Can anyone confirm that A Plague Tale is DRM-free? The PCGamingWiki page says it is, but I can't get it to run without the launcher.

I haven't tried it myself but have you tried the -EpicPortal command line switch?

None of the switches work.

Where does pcgamingwiki say that it is DRM-free? Or did they edit it in the meantime?

It had the DRM free icon on its entry. The edited it in the meantime. Funny thing one of the foot notes is pointing to this thread here. I like how everything goes in circles.

Yeah, it's since been changed.

Super happy to report that Axiom Verge 2 is DRM-free, no tricks needed!

Sweet though I honestly expected this! :D

Okay, so... The new Tetris Effect Connected updated *kind of* works using -EpicPortal, sort of? You have to launch it online at least once, so you can accept the terms of service at the title screen; if you don't do that, then it just crashes to the desktop. After you accept the terms, you can create an -EpicPortal shortcut to the game, and the game *will* play without the client, but random things will cause it to crash out, like exiting any stage that you start playing. I don't know if I'd call it stable, but it does work to an extent. I don't think it works well enough to add it to the list, but I thought someone else might want to experiment with it for a while.

EDIT: The Steam version of Tetris Effect: Connected, which came out in full today, actually is completely DRM-free. In that version, when you run the game without Steam, it automatically gives you a generic in-game username; in the Epic version, it's blank.

I can confirm that Yooka-Laylee does require Epic Games Launcher. Although the -EpicPortal parameter starts the game is does not go beyond the start screen. This comes as no surprise as the other game displays exact the same behaviour.

Anyone planning on getting Blaster Master Zero 3 on Epic? I already have it on Steam, but I'd love a DRM-free version.

Saints Row The Third Remaster also requires the client to start.

I just don't understand why this and Impossible Lair would even have drm when there exit a DRM Free version on GOG and even when they both were free on Amazon Prime Games they were DRM Free... Doesn't really make sense to me nor for any other game that is like this.

It's entirely possible that instead of being deliberate DRM, it could be due to tighter store client integration "features" (eg, Epic Achievements / Cloud Saves, or using the client to unlock DLC, etc) with the Epic Launcher = games may start to not run without it for reasons other than intentional copy protection. Alien Isolation springs to mind where the game runs but doesn't save properly without the client. I hope we haven't reached that stage yet, but it's definitely a longer-term concern as no GOG-style offline installers = no Epic game is ever guaranteed to run client-less, it's just a lucky bonus. But if they do introduce a feature that needs the client anyway (for non-DRM reasons) and it becomes popular, it's going to break a lot of stuff in future.

I sadly doubt that because Inti Creates have gone on record to say that they don't plan to make their games or games they co-developed DRM-free on PC. They also screwed ArtPlay and Kickstarter backers of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night over by pulling the DRM-free builds of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon away at the last minute from distribution and backers such as myself were rejected from getting a DRM-free version of the game when I was asked on my backer survey, despite the Kickstarter promised a DRM-free version of the game. The only exception to this is Mighty No. 9 on Steam which I can confirm it can play without Steam (both 32-bit and 64-bit executables) and doesn't using any tricks to get around Steam after the installation.