I am not looking to pirate (this time) I just want to install some specific free games in steam but I don’t like steam, they are offline and have no DRM from what I know either but if they did it’s not that hard to get rid of it anyways.
I just wanted to ask here cuz I would think people here would know for well. Obvious reasons. So ye, Is there any safe way to do this that has the games well updated and all that?
If the game is only on Steam, install Linux on a VM, install Wine in it, run SteamCMD through Wine, download the build you want, and move to your host OS.
SteamCMD is a minimalist/terminal-based version of Steam. The Windows version can be downloaded separately. However, it downloads needed libraries and I’m not sure how good Steam is at escaping Wine’s environment, so a VM adds an extra security layer. Also the command changes depending of whether it’s 32-bit or 64-bit, if it’s for Linux, MacOS or Windows, or even if it’s a previous, still public update, and it’s been some years since I used those and I don’t have the commands noted down, so can’t help with that at least right now.
Also, as others said, @Untamed_Star@lemmy.blahaj.zone, if the game is on a DRM-free-oriented platform, like GOG, Itchio, etc., you could look for those.
Additionally, looking for sources of a given game can help find where it’s less of a hassle to get it, specially through databases or adjacent, like PCGamingWiki, ITAD, NeoDB (fediverse-compatible!), GameFAQS, etc. Also apparently it isn’t uncommon for databases to cross-reference each other, so one can lead to another.