GOG's Preservation Program Is the DRM-Free Store Refocusing on the Classics

I have flip-flopped between GOG and Steam for many years. This has correlated with my use of Linux and Linux's support for gaming.

When I first learned of GOG and I was still primarily gaming on Windows I tended to choose GOG over Steam since I prefer their DRM-free games. However since it became much easier to game on Linux (thanks to Proton and the work of Valve), I tended to start buying more on Steam since it was so much easier to get games working through their platform. Since Heroic launcher came out I have now switched back to primarily buying from GOG again.

The big difference is being able to download games / installers locally and expect them to work without having to first sign in to an account.

you can only do that with gog, not with steam

ps: however, there have been a few games where multiplayer features required a gog galaxy instance, which I don't agree with given their whole no-DRM spiel

There are DRM free games on steam, you can use steamcmd cli to download them and run without having to use steam itself. Its up to the dev/publisher if they want DRM or not.

The number of games like this (that work without Steam) is vanishingly small ime, and there is no way to tell in advance whether a game will work or not. (I have actually had a lot more success with the Epic Games Store.)