Steam has definitely changed the PC gaming landscape in many ways for the better, but sadly it has the side effect of becoming so synonymous with PC gaming that many gamers shudder at the idea of buying a PC game that is not on Steam. This can be problematic when it comes to games by Japanese devs, since Steam isn't as synonymous with PC gaming over there as it is here in the Americas.

I get this mentality when it comes to big-budget/AAA games, but I also feel like indie/doujin devs end up having their games passed over by many PC gamers, Westerners in particular -- as far as many PC gamers are concerned, if a game hasn't been released on Steam, it doesn't exist. Either that, or the mention of a PC game that isn't on Steam immediately invokes the retort of "oh, I bet you stan EGS/other shitty corporate storefrunts laden with DRM, huh???"

Except, no. There's certainly storefronts out there that offer great games and don't require running some CPU-chugging launcher nor do they have intrusive DRM. Here are some great PC games I've found, mainly the aforementioned indie/doujin games, that are not available on Steam. Because apparently, the idea of desktop shortcuts is too old-hat for most gamers of today.

Now to be fair, when it comes to the DLsite exclusives, DLsite can be a little screwy when it comes to payment cards. DLsite accepts my credit card, but not my debit card that's from the same bank and has the same card issuer. But if you're able to get around that, there's some great hits you can find there!

And yes, this list is mainly biased towards shmups. Whoops.