Unfortunately, this list has become necessary. GOG has publicly stated, that they are OK with selling DRM-ed games through Galaxy (the Epic deal). But the website stays 100% DRM-free, right? Wrong! There are some games that have DRM on parts of the single player campaign. So far only parts of single player games are DRM-ed. But those parts are getting bigger. From pure cosmetics, to actual quests. So let's compile a list of games that aren't really 100% DRM-free, so that buyers may beware. Please tell us of all examples that you know of - and correct me, if I unjustly deem a game as DRM-ed. I'll try to keep the list up to date. I will also include instances of 'soft' or 'only cosmetic' DRM, that don't really affect the gameplay. So everyone is free to decide for themselves whether the DRM (or not-really-DRM) reported is bad for them or not.

Absolver - Boss re-matches are locked behind an online requirement. Boss loot too. As well as some techniques that can be used in offline play but can only be learned online. Absolver also installs the invasive EAC anti-cheat software even for single player and won't start without it.

Age of Wonders III - cosmetic/name only: it is impossible to create a single player profile. Without connection to the server you have to play as 'Guest'.

Baldur's Gate 3 - has Twitch drops which require Galaxy and a connected Larian account. And Twitch of course.

Battletech - cosmetic. Decorations and emblems, that disappear from single-player if one isn't online.

Carcassonne Tiles & Tactics - the 'free' DLC "The Abbot" requires a third party account and registration with the publisher.

Coromon - contains a cosmetics shop that is only available if you are online (Galaxy and CoroNet dependency)

Cyberpunk 2077 - Rewards, which are single-player content, require connecting the game to your account via Galaxy. A blue one officially stated this.
Cyberpunk 2077 - Piggyback Interactive Map - requires an online connection to a 3rd party to work.
Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty- contains cosmetic content and special weapons that are locked behind a required connection of your account to Twitch and watching Twitch streams.

DEFCON - Linux: Game contacts a key verification server as described here. Win and Mac have offline executables that skip the verification. But under Linux there is no DRM-free offline executable.

Disciples II - Rise of the Elves - added a mini-campaign in v3.01, which requires Galaxy.

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen The strongest armor set in the game (which is usable in single player) and some masks can only be obtained by fighting the online Ur-Dragon. The offline version never drops them.

Dungeon of the Endless, - No Dust can be collected from Monsters in offline mode. This is a bug that was fixed for the Galaxy version in 2023, but never for the offline version.

Dying Light - 'free' weapons and other items that are only available in Singleplayer if you go online.

Expeditions: Rome - has Twitch drops. I.e. DRMed content distributed through Twitch. Strictly speaking this DRMed content isn't sold by GOG but added via someone else, but it is enabled by GOG, through Galaxy. So YMMV whether this counts as DRM in a GOG game or is 'just second class treatment'.

F.E.A.R. - arguably a bug that stays unfixed. Securom remnants weren't removed and can cause the single player game not to start. See post 41

Forced Showdown - contains a warning: you need to be online via Galaxy to access some features. However, those don't even work. So that content would be DRMed by design, but is in reality just not available. See here.

King of Seas - Possibly a bug, but it isn't possible to save the game without Galaxy.

Multiwinia - connects to a key verification server. See description here.

No Man's Sky - the quicksilver shop required you to register online. However, that requirement was patched out by Hello Games in v3.13.
But as of version 3.84_Sentinel_84011, the offline version is again missing features: pure offline players recieve no discovery rewards from The Anomaly, no free emergency broadcast missions and no Quickilver missions from The Nexus. Discussed here: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/drm_on_gog_list_of_singleplayer_games_with_drm/post745

Prison Tycoon: Under New Management - the main game is DRM free. The add-ons require Galaxy. They don't show up in game after an offline installation on an offline computer.

Quilts and Cats of Calico - arguably a bug that acts as DRM, but GOG has made no effort to fix it so far. The game crashes in some places if Galaxy isn't running and therefore cannot be finished in offline mode. Discussed here.

Realms of the Haunting - The recent update that adds the US version and some features (https://realmsofthehaunting.com/editions_differences.php) is only available via Galaxy. The offline installers didn't get these features.

