I had the same problem- see my post—if the game has a Steam Code, nearly all new games do now, then you don’t have any option. You cannot activate a code online with Steam, you have to create an account with Steam on your PC to open Steam Client then click ‘add a game’ and download.
If you get a small pop up on the bottom right on your screen to play online, ignore.
You are now playing the game off line on your PC, not on Steam. You can save the game on your PC or burn on a disk. Finally, only buy codes from a reliable source, not from code pirates, otherwise Steam may well freeze and lock your account, which is a real nightmare to unlock.
Last edited by Cari; 10/07/15 07:36 AM.