You don't have to use Steam, there is at least GOG which is much better in a number of ways. Refunds not tied to playtime but available for 30 days and most ga

You don't have to use Steam, there is at least GOG which is much better in a number of ways. Refunds not tied to playtime but available for 30 days and most games (almost all currently but they have said they will start to sell DRMed online-focused games) work fully offline with no activation. They have a bunch of quality games and you can support developers who don't insist on using abusive practices. There are still some issues with obnoxious DLC practices but overall it much better. Some specific games may only be available on Steam but in general it is not at all necessary to use it. Unfortunately, besides GOG there are only a few other tiny DRM-free stores. Itch isn't that tiny but isn't super practical as a main game store (lots of junk, hard to find the quality stuff) and also isn't fully DRM-free, doesn't obviously label games the do have DRM, and each developer can decide to issue refunds or not so you can't rely on anything. The more money people spend on DRM-free games the more options there will be.