Saintsrow - The Third Remastered - character designs are only stored through Galaxy. As are keybindings and some other settings. Update June 2022: GOG stated a year ago that they would investigate the issue. But it wasn't fixed.

SkyDrift Infinity - a plane and some skins have to be unlocked online.

Spellforce 3 - Skirmishes against the AI require an online connection.

Starsand: - Probably accidental 'DRM' that the dev doesn't bother to fix. The game has to be started through Galaxy, or it won't work. But there seems to be a workaround: (https://www.gog.com/forum/starsand/here_is_a_fix_for_the_offline_installer_version/page1)

Stronghold: Warlords - cosmetic. Some Warlord-skins are locked behind an online registration.

Synthetik: Legion Rising - some weapons and other starting gear are locked behind a Galaxy requirement and a newsletter registration.

Tales of Maj'Eyal - While the game itself is GPL-ed open source, an online connection (and account with te4.org) is required to gain access to extra features like in-game special events and cosmetic addons. Details here.

The Crackpot Show - The Happy Tree Friends DLC - has to be installed and activated through Galaxy. Otherwise it won't work. The offline installer is useless and GOG doesn't intend to fix this problem. Discussed here.

The Last Blade 2 - supposed offline achievements only: the 'game progress' Gallery is only saved via Galaxy. There are separate online Galaxy achievements. The gallery is something different. The game doesn't have save games, being an old arcade game. Instead, it saves progress in the form of gallery pictures. But those unlocks are only saved online.

The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt - the rewards introduced in the update in 12/2022 require Galaxy. GOG pretends that they are 'rewards for owning the game' but they aren't available in the offline backup installers. You have to verify your game by starting it through Galaxy. https://www.thewitcher.com/en/my-rewards

Two Point Hospital - part of the single-player content is gated through online connectivity. I.e. one has to register online and be online to unlock. Plus: core gamplay mechanics (staff handling, diagnostics) are bugged in offline mode.

Warhammer Underworlds – Shadespire Edition - needs an online connection for cosmetic content and to stop nagging. See here and here for details.

X4 - Foundations - cosmetic. Online registration is needed for some ship designs, paints and features.

.

Dishonorable mention:

Trust No One - to progress in the game you need to acquire codes by mailing to the developer. There is no check of ownership included, but it ties the game progress to the developer's server. Once that is down, the game progress is prevented. The same is true for offline systems without internet access. If you can't mail to the developer, you can't finish the game.

FYI:
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2.: Not DRM, but the game installed EAC. Which can be disabled with the -noEAC option. Check reviews.

FYI: a statement by a GOG blue, reported by mqstout, clarifies GOG's new stance on DRM:

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Legacy cases: either not DRM-ed or not on GOG anymore:

A castle full of cats - Arcade mode, that unlocks after completing the game, required both Galaxy and being online. But this was fixed in a patch in June 2024

Beat Hazard 2 - had online DRM. The game could be started but couldn't be played without creating a player profile and save game online. But this was fixed in June 2024

Crysis Warhead 32 bit version, build "1.1.1.711 (gog-4)" - still had the 'chicken' DRM active. But it was removed from GOG 'for technical reasons'. Now only the 64- bit version is available.

Cult of the Lamb - game froze during the first sermon, rendering further progress impossible, unless one plays the game through Galaxy and is online. The game was therefore fully DRMed, but that was fixed in the Relics of the old Faith update, Apr.2023

Fishing: North Atlantic - Scallops Expansion. - does not work without Galaxy. In other words: this DLC is COMPLETELY DRM-ED!
DRM was removed by a patch in 01/2024

HITMAN - Game of The Year Edition - ALL the progression (completed challanges, unlocks like weapons, disguises, gadgets and starting points) is only stored online. Also, like the game page admits, some single-player missions (escalation, elusive target) and user created content require an always online connection. But the game was removed from GOG, following protests from the community.

Hybrid Wars - one of three characters for single-player was only available through online registration. The game was removed from GOG. Of course the game is still available for those that bought it. But at least it isn't sold any longer.

