I'm not a young gamer (I'm over 30), so this may or may not be appreciated by all gamers here (especially younger ones), but here goes nothing.

I feel like there's no good option for me when it comes to PC gaming.

There's steam but I just don't see it as a viable option. I've always been big on simplicity and game ownership. I prefer to just buy the game, download the installer, install it, delete the installer or keep it, and then just play the game. No client required. No internet connection required. Unfortunately steam is none of these things. First there's the obligatory client which I don't want or need. Then there's a bunch of achievements slapped onto the client which kind of ruin the game for me. Especially since some of them are restrictive and not pleasant to get like "beat the game without collecting the X and Y upgrades". I can't ignore them, because they're there, on my account. And I can't turn their tracking off because steam doesn't have that option. For me it's either all of them or none of them, and fulfilling them all kind of feels like work. I already have work at work. I don't need another work at home when I'm trying to relax. I like to beat the game 100%, but it has to be just the game, not any external made up list of things to do for some client.

Then there's GOG which I've been using for years but I just don't have much hope for this platform anymore. Most high quality indie games never make it there. It's a combination of steam being the dominant platform and laziness of most developers/publishers. And who can blame them? They make most of their money on steam and more often than not they don't see a reason to put in a little bit of more work for a little bit of more money.

And then there are other, less known PC platforms but none of them are both DRM free and have a library as vast as steam's.

There's also consoles but I much more prefer PC gaming than console gaming.

Not sure what to do. It's either buying games on steam and learing how to crack and decouple them from the steam client completely (I would be only buying non-DENUVO games) or flat out piracy. And I don't like the second option.

I will say, "missing out" is a viable option, it's okay to completely skip some games if you're not comfortable with your options. You don't have to go make yourself poorer so corporations and indie studios that are probably wealthier than you at this point can provide you with a service you're not enjoying.

And besides, we're not in the darkest timeline yet, that'll be when Valve moves Steam to their upcoming 'minimally invasive' brain-interface system and you'll be addicted to using it because 'the real world will seem flat, colourless, blurry' in comparison.
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/valve-brain-computer-interface-video-game-b1792225.html
https://starfishneuroscience.com/

I've been playing games for about 40 years. And there are WAY more and WAY better PC games available today than ever before.

I don't have the time to play them all.

Anyway since you only gave yourself 2 options and you don't like the 2nd, I guess you already know the answer.

You should introduce yourself to JOMO. Like, why play at that dumb rat race of lowest bidder to the bottom sewer capitalism?

I don't know why you're here. Do you expect us to go, "Oh no! Please don't go! Steam bad!"

Everyone here could probably name some games that they wish were available somewhere without DRM and not on Steam because the whole point of Steam is to make you feel like you are missing out. The game you want to play is exclusive to Steam, and you'll never get to play it if you don't switch to Steam. Or the Steam version has exclusive features, like Achievements or the Steam Workshop, so that you can feel like you're missing out even if you can get the game you want without DRM on another website.

It's up to you to decide for yourself if you really are missing out as Steam wants you to feel or if you can live without those games. I have a GOG wishlist that has around 150 games on it. Why should the 10 games I want that are on Steam but not here matter more?

Because it's human nature to care more about what you don't have access to than what you do.

There is this thing called "skipping". You should try it sometime...

I must be doing human nature wrong then.

I dunno man. If a game requires me doing something i don't want to do, like installing some bullshit anti-cheat or a pointless DRM, then i just don't buy the game. These days, as much as digital only markets suck balls, there alternatives everywhere. I refused to get Helldivers 2, since it has that shitty nprotect, but i still have DRG, for example.

Most of the worthwhile Steam games show up on GoG eventually anyway.

Could be a lot better, but no way is it the darkest. The darkest is if network infrastructure was more advanced and everyone adopted their pay to play subscription service back in the 1990s. So everything would be streaming over cable/internet, devpubs and Sega/Steam/whomever can shut you off from your games anytime.

And if GOG had died in the early 2010s, but here they still are along with other DRM-free platforms and applicable devpubs that are fighting the good fight. This is why achievements are a scourge on gaming. It encourages people to be unhealthily obsessive about something that ultimately doesn't matter. Achievements doesn't make anyone a better player since no one is going to remember you 100%ing achievements in Sekiro on your deathbed as opposed to something like speedrunning. The most mentally liberating thing to do is to ignore it. Watch someone else's playthrough for games that have Denuvo on them. If legal in your country, crack the DRM on gamers you really have to use on Windows XP/7, Linux, other platform or whatever interoperability clause. And then double dip when it comes to GOG again. If you don't want to double dip, then ignore buying on Steam and just watch playthroughs.

If you're in your 30s by now, there's no game you absolutely have to experience as opposed to playing games during adolescence. I've not played popular mainstream games like Persona 5R, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, RDR2, Elden Ring, etc. yet and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything because I've lowered my standards to appreciate indies and older games more to fight the good fight. Plus, I've got other non-gaming hobbies to waste my time with.

heh

god, I feel old now

Our time on this planet is finite. In the end, not a single of your current problems matters. When the time comes and you ask yourself: "Have I lived a good life?" Do you really think that keywords like DRM, achievements, Steam, GOG, Denuvo, Anti-Cheat etc will come to your mind?

I know, right? Tis a dilemma. I haven't purchased a game since 2016.

The only answer is everyone to refuse games that are bad for us, and let the industry turn around and offer DRM-free, good experiences that are reasonably priced, that are more consumer friendly. Failure to do this will only result in bad or worse practices.

Emulation and console games that can run on cheap mini-pc's (Just set up one, a little weak on PS2 emulation but great otherwise) are still going to stay strong well into the future with new mods for games going long after the consoles have been retired. I'd rather go through my 10th playthrough of Megaman X and Chronotrigger and find a bunch of new older games to try, than worry about Denuvo and DRM.

Alternatively, check out. Read books, watch movies, get a hobby, go hiking and explore, etc. If you're physical enough you might push past 4,000 calories and be quite fit. (Yes 4000 calories was a recommended amount prior to the 90's; Then again that's before computers and video games became common place and everyone... you know, did physical hobbies like running and football, using the basketball court at school after hours, etc)

Based of average discourse on this forum,some do seem to measure their value as a person and contribution to the world based on the fact they buy drm free games lol.