This game is listed as "DRM-free", but has always-online multiplayer and requires the creation of an online account.
The store page says "DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play," but it's a lie. Multiplayer will not work unless you use GOG Galaxy. Even LAN play is locked behind it. 👎
This game is advertised as "DRM free", along with the claim that "No activation or online connection required to play." But this is only true for the single-player part of the game. Network play has always-online DRM which requires GOG Galaxy, so playing via LAN is not allowed, playing via direct IP connection to friends is not allowed, and even if you are willing to tolerate always-online DRM you must install the GOG Galaxy bloatware to use it. This is like a "sugar free" cake that only has sugar in the frosting. It's an insidious lie. Granted, No Man's Sky isn't the only game that takes advantage of this false "DRM free" label on GOG. GOG allows many developers to lie about the DRM status of their games. And no, saying "GOG GALAXY is required to access online features" in the fine print does not change the fact that this is dishonest. You could say "The single-player mode is DRM-free", and that would be an accurate and honest representation. But as soon as you call this a "DRM free" game, you have lied and are defrauding people who purchase it.
If your multiplayer is online-only and you don't offer offline LAN, that is DRM. Full stop. This is a lie GOG routinely gets away with when calling their games "DRM free". But removing offline LAN from a game like this, which had the feature originally, is 100 times more egregious. Beyond shameful.
If you call your game "DRM free" but then have online-only multiplayer with no LAN support, you should be heavily fined or imprisoned.
The general exploring/rummaging/puzzle-solving gameplay is pretty good, as expected of a Frictional game. I also appreciate the general aesthetic and art style of the game. The horror elements are generally weaker than the previous games. Not terrible, but the effects and wait time of the "fail state" were more annoying than simply dying and reloading a save would have been. The monsters are also poorer than in the previous games, and are demystified by the extended eye contact that occurs when the player is caught by them. There were some disturbing elements and plenty of spooky locations that were interesting, but mostly the game feels like a step back, horror-wise. But the lack of scares is far from being a deal breaker for me; the main problem with Rebirth is the story. Tasi is not likable at all, speaks too much during gameplay, and little of what she says is relatable. Previous games were tightly focused on helping us understand Daniel's and Simon's feelings about their situations, but Tasi's motivations stem solely from her husband and child, who we neither know nor have any reason to care about. The story is also muddy and scatter-brained in general. The constant jumping between locations is very disorienting, and makes the game feel more like a montage of scenes than a cohesive story. This is made worse by the baffling amount of time that's spent recovering from Tasi's "bad luck", which seems to steer her away from the main plot thread in every single hub area! The endings are also weak and unsatisfying, but I can't go into greater detail without entering spoiler territory. All in all, this one was a disappointment. But I haven't given up hope that Frictional could have another great game yet to come!