Nex Machina required Galaxy to save your highscore, which unlocks further levels. That meant those levels stayed locked if you didn't use Galaxy! But it was fixed. Don't know when the fix occurred, but as of March 2021 it is DRM-free for single player again.

Necrobarista - not DRM, but it was a bug: Neverending loading screen between episodes, that only goes away if Galaxy is running. But it was fixed with the October 2021 patch. The lead programmer took care of it personally.

Northgard - solo mode required Galaxy. But according to GOG and the devs, that was a bug and as of 02.04.2021 the solo mode is DRM-free again. ... However, it was still not possible to select opponents for skirmishes in offline mode. You need to be online to select an opponent for offline skirmish mode. But as of 05.06.2022 solo mode now doesn't require Galaxy to select opponents anymore. Northgard is finally DRM-free again.

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts - had spyware (arguably not DRM. You decide.): "Easy Anti Cheat" spyware was installed with the game, which is especially ridiculous, since the game doesn't even have multiplayer, according to it's page. However, it was removed in patch 1.08 (https://www.gog.com/forum/sniper_ghost_warrior_series/sniper_ghost_warrior_contracts_changelog/post4)

Starsand - Depended on Galaxy, but this was fixed.

Sudocats - the 'Random Puzzle' game mode required Galaxy. Without Galaxy, the game crashed. Seems to have been a bug that was fixed.

Tempest - crashed when started without Galaxy. Fixed in update 1.7.5

Wasteland 3 The pre-order goods required online verification, but that was patched out in patch 1.3

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[Multiplayer]


Note: a list for games that require the use of CD-keys can be found here. So I won't include them in this list again.

A list of multiplayer games with DRM will get very, very long. After all GOG likes to pretend that DRM is 'necessary for multiplayer!' It would be easier to just assume that all multiplayer games, that aren't on the 'DRM-free multiplayer list', are DRM-ed.
I can compile a list of the multiplayer DRM offenders here too. In any case, I'll start with the worst offender. For the rest, I'll require your input since I don't play multiplayer games myself. So this list will probably remain incomplete.

Worst offender:
GWENT - microtransactions are the sole reason for this game to exist. So of course it needs DRM, because otherwise the purchases couldn't be related to an account. A micro-transaction driven game on GOG was quite a shock at the time. By now almost everyone has gotten used to it and the game set a precedent.

Dishonorable mention: Thronebreaker While neither a multiplayer game nor itself DRM-ed, buying Thronebreaker will also add the above mentioned Gwent to your account, if you want or not. Also it adds some DRM-ed bonus content to Gwent.

List of games that require GOG Galaxy for multiplayer, if there is more (like a third party account), it will be mentioned in the description. Please note, that GOG will NOT warn on the game page about the Galaxy requirement in all cases. Sometimes they 'forget' that warning.
8-Bit-Armies and Hordes
A Game of Thrones: The Board Game - local multiplayer is not supported and online play requires an asmodee.net account
Absolver
Age of Wonders 3: All modes except Hotseat require a unique CD key, which will be located in your game shelf, and an on-line account with Triumph Studios.
Alien Versus Predator Classic 2000
Ancestors Legacy
Aragami
Ashes of the Singularity
Baseball Stars 2
Battletech: third party. you do need a Paradox Account to challenge other players in 1v1 multiplayer matches and to redeem unlock codes for Kickstarter Backer or Pre-Order DLC.
Battlezone 98 Redux:
Carcassonne - Tiles & Tactics: third party account required for online multiplayer.
Craft The World + DLCs
Deathtrap
Descent Underground
Double Dragon Trilogy
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
Dying Light
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Gauntlet™ Slayer Edition
Gauntlet™ Slayer Edition - Lilith the Necromancer Pack
Gremlins Inc.
Homeworld® Remastered Collection
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
Iron Harvest
Master of Orion 2016
Metal Slug, 2, X and 3
NecroLand: Undead Corps - online battle royale...
No Man's Sky:
Northgard
Offworld Trading Company
Phantom Doctrine
Rise of the Triad (2013)
Roboquest
Serious Sam's Bogus Detour
Shadow Warrior 2
Shock Troopers
Shock Troopers: 2nd. Squad
SkyDrift Infinity (doesn't need Galaxy, but requires connection to the dev's server)
STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II (Classic, 2005) - Also has a Galaxy-free multi-player version (classic installer)
Streets of Rage 4
Stronghold Crusader 2
Synthetic Legion Rising
THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIII GALAXY EDITION
The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Final Edition (unverified)
The Last Blade
Tooth and Tail
Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power
Twinkle Star Sprites
Vikings-Wolves of Midgard
Warhammer 40000 Battlesector (either Galaxy or Slitherine account required for multiplayer)
Wingspan
Witcher Adventure Game, The
Worms W.M.D

