Well I kinda thought it would be. I more was talking about crashing issues and other problems since since Steam version appears to be having issues.

So far, I have not experienced any issues or noted any differences.

i don't know if this belongs better in another thread. but mafia II (classic) tries to connect to 2k servers for a very long time shortly after starting. after that an error message comes up that a connection is not possible because my pc is offline. after that the hint that i can continue offline. still looks all like launcher to me and only half removed DRM on the part of 2k.

Or is that just an empty shell of the 2k launcher and was 2k just too lazy to remove that for the drm free gog version?

What happened here? Did GOG decide to delete the thread and for some reason only mod posts remained? Or was the deletion of the content of this thread an 'accident'?

In any case it is shameful that GOG deletes information, that it actually should provide themselves. Since you decided to sell partially DRM-ed games, you should at least indicate the presence of DRM clearly on the game pages. Since you don't do that, at least restore this thread with all it's content!


EDIT: sorry, it was apparently a genuine hiccup of the forum software. The thread has been restored already. Thank you!

I see that King of Seas is on the list with the note "Possibly a bug, but it isn't possible to save the game without Galaxy".

Not sure if it was mentioned before (an AF search didn't bring up anything), but there's an easy workaround posted by Splatsch (and confirmed by others) in the game forum.

Still counts from where I'm standing, if the game itself, as it normally installs, doesn't work properly on its own.

# off-topic #
What you had encountered is not a forum bug, it is a feature. ;-)
In the forum summary, when you click on the question mark picture between the topic title and the number of replies (see attached screenshot), you get a filtered view of that thread with only the staff's posts.
This URL has "?staff=yes" appended to the normal one like in https://www.gog.com/forum/general/drm_on_gog_list_of_singleplayer_games_with_drm?staff=yes
# /off-topic #

[edit : typo]

As long as the workaround isn't implemented by GOG, they still sell the game with DRM. Almost all DRM can be cracked by someone. That doesn't make a game DRM free.

Still, it is good to know that there is a workaround. Thanks for pointing it out.
Oops. Then I must have misclicked on my mobile.

@Cavalary and @Lifthrasil, of course it still counts as DRM'd, never meant to imply it's not because of the workaround.

Main reason I pointed it out was to draw attention to the fact that said workaround, as simple as it is, tells GOG exactly where the problem lies, yet they haven't bothered to fix the game all this time.

On the side, I thought of giving it a bit more visibility for those wanting to play the game, and are stuck waiting for GOG to act.

Should have gone into details yesterday, was a bit too tired; sorry.

Cult of the Lamb is a single-player game sold on GOG but seems to employ DRM that freezes the game, as if it was a bug.

steamcommunity.com/app/1313140/discussions/1/3761104049342941821/

fullnewb writes:

[i]"Hi,
I am playing CotL:CE on my Steam Deck (GoG Version) with Proton. Sadly I encountered various issues, that finally rendered me unable to progress. Currently I am at day 1 and I've just build a temple. After holding the sermon and selecting my first ability, the character is stuck in the sermon-animation. I can not open any menus and save or anything, I need to kill the game and start it again. Unfortunatly the game starts before the sermon then again. Any help?

I have had the same issue at the very behinning whwn talking to The One Who Waits, but there at least the menu worked and after going to the Main Menu it suddenly worked for whatever reason. But here the Main Menu is unavailable."[/i]

The developer replies:

"This issue can happen in offline mode or while pirating."

That's pretty damning. Later in the thread, posted by an account marked as developer:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1313140/discussions/1/3761104049342941821/#c3761104049343589966 EDIT: I was able to replicate this... Both of the issues reported in the top post of the linked thread.
EDIT2: Another ticket opened. This is at least 3 now [not that GOG lets you check unless you mine through your emails, because, for whatever reason, they disabled the 'view my tickets' page]... I'm really getting rather upset over here.

EDIT3: The actual issues, repeated here:
Right at the start, after you move up and do some dialog, you're offered a prompt. Choosing the right prompt of the two will prevent progress if offline. Choosing the left option does allow you to continue.

Later (not much later, still during the lengthy-ish tutorial), the first time you perform a sermon after building a temple, the game will prevent progression. It's not that the game freezes (animations still go), but no input does anything, not even menus. Only ALT-F4/etc. This one prevents any further progress, since it's a mandatory action to continue. And it's not simply enough to have Galaxy running. You have to have it running AND be logged in AND be actively online.

Ok, this is DRM and the developer nonchalantly equating offline play with pirated games seems to show that they welcome this 'bug' as de-facto DRM.

But whether intentional or a bug, on the list it goes. Please keep me informed, if the dev removes the DRM. I'll remove the game from the list then.

That developer sounds like a great guy, lol. If online locks or even just Galaxy locks are present, the game should be delisted until the developer gets around to fixing it; if they never get around to fixing it, then good riddance.

Given what's been told, it sounds as something that happened to Necrobarista too (and that thankfully has since been fixed):
Poorly applied achievement API.

Necrobarista would freeze whenever you were supposed to get an achievement without having Galaxy running in the background. And this was easy to spot because you'd get an achievement as soon as you got past the opening, which happens in some 5 minutes from gameplay, iirc.

It's possible, but, looking at the possible achievements list, some others should have occurred earlier/outside of this and weren't blockers. ("Defeat the first mini-boss", "cook a follower meal", "first follower" all would have been before this and didn't block progression for achieving while offline.) So, if it is, it's weird internal workings.

And, aside, the offline installers should properly be shimmed such that they can't block like this. It should accept all the Galaxy calls and immediately reply with "OK!" for things like this.