*UPDATE*
Some users on Reddit have pointed out a possible work-around to Subnautica forcing the Epic Games Store to launch.
Here’s a link to a Reddit thread containing reported work-arounds.
While it’s definitely worth a shot, not everyone is having success.
Some users have also reported that the work-around is only a temporary fix and you may have to log in to the Epic Games Store from time to time to continue to have access to the game.
While the game could still be played online(ish), it’s a shame to be a purely single player game have force DRM implemented, especially since it was given away for free.
Original Post-
Epic Games has taken a lot of flak for some of their store’s lack of features, but it looks one feature it remembered is always-online DRM.
If you purchased the game from the Epic Games Store, the most recent Subnautica patch forces you to run the Epic Games Store while playing the game and forces you to be online for DRM purposes.
This doesn’t affect the Steam version of the game, but this is a bad move on Epic Games’ part as this feature was pushed out to a game that many gamers just recently downloaded for free.
While the free games are cool and all, it seems that the longer the Epic Games Store exists, the more issues users have with it.
Well, you’re wrong for the most part. While the game did get updated which made it so you could only run it from the launcher, there is a simple workaround that means you can still run the game offline if you want, and without the Launcher. Create a shortcut to the game’s executable and put -EpicPortal in the target field (after the path to the exe which will be contained in quotes). Run the game with that shortcut and it will start up without issue.
I’m glad you found a work around for the issue, but just because there is a work around doesn’t make the information here false. The information is accurate for the base game without using a work around. If you have to use a work around for the game to run offline without the Epic Games Store, then that’s a bad move on Epic’s part.
I’ve updated the article to discuss the possible work around for the DRM. Hopefully this helps with any concerns you had with our information.