Well, I think there are various games which have some online feature for offering daily/weekly challenges, but claiming anything you can't access purely offline is some sort of DRM seems like quite a stretch to me.

Metal Gear Solid technically has some DRM where you had to look up a radio frequency on the back of physical box.

I don't think Hybrid Wars was removed because GOG wanted it to be. Pretty sure it was removed from sale everywhere because Wargaming decided to kill it.

No, if it is a part of the single player game that requires you to go online, then it is DRM. The only remaining promise of GOG, after lots of broken promises, was '100% DRM-free single-player'. I.e. single-player can be played offline. 100%. If there are quests/events in the single-player games that require you to be online, then it isn't 100% offline playable and not 100% DRM-free.

If those events you speak of are multiplayer-events only, then I don't care. At least then they don't affect the single-player games.

A code on the back of the physical box isn't exactly digital. Like the Monkey Island code wheel it is more physical than digital. But of course on GOG games such a copy protection should be patched out, like they were in the case of the Monkey Island games. That's possible. Still, good riddance!

Having to install an anti-cheat software, while it can be argued how "invasive" it is or not, has nothing to do with DRM as long as it can be done while offline and doesn't prevent the game from itself being played offline. No they never said that, the only official statement we had for now is one of the blue telling us that they are in contact with HG to see what can be done. For the tickets part the thing you are conveniently ignoring every time is that it's the case for every game with technical issue, they close the tickets as "solved" as soon as they transfer it to product team even if the issue itself is not yet solved. And it happened before for games where the issue was finally solved like the Escapist Walking Dead game that for some time didn't work offline.

I think the 8 bit series has multiplayer through galaxy lock if i'm not mistaken.
you can't simply put it on two computers you own to functionally use your multiplayer licence in a multibox setup because it relies on your galaxy username and won't allow using that same name twice in a local lan lobby.

Hopefully not!


Thanks a lot for starting this list, glad you're including the cosmetic only ones too. So sad what's happened to Gog recently :-(

I would argue that any system that prevents modified versions from running would count as a form of DRM. (In particular, anything that would prevent one from cheating either by modifying the executable, the save file, or using something like Cheat Engine would be considered DRM to me.)

This statement requires corroboration via you posting verbatim quotations of both a) what message was submitted to GOG about this and b) what GOG's response to that same submission was.

"Age of Wonders III".

Let me explain it.

Yes, you can play the single player part of it. Without creating a account on the devs website.
But you allways have to play as "GUEST" on every session.
And i say this is some kind of DRM and discrimination.

In a true DRM free GOG adaption. It must be possible, to offline create my own Single Player Profile, for the campaigns.

We already have one, kind of:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/lists_games_that_need_galaxy_for_multiplayer_and_the_ones_that_dont/page1

The problem with this list is that it does not consider games that require registration with third party services to play online, Also it doesn't consider things like CD key restrictions. Fully agree. I have no idea what EAC in particular does, but the ability to modify game binaries, load custom dlls, or run them on a system without official dlls from Microsoft is absolutely vital to ensure the game can be patched and run e.g. on Wine.

