I read that Stellaris is only playable without registration up to version 2.3.3, and that a Paradox account is required above that version.

If this is true, I don’t understand why GOG not inform customers about this fact.

On the contrary, under the list of DLCs, the following statement appears:

Why buy on GOG.COM?
DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.

To me, this is misleading.

Another example is Prison Architect

Thanks to the reviewers for the warning.

So for me I can't really trust GOG, if they don't tell the truth.

Edit: I want ti post some links to the games above on the gog store, but than I can't post.
I also want to set a link to a thread on the gog forum with more examples.

You do not have a Paradox Account? Make one. I am sure you have a lot of them in other places.

You can always ask on forum, before you buy a game.

If the game has DRM, even on gog, it probably is not worth playing.

Where did you read that? That’s a plain lie.
All versions of Stellaris, including the current one, are DRM-free.

The only exception is the multiplayer mode, but GOG never cared about DRMed multiplayer (they’re actually pushing in favour of DRM inclusion in multiplayer modes). Sadly, neither do most of GOG customers.

Stellaris is insanely overpriced! So IDK the situation, but if it's anything like AoW: Planetfall (another Paradox published game) the default desktop icon will install Paradox Launcher. Launcher works offline without registration so you can normally start the game, though i consider it a PUP so i uninstalled it and launch the game normally from the no launcher .exe. Now I assume Stellaris has a similar no launcher .exe in the game files.


As far as DRM on GoG is concerned, most of the games are DRM-free, but NOT ALL!!! Some have an official warning that X Y Z features won't work without Galaxy, others don't have any warning at all, and that is completely unacceptable!
You might want to vote here: https://www.gog.com/wishlist/galaxy/end_galaxy , because i think the sooner Galaxy gets axed the sooner this place becomes 100% DRM-free again!

Also you might want to check this list for games with DRM on GoG:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/drm_on_gog_list_of_singleplayer_games_with_drm

That is not the point. If I have to made or use an account, than the game isn't realy DRM free.What is, if the service is offline or discontinued? If I have to login into an account I also could buy on steam. Thats the same. Please go to the Stellaris shop-page here on GOG and scroll down to the reviews.
It's not allowed for me to set a link. I think this is, because I'm new here.

Prison Architect also doesn't require a Paradox account (except for multiplayer, presumably), nor does it seem to have any problems running offline. It does have the Paradox Launcher bundled with it (in other words, it's NOT a prerequisite application through which you must then do a streaming installation of the game, as I guess might be the case if you buy the game elsewhere), but you don't have to interact with it in any way, and I'm not sure whether it even affects the single-player game if you uninstall the launcher.

One thing to bear in mind is that these days, many people's personal definition of DRM has been muddied by their acceptance of mandatory store/publisher/developer "launcher" applications. Some people only consider a game to have DRM if it comes with single-purpose DRM software like Denuvo, or has restrictions like a limited number of installations or needing to be connected to a specific server to even play single-player, while they ignore ignore prerequisite launchers (and the attendant fact that streaming installation is the only official way to download or install the actual game) because they like enough of their other "bonus" features -- because something toxic couldn't ever taste good, right?...
Meanwhile, other people consider everything even remotely unpleasant or restrictive in any sense (even in a mostly theoretical legal sense) to be DRM: specifically, there are plenty of people who think an EULA by itself is (or can be) DRM, even when the game it accompanies has no ability to communicate remotely (even for telemetry) and no "other" DRM of any kind -- thus no way to actually report any infractions of the license agreement's terms, nor to enforce any punishments.
All this is to say that it might be a good idea to be as critical of user reviews as you are of a store's public-facing promises or "ad copy". Aside from the fact that some people are incompetent with computers, generally stupid, trollish, or even delusional -- some also just don't use certain terms the same way you might. :)

Yeeeeah, I wouldn't trust most low reviews on GOG. Got a lot of people here who couldn't pour water out of a boot if the instruction was inside the shoe.

Just tested, standard procedure...

* Downloaded offline installers.
* Disconnected from network.
* Exited Galaxy (v1 is on this computer).
* Terminated any remaining GOG or Galaxy services running.
* Installed from offline installers.
* Started game.
* It runs just fine. (First start clearly takes a while -- probably compiling shaders.)
* Made config changes and exited.
* Started again, settings persisted.
* Start game from main menu. It started. (I just went with all the defaults).
* Saved game, exited.
* Restarted game, saved game loads fine.

I then repeated the last few of that (saving/loading/etc) from direct stellaris.exe that runs the game directly, without the dowser.exe launcher bullshit. It all tested good.

ISSUE: The game on first launch did install a separate "Paradox Launcher", even while I was offline. This was NOT the dowser.exe, but something separate. Basically Paradox' own store...

Then I re-enabled the network devices the above continued to work fine except "dowser" had ads and did nag to sign in. It let me continue without, but nagged.

HOWEVER if you do run the "Paradox Launcher" that Stellaris installed, while online, it gives you nothing but a login screen. This is a separate application, different icon. This does nothing without a login.

Even after using this launcher, while online (without ever logging in), "dowser" and "stellaris" both execute fine without any logins, with or without an Internet connection.

This was only base game; none of the DLCs.
I didn't actually play the game; only created a new match, saved, exited, and loaded it on opening again. This is pure, conjectured bullshit pulled out to denigrate and disparage actual DRM-free gamers [like myself] by people who are OK with DRM (or otherwise are bad people) by their intentionally being obtuse and attempting to muddy waters.

Unlike what other people reported above, my build of Stellaris does not (and never did) include any kind of Paradox launcher.

It might be a difference between the Windows and Linux builds of Stellaris, or could be related to the install method I use (I generate native Linux packages from the GOG installers, then install these packages).

--- I guess you are talking about the following review (they can’t be linked to): What is written in there is just plain wrong, as I just wrote the game does not require any kind of launcher, be it GOG Galaxy or the Paradox one.

Thanks, that this was officially clarified, but I wonder, that the wrong reviews are online since years and Prison Architect have a lot of these reviews and lots of likes. So it's nearly the first you read, if you look into the reviews.

Can you play the game without a Paradox Account?

Yes you can

And if you need a Paradox account for the multiplayer it is a matter of who manage the servers. If you are interested to play multi create an account.

Either no one has reported them in the past, or if they were reported, no one took care to remove or correct the false information contained in those reviews. :)

"By playing any game published by Paradox Interactive AB, you (i) agree to be bound by the User Agreement and (ii) confirm that you have read and understood the Privacy Policy.

Paradox User Agreement:
https://legal.paradoxplaza.com/eula?locale=en"

Therein:
"3.
You may need a Paradox Account to get the full experience of a Service."

You missed a bit.

You missed a bit of key context from the reviews that you read. One word, in fact - multiplayer.
To paraphrase a kind user :
"GOG.com is D.R.M.-free, but in order to play multiplayer, you need to create a Paradox account. The Paradox account does not relate to your GOG.com account or your copy of the game. Its purpose? to enable access to the the Paradox servers without using the API of the GOG Galaxy client as a middleman (unlike Steam, which requires its client to be open for even many single-player titles); so you can utilise this multiplayer feature kindly hosted by Paradox without any pesky interference from extraneous parties.