Not sure why but PuzzleQuest: Challenge of the Warlords can’t run without the client anymore on my computer. Anybody care to check it? Not sure if it has anything to do with those MODs I installed.

The game Dungeons of Hell runs fine with Steam executable renamed.

Epic Battle Fantasy 3 runs without the client on Window XP.

Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic runs without Steam client on Windows XP.

Since Grandia II: Anniversary is no longer on GOG...

Is Grandia II: Anniversary able to be ran w/out the Steam Launcher?
And what about Grandia II: HD Remaster on Steam?

More games (and a few demonstrations) tested on Windows. Sorry if there are any repeated ones.


A Juggler's Tale Demo (app ID 1252830; from the Steam Festival that ended today, 22/6): Gives an error "DX11 feature level 10.0 is required to run the engine"

A Space For The Unbound Demo (app ID 1201270; from the Steam Festival that ended today, 22/6): Opens normally

Ageless Demo (app ID 1210150; from the Steam Festival that ended today, 22/6): Opens normally

Barotrauma (app ID 602960): Opens normally by just starting the Barotrauma.exe file; Steam functions (like multiplayer) get automatically disabled

Crown Trick Demo (app ID 1000010; from the Steam Festival that ended today, 22/6): doesn't work (says it's a Steam link)

Cyanide & Happiness Freakpocalypse Demo (app ID 869880; from the Steam Festival that ended today, 22/6): Opens normally

Eldest Souls Demo (app ID 1108590; from the Steam Festival that ended today, 22/6): Doesn't open (gives no error message) and crash any windows showing my external HD (where I placed the games)

Fallen Angel Demo (app ID 1124560; from the Steam Festival that ended today, 22/6): Opens normally

Felix The Reaper (app ID 919410): Opens normally by just starting the FelixTheReaper.exe file

Figment - Creed Valley Demo (app ID 1085220; from the Steam Festival that ended today, 22/6): doesn't open and "-nosteam" doesn't work (says it's a Steam link)

Frostpunk (app ID 323190): asked for the file msvcr120.dll, but gives an error saying the program could not be started normally if the file is present

Garden Story Demo (app ID 1062140; from the Steam Festival that ended today, 22/6): doesn't open and "-nosteam" doesn't work (says it's a Steam link)

Haven Demo (app ID 983970; from the Steam Festival that ended today, 22/6): doesn't work (says it's a Steam link)

Hellblade - Senua's Sacrifice (app ID 414340): doesn't work (says it's a Steam link)

LiEat (app ID 373770): doesn't work (says it's a Steam link)

Overload (app ID 448850): Opens normally

Remnants of Naezith (app ID 590590): doesn't work (says the Steam API failed to load); using the -nosteam argument didn't change anything

The King's Bird: Opens normally on Windows natively

The Messenger (app ID 764790): Doesn't work (says it's a Steam link)

The Stillness of the Wind: Doesn't work (says it's a Steam link) and is shown as being DRM free in the Wiki; not sure if I did anything wrong

Unbound Worlds Apart Demo (app ID 814680; from the Steam Festival that ended today, 22/6): says it requires vcruntime140_1.dll, but putting the file in the exe's folder prompts another error, "DX11 feature level 10.0 is required to run the engine".

When The Past Was Around Demo/Prologue (app ID 1164050; from the Steam Festival that ended today, 22/6): Opens normally

can mafia triology be ran without steam ??

The old ones definitely didn't, tired myself before they showed here, wouldn't count on the new ones being any different.

Ys: The Oath in Felghana runs well without Steam client under Win XP. I’d guess the other 2 from that period (Ys 6 & Ys Origin) are fine too, but I can’t confirm it.

I can confirm this for Ys, Ys II, Ys VI, Ys Origin, and Oath in Felghana.

Steam's summer sale begins now. Let's get hunting!

More games tested. All of them were tested on Windows 10 in a PC that never had Steam installed, and most if not all of them are on sale right now.


3dsen (app ID 1147940): Closes after the initial logo and says it's a Steam link. The -nosteam argument doesn't work.

Battle Bruise (app ID 618510): Opens normally

Death end re;Quest (app ID 990050): Says "Unable to initialize steam libraries". The argument -nosteam doesn't work.

FIREWORK (app ID 974870): Says it's a Steam link

Flower (app ID 9667330): Says it's a Steam link; it has a GOG version, btw

Hentai Asmodeus (app ID 1147510): Opens normally

Journey (app ID 638230): Says it's a Steam link

Labyrinthine Dreams (app ID 278570): Closes right after launching it, but gives no errors

Micro Mages (app ID 1065020): Opens normally and the developer also kindly gives a totally DRM free NES file that comes in the game's installation folder, so that you can play it on any emulator you want.

One Way Heroics (app ID 266210): All executables say they're Steam links, including the One Way Heroics Plus DLC

Path to Mnemosyne (app ID 770410): Gets stuck in a white screen right after launching and doesn't give any errors nor crashes

Strawberry Vinegar (app ID 407340): Opens normally

Tengami (app ID 299680): Says it's a Steam link

The Legend of Dark Witch (app ID 420770): Opens normally

Unhack (base game; app ID 340800): Requires the command "unhack.exe -nosteam" (without quotation marks) to launch; crashes the file explorer otherwise

Unhack:Descruction (Unkack's DLC, but works as a separate app; app ID 343580): Opens normally

Unhack 2 (app ID 444170): Opens normally

Okay, we're all updated again!

I can confirm that The Messenger is definitely DRM-free. How are you testing games that are telling you that they're Steam links? There seem to be a lot of them.

I just copy the games into my external HD and try to launch the games' .exe files through another PC that doesn't have and never had Steam installed. In the beginning, I'd also try to move .dll files somewhere else and using the argument -nosteam, but I gave up since they didn't seem to work either way.

Any suggestions on what I may be doing wrong?