Well, Easy Anti Cheat is a spyware that monitors your system and uploads snapshots / hashes of it to a server. So it does require an online connection now and then. Check the Absolver forums. There are some instances of EAC blocking players from starting an offline game. I would say everyone is free to decide for themselves whether spyware is DRM-equivalent for them or not. Same with DRM on cosmetic parts of a game. That's why I include cosmetic DRM too - everyone can decide whether to tolerate that or not.

I, for one, don't. I reluctantly accepted that GOG sells DRM-ed multiplayer games, because I don't play multiplayer. So it didn't affect me. But this increasing infestation of single player games with increasing percentages of DRM-ed parts worries me. Or more precisely: it shows that my suspicion was correct that GOG actually does want to sell DRM-ed games. They just have to take small steps to get there to appease their remaining customer base.

It would be way more honest if they would just openly state: "Hey, we decided to sell DRM-ed games too, now." just like they did with regional pricing, regional restrictions and all their other broken promises. However, this time they won't be so honest, since they know that their pretended 'anti-DRM' stance is the only thing setting them apart among the many online store. So marketing will keep pretending that GOG is anti-DRM, while in reality they will try to sell as many games as possible, no matter whether they have DRM or not.

And since GOG doesn't even warn on the product pages whether there is DRM and to what degree, it is important to collect this information in a list. Like we did with regional pricing and regional restrictions.

If it is an online multiplayer game against unknown participants, I actually prefer DRM because that makes it easier for the admins to completely ban cheaters for good, at least in games where you either have to buy the game in order to play, or there is some kind of ID verification which can't be easily fooled.

Team Fortress 2 is pretty shit nowadays due to constant influx of cheater bots which make the game impossible to play, and whose main point seem to be to annoy other players (like lately there have been bots which start playing some kind of loud scratchy sound to annoy you, and earlier there were the lag-bots which caused the game to become laggy for all players in the server, and crash the whole server if someone started a votekick to kick out the bot... nice.).

The reason Valve can't get rid of the cheater bots is because even if they keep banning them (the whole Steam account from which a cheater bot is running), the cheater system apparently just creates a new free Steam account so that a new bot can run on it. It is all automated apparently, even creating several Steam accounts within seconds.

At the same time, the "competitive" side of Team Fortress 2 is apparently free of cheaters because in order to access it, you actually have to pay a bit of money (and I think also give your valid phone number). So it is the combination of requiring a small amount of money, and/or identification with your phone, that makes sure automated cheater bots can't get into the competitive multiplayer part, and human cheaters are wary of cheating on the competitive side either (because then they risk getting ban on an account where they have spent money).

Too bad the TF2 competitive multiplayer sucks balls compared to the free casual play, as it takes ages to join a game, and you can't freely choose what map to play. Yuck.

Read here: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/no_mans_sky_isnt_fully_drmfree/post486

I got the same reply.
My message to support was: After a long while, support replied: Upon which GOG closed the ticket as 'solved'. I protested that 'no comment' is no solution, but the ticket was closed as 'solved' again. This time with no reply, just an automated 'your ticket has been solved' mail.

Now some argue that this is just a standard 'We can't do anything about this, it's up to the dev to solve it' support reply and that closing tickets as 'solved' is just the Support way of saying: 'Don't bother us with this'. So it is not a public statement that GOG wants to sell DRM-ed games. But it shows some things:
- GOG doesn't see this instance of DRM, which was introduced via an update, as a bug.
- This instance of DRM is not a bug, but was placed there intentionally.
- There were instances in the past where DRM remnants were accidentally on a game. Those were cases that Support could fix - it is their job to fix things that are broken. The lower two solutions suggested by me would be tasks for support.
- The fact that support uses 'solved' instead of 'deferred' or 'escalated', shows that they really have no intent of solving the issue. Someone stated that that is business as usual. That support escalates things to some higher level where nothing ever happens. But this is A) a very sad state of the support and B) a difference to how GOG used to react to accidental DRM in the past.

Now, on the 'reasonable doubt' side: Chandra said two months ago that GOG contacted Hello Games about this. But it was never revealed how that contact looked and what the reply was, if any. Follow up questions are ignored. Both by Chandra, by other blues and by support. So GOG doesn't want to do anything about the problem but wants to sweep it under the rug.