Steam at least lists stuff like Denuvo or requirement for third party account or launcher on the game page. I’m not sure if everything is covered on the Steam game pages, but that is a good first starting point. Useful resources for general PC games are also steam.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games and pcgamingwiki.com/…/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games… For consoles there is www.doesitplay.org , which lists if games are playable offline or do require additional downloads by checking stuff like additional log-ins and such. On that site there is also a filter for PC (Arch and several Windows versions), but there is only a handful of games there; the main focus is consoles (and handhelds).
Unfortunately it often takes a lot of research to find out which ones are which. Store pages can be really bad at conveying that sort of thing.
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 3 hours ago
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
I’m not sure if everything is covered on the Steam game pages, but that is a good first starting point.
It’s worse than that, actually. They technically provide all of the resources to inform the customer of this stuff, but it isn’t enforced. Palworld used to say that it requires an internet connection in the Steam Deck verified section, but that wasn’t actually true. Every Borderlands game except for BL1 GOTY edition has LAN play, meaning that series will survive a server shutdown, but two of them don’t list it; my guess is that the person managing the page doesn’t know or care. I’ve got a friend, as we speak, looking into which features of 007 First Light still work without an internet connection, which I wouldn’t even know was worth checking if it wasn’t for IO Interactive pulling new shenanigans with the latest Hitman games (he’s being more thorough, but the initial assessment is that it might restrict access to the challenge rooms).
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 3 hours ago
Just an example: for First Light on PS5, a download is required to play the game, as only the first mission is on disc. And for those of specific PS5 consoles (listed in the link I will provide) one needs to activate the game to play in the first place. These information can be found here: www.doesitplay.org/game/…/PS5 Pro?region=PEGI&ver…
Without laws enforcing this, and just bringing awareness to consumers, will continue destroying games.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
I don’t have a PS5, and I only play on PC, so every game requires a download to play it. But I do think that if this criteria matters to other folks and this site still doesn’t cover the part that matters to me, it’s demonstrative of all the ways that studios have compromised the products they sold to us.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 hours ago
Don’t people look into games before buying them?
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
You have to first understand the ways in which you can be burned, which takes lived experience.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 1 hour ago
Yeah, now I don’t buy anything from devs I haven’t heard of until its been out a while to see if people still care about it. No more jumping on what ever is popular this week only to never play it again.
If I have played a game of theirs before then I am more willing to buy early on.