I keep seeing this mentioned, but have no idea what is locked behind the Galaxy use... which kind of items are these?

Looking at the store page and clicking the link for "Rewards for owning The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" takes you to https://www.thewitcher.com/my-rewards , which describes everything you get and explains everything you have to do to get the rewards plus FAQ. The rewards are clearly for owners, but the description contradicts that and says it's only for owners who use Galaxy.

Basically, you get fashion items, a comic and some GWENT stuff. I could understand the GWENT stuff requiring Galaxy, but anything directly related to the Witcher 3 should not be gated behind Galaxy, denying it to owners who don't use Galaxy. Whatever you think of the bonus items or how big or small a deal you think it is, requiring an offline game to get offline bonuses for being an owner, but requires Galaxy is DRM. GOG, themselves, said so in their removed FCK DRM page that I linked the archive of in the wishlist description.

GOG used to stand out for old games and DRM-free. Take one or both of those away and there's not much reason to use GOG. I'm of the opinion that they're focusing less on older games and, now, DRM is being put in their own games. No matter how small the DRM, it's DRM and doing nothing is a vote for more and bigger DRM, so I'm voting against it with the wishlist and my wallet.

Thanks for the details - I agree with your points and heneralky have the feeling that GOG wants the users forced mote and more into Galaxy.

Yeah, and GOG was always saying Galaxy would never be mandatory, at least for offline stuff, GWENT and such would. of course. But it's mandatory for an offline game, now (their own game, even), if you want the complete and full game with bonus. <sigh>

Can't you just log in to your GOG account in the game menu? I'm not sure how it works with the GOG version, but the PS5 version just asked me to log in. I'm sure the Steam version also doesn't require you to run the game through Galaxy, because that'd be a violation of Steam rules (games with third-party DRM must have it stated on the store page)

No. If you look on that page for how to get your rewards, you'll see that if you own it on:

GOG (Store page and rewards page): "Launch The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt via GOG GALAXY 2.0 and start playing. Your rewards will be waiting for you in the Royal Palace in Vizima."

Steam/Epic: "Launch your chosen version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt via REDlauncher and start playing. Your rewards will be waiting for you in the Royal Palace in Vizima."

XBox/PS5: "Return to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and start playing. Your rewards will be waiting for you in the Royal Palace in Vizima."

Out of those, I expect you to be online to play on Steam/Epic, anyway, and assume that's the case for consoles, too, so doesn't matter much for those. GOG, however, demands Galaxy/online for an offline game that says Rewards are for *owners*, but then goes on to say you have to use Galaxy to get them and if you ever start a new game, you have to