[talldan]

I guess that's true, though I don't think you have to launch games through the steam app, but they try to make it convenient to do so.

You can also right-click the game and 'Browse local files' and the game's regular executable is usually right there.

I'm currently playing the Oblivion remake, and launch that through a mod manager rather than Steam (though on Windows), even though the game was installed via Steam.

[bilkow]

> though I don't think you have to launch games through the steam app, but they try to make it convenient to do so.

It depends on the game, they do offer some kind of DRM, which requires Steam to be open when launching the game, but it's optional for the developer to use it or not. See https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Digital_rights_management_...

PCGamingWiki also usually has information on whether the game is DRM-free or not, e.g.: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Hades#Availability