The GOG Galaxy communication service refuses to start.

Galaxy Client service is running.

Windows 11. GOG uninstalled/reinstalled. PC rebooted. Child sacrificed to Cthulhu.

Launching the Galaxy Communication service manually gives the 1053 error.

I see thi issue was first reported in the Middle Ages.

Any hope or did I just waste a ton of money?

Double-check that the various GOG Galaxy executables aren't affected by your security software. At the very least that means having Internet access. You might also want to add the folders to the scanning exceptions.
C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy
C:\ProgramData\GOG.com\Galaxy\redists

If the problem persists, open a support ticket. Tell the chatbot the issue is of type "other" twice to skip to that step. Zip up the C:\ProgramData\GOG.com\Galaxy\logs folder and attach it to your ticket.

You can play an installed game without GOG Galaxy by directly launching the executable from the installation folder. You'll miss out on extra features like achievements, cloud saves, time tracking, and sometimes multiplayer.
For games that aren't installed yet, see How do I download my purchased items? if you need a refresher on how to download offline installers using a web browser.

where as in please not C program files is Galaxy installed?