Thank you. Let's see what the 'checking out' leads to.

Been so long i dont recall, just curios if anyone knew

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales

tl;dr: it adds DRM'd bundleware to your account (GWENT base game + some extras for GWENT) and Thronebreaker and GWENT might communicate to do some form of validation (aka "DRM"). The second part still needs confirmation.

Long version:

From the store page: And the system requirements put salt in the burn: Also this appears right below the "how about more GWENT extras" part, which makes it sound like, besides adding DRM's contents to your account, the game has some form of DRM as well: I don't have the game myself, so I can't confirm this last part.

That does not sound like DRM, but more like a goodie? As long as it does not restrict you from any features in Thronebreaker, it does not equals to DRM, at least from my understanding. Comparable with some games, which enable some small goodies, if they detect their prequels installed on your machine (e.g. Borderlands 2 with their BL 1 skins).

Not sure, but I feel like it's worth including a special mention about it since, even if the game itself doesn't have DRM, it helps propagating the reach of another game, which does have DRM.

And the buyer is technically buying DRM'd contents when buying Thronebreaker, since part of the purchase is GWENT and the extra items for GWENT.

It doesn't sound like DRM, it's looks like malware behaviour or, to be more precise, PUP.

I support including it as a dishonorable mention. As _Auster_ indicates, the promotion may be separate from the "game proper" but if it is nonetheless inextricable from the purchase itself, it should qualify for some sort of mention in this topic. "You buy the game, you get DRM". Seems to me this would fit.

It's optional content for a totally different game. This list is supposed to be single player games that have DRM'ish element, not about game that unlock optional content in a different non-single player game. It's kind of silly IMHO, it really looks like trying to stretch the definition as thin as possible to desperately try to find new games to add to this thread.

The reason I have not bought Thronebreaker is because I explicitly do not want to GWENT crap. If they had a version that didn't have the bullshit attached to it to try to entice you into their DRMed microexploitational product, I'd probably have purchased it.

I don't think it belongs in "The List", but dishonorable mentions, sure.

I appended it to the entry about Gwent in the second post. I think it's the best place for it, because it's connected to Gwent.

What do you think ... could this be a sign that GOG is trying to be completely DRM-Free again?
https://www.pcgamer.com/gog-recommits-to-drm-free-philosophy-as-it-struggles-to-stop-bleeding-money/

I hope so. DRM-free is the only reason I purchase here. If GOG were no longer a DRM-free store, I wouldn't be using GOG anymore.

I doubt much will change regarding titles already here, but I'm sure they won't try another Hitman situation for a long time.

No, because talk is cheap. It's very easy to say warm rosy words that you think your customers and shareholders want to hear. There is zero cost for doing that.

However, taking concrete actions that actually back up those words, like removing the DRM from Cyberpunk 2077, and canceling the deal to sell EGS-DRM'ed games through Galaxy, those types of things have a cost and are not-so-easy to do, and doing that does come with a cost.

And when it comes to subjects like that, GOG continues to do absolutely nothing.

Hence, their rosy warm words are meaningless PR-Speak fluff.