GOG gently reminds us that it's the leading PC gaming platform to offer full DRM-free games — yes, you can keep them forever

GOG is an unsung hero among digital storefronts, as it sells digital games without Digital Rights Management (DRM). By buying games from GOG.com, you will be able to download a standalone, offline installer for each title, granting you permanent ownership of them.

With this, you can play games offline, back up files, and install them on your hard drive without needing to log in to a store's launcher. Not to mention, you won't have to worry about a game becoming unplayable due to its publisher's dedicated launcher not working (e.g., Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced) or being permanently blocked if it's tied to a compromised Microsoft account.

Not to mention that, in some cases, having DRM restrictions lifted from a game will actually increase its performance so it can achieve higher frame rates for smoother gameplay.

On top of that, GOG states that you can even save the games you buy on their storefront to discs and trade them with your friends, should you wish.

You can download a game's offline installer from a GOG account, create a disc image, and then burn it onto a blank CD-R, DVD-R, or BD-R disc.

Windows Central's take

I was already a fan of GOG as it helped preserve some of my favorite childhood games on PC like Breath of Fire 4 and Dino Crisis 2, but it's now becoming my main go-to storefront for digital PC games in light of recent events.

I'm concerned that the thousands of pounds' worth of games could be taken by corporations who don't care for preserving games or respecting people's digital property. So being able to buy and back them up permanently on my computer or discs via GOG is beyond reassuring and gives me hope that we can still own the games we worked so hard to earn.