The latter.

Any sane person knew that the game was going to be garbo, but now I'm also seeing mentions of the Paradox Launcher that comes with it...

To GOG staff: if you ever decide to release some of the long awaited games with their respective shitty launchers, like GTAIV, for once, - either get rid of it, or just don't bother releasing it. Nobody comes here expecting to deal with such disgrace.

Take a hint.

The launcher is disgusting, as i see no way getting ride of it and it feels almost same such as a Steam version (even with almost the same files inside).

There is another point i feel critical about but that is a very personal one and it actually was caused by the previous developers already... so it is not a thing "Chinese Room" was inventing.

°°°°°°The game was set entirely at night, as a tested day-night cycle with sunlight hazards proved unfun. Hardsuit Labs also dropped third-person elements, opting for a first-person-only system inspired by the responsive combat in the action-adventure game Dishonored (2012).°°°°°°°

3. Person is important for me but it is pretty "modern" not to use it at all; even Cyberpunk was not using it.

Another point i for sure do not feel good about is the lack of almost any RPG element. The game got less RPG than any other game of this series; in fact the new game is rather a action adventure and nothing else.

The graphic is okay... not outstanding, simply okay... by todays standards. It is "barely" a AA game... could even be rather like A+... a bit above Indie quality in technical aspects. A game like "Control" is actually technically already more cutting edge and as well "Dishonored".

The game got some problematic response at the main menu, so always have some delay there, and unnecessary telemetry that can be turned off it seems.

Actually i did not plan on buying new games until Christmas, yet i always break my promise... i should keep my promise, better for me and my money bag. In my mind, this game is worth half the current price asked, not more. At least for the high priced regions, Lower priced regions may have more realistic prices able to reflect the value.

They surely need to make much more work on this game in order to still being able to make it a refined product and a true game of this series... if they are not polishing it the hard way... it would get my thumb down (so far).

All modern Paradox games include a launcher. There's really nothing to worry about, and it doesn’t make the game subject to DRM. I’m not sure why people are so concerned, since every new game release by them on GOG also has a launcher. I know Stellaris, EU4 and CK2 have them.

You need to crack Rockstar launcher to play the game without it. The Paradox launcher is not needed to play the game.

There is likely a licensing agreement for them to include luncher bundle in for selling Paradox games.

I’m just curious, but will I still receive Reckoning of New York from the Blood Moon Edition I preordered back in March of 2019? It hasn’t appeared in my library so not sure if “legacy” purchases count.

Regardless, crazy it’s here over 6 1/2 years later!

People come here (in part) expecting DRM-free games. As long as a given launcher isn't functioning as DRM (e.g., you have to download the launcher first, then download and install your purchased game through said launcher, and/or the installed game won't function properly without the launcher being present), it is at most a minor annoyance, and it's better to have the game here, and let people decide whether they want to give the dev/pub money for a game with an included dev/pub launcher based on reviews, etc. It doesn't sound like this launcher is functioning as DRM.

On the F.E.A.R. scale, assuming VtMB is F.E.A.R., is this more like 2, 3, or worse?

Imagine that someone made a F.E.A.R. game that only takes place on a psychologists couch and discusses actual fears. That's apparently how far from home the concept is.

Oh, but it does star a distant cousin of the protagonist.

That launch is a real disaster. I pre-ordered the Premium Edition from both GOG and Steam a long time ago, and I still haven’t received the expansion on either of them.