I’d like to get back into playing video games, but I don’t want to have to sign up for an online service like Steam or Ubisoft Connect.
I love technical sandbox games like Scrap Mechanic, especially if they have a “creative mode” that allows me to just make stuff.
Minecraft.
You can get partway to Scrap Mechanic with Minecraft and the Create Mod.
Quite a few, actually. And it’s worth mentioning that many games, while sold via steam, can also be bought directly from the makers. Factorio and Songs of Syx come to mind.
If you’re worried about DRM then look at GOG.com - they sell DRM free games, and you can download the installers direct from their website if you don’t want to use their client and want permanent backups. The installers are not online either. I have a large library of classics and new games from them.
I came across GOG just the other day. Looks great!
Vintage Story.
kpatience (freecell)
sgt-puzzles
globalization 2 (an old, barely maintained RTS)
picmi
Doom - bought the wads from steam, but play them on gzdoom
Mario kart
Pokemon HG, FR
Pirate em. Then you don’t gotta sign up for anything
I like the way you think.
I’ve been obsessing over RimWorld again after finding out about Biotech and Anomaly which I had to get. I have it on GOG for some reason. Either it was on sale at some point or was given out free. But it’s the only not old game I have on there and not on Steam; but I added it to Steam as a non-Steam game.
And then there’s all the old games I have on there that may or may not also be on Steam. They weren’t on Steam when I got them originally, but some have since been put on Steam (like Heretic and Hexen).
I also own ARMA 2 through Greenman Gaming, all the borderlands and Civ 6 on Epic (because free), and most of the Battlefield games and the C&C complete pack on EA’s bullshit.
I’m not sure if you are in the same boat, but I bought ARMA 2 and Operation Arrowhead many years back directly from the dev’s website. I logged into their site about a year ago, copied the registration keys, pasted them into Steam, and was able to redeem it through Steam directly. If your games have CD keys, Steam can oftentimes accept those directly like you are entering a Steam product key. I think you put it into the field where you enter Steam gift cards and product keys.
I think itch.io might allow game purchases without any account, depending in the game, but even getting drm-free games is almost always going to require some kind of account somewhere. There’s always the “high seas”, but that’s not something everyone is comfortable with.
GOG is probably your best option for completely DRM free games, and fwiw, a lot of Steam games don’t require you to use Steam to launch them. A fairly thorough list is kept here: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam
