
Have had tons of interesting ideas for features that Steam could add or things they could easily fix but have to go through the hassle of logging in with my partner's account to post the ideas so just keeping notes for the next big digital provider
