Alternatives to Steam?

[Solomon]

It seems a lot of people are searching for alternatives today for reasons that I don't comprehend. I love Steam!

Just for the sake of discussion though, what other platforms might one use to maintain a game library, with a particular emphasis on DRM free games? I know of GOG, Matrix, Gamersgate. Any others people would recommend?

[hypercybermegatron]

I've already got 50+ games on the Epic client, but the client itself is sub par although the free games are great. My favourite client is Gog galaxy, can't wait for 2.0

[LegendaryThunder]

GoG is releasing an alternative UI with their store as the base and you just tag your directory. I don't know if it is out yet, but I might grab CP2077 there and end up installing that....

[Mysti_Fogg]

GoG would be the trustworthy one. I'm definitely not using one called Gamersgate. That's just asking for politics I disagree with.

GoG is the other platform I looked at when I was originally deciding to go digital. I mostly decided not to go with them because they are a foreign company (Polish vs. US), and they emphasized old games when I wanted new stuff. And Steam was bigger and the place to be.

Not sure if it would be better or not at this point, since they're looking at using shelves too, the way Steam has changed things. But then, it's not the picture view I have a problem with, it's how it interfaces with everything else. So maybe it's a viable option.

In terms of buying AAA games, Amazon was what I used when I first got back into gaming. It doesn't have any frills at all, and I really wanted something to sort my games (And also I dislike Amazon for working people to exhaustion, so I try not to support them).

[LegendaryThunder]

Here is a link, it's a universal program which means it makes steam obsolete.

https://www.gog.com/news/bgog_galaxy_20b_all_your_games_and_friends_in_one_place_copy3

[wuddih]

hypercybermegatron eredeti hozzászólása:

I've already got 50+ games on the Epic client, but the client itself is sub par although the free games are great. My favourite client is Gog galaxy, can't wait for 2.0

you mean this 2.0?
https://i.imgur.com/1MzAtJF.png

kinda pointless atm. manual organizing, yaaaaay ... no.

oh, and minimum requirement: windows 8 ;)

[RabidRadioactiveRaccoons]

Mysti_Fogg eredeti hozzászólása:

GoG would be the trustworthy one. I'm definitely not using one called Gamersgate. That's just asking for politics I disagree with.

I don't have too much experience with Gamersgate, but the platform existed before the movement and, to my knowledge, is completely unconnected.

[Zalfir]

I have over 500 games on Steam, is there a trustworthy alternative client I can use that will incorporate my Steam library without too much jiggering?

[Kikinaak]

I'll second gog only because they are DRM free. You dont even need their client running to run their games. This means compared to steam, if they actually angered a customer enough they could walk away and still have all their games. Steam and Epic, not so much.

There are tons of open source free games, and many more game devs that self publish, including those that self publish DRM free games. Honestly, looking at the trends and the fact that devs can publish to the net for free, Steam and Epic, and Microsoft and other software stores are going to be obsolete in a decade or less.

[MonkehMaster]

Kikinaak eredeti hozzászólása:

I'll second gog only because they are DRM free. You dont even need their client running to run their games. This means compared to steam, if they actually angered a customer enough they could walk away and still have all their games. Steam and Epic, not so much.

There are tons of open source free games, and many more game devs that self publish, including those that self publish DRM free games. Honestly, looking at the trends and the fact that devs can publish to the net for free, Steam and Epic, and Microsoft and other software stores are going to be obsolete in a decade or less.

false, game stores wont become obsolete and fyi games publishing on their own sites on the net and selling them has been around for decades, people like having their games all in one place, thats why steam became what it is and thats why game devs started using game stores.

steam isnt perfect in anyway, but its 100x better than anything else out their, they just need to start listening to feedback and learning that options to use certain features is a good thing.

example, option to use the old library view (or small mode), option to disable the preallocation nonsense, ect..

[neilencio]

As someone that got in to the GOG 2.0 beta, it's not a great alternative at this point. They're also having problems with optimization. It's a resource hog compared to their normal launcher (the flashy library graphics really need to die in a fire. They should just create a simple launcher, and then have a big picture mode for people who prioritize aesthetics.)

[Kent]

Literally just GOG.
Maybe Epic.
Most other launchers are for games exclusive to the publisher.

[MonkehMaster]

Roland of the Deep eredeti hozzászólása:

Literally just GOG.
Maybe Epic.
Most other launchers are for games exclusive to the publisher.

epic is hot garbage and the reasons why are spread across the net and its a huge list.

[Kent]

MonkehMaster eredeti hozzászólása:

Roland of the Deep eredeti hozzászólása:

Literally just GOG.
Maybe Epic.
Most other launchers are for games exclusive to the publisher.

epic is hot garbage and the reasons why are spread across the net and its a huge list.

I agree, but it is one of the few storefront + launcher platforms selling games from multiple publishers.
I'd go with GOG over Epic any day, especially if you're looking to play your games DRM free.
Heck, after what's happened I might start using GOG over Steam.

[MonkehMaster]

Roland of the Deep eredeti hozzászólása:

MonkehMaster eredeti hozzászólása:

epic is hot garbage and the reasons why are spread across the net and its a huge list.

I agree, but it is one of the few storefront + launcher platforms selling games from multiple publishers.

what like 30-40 games? compared to steams?

epic has issues that are far more than just "i can ignore" them.. anyone who thinks they should use epic needs to google its issues before hand, your only putting yourself at risk and getting 100x less features and support.

fyi, tencent is almost a majority holder in epic, watch your data.

also epic doesnt care about its customers or devs.

[Paddy Wagon]

GOG is pretty much the gold standard. DRM free games, do I have to say more. The client isn't mandatory. That's really all I want. Really that's all you need. The only problem is lack of titles.

As far as Steam goes, I hold my nose and use it sparingly. Everything after the games is non-essential. I have 15 games on Steam and four of them are freebies, 3 from AMD on one Beta. I have around 37 games on GOG and around 50 on Gamersgate [around 30 of those came in a 1c pack].

The only reason I use Steam is to purchase games that are unavailable elsewhere i.e. I am forced to use it if I want xyz title. Steams platform is based on giving developers DRM. DRM is just an industry excuse for micromanagement and unnecessary control. CDprojekt Red has proven that DRM is not a necessity.

So Steam, to me is this irrelevant middle man and sooner or later people are going to realize that.

I don't think Steam is wholly evil: I like that you can opt out of the hardware survey, I like that you can go offline. I like that they are working on their own Linux based OS [boo windows 10]. However, I still don't like automatic client updates or the fact that the client is mandatory. I don't like that games are automatically updated. I like choice. But, if they ever created a viable OS for gaming I would be all in and ignore the negatives [an alternative to Win 10 trumps all ]

I really want to keep all my games in one place and right now my go to is GOG. I wont buy games from Origin I wont purchase games from Ubisoft or any other developer who wants make their games exclusive to their own game clients and I will probably not buy any games from EPIC. I want all my stuff centralized not spread out over umteen sites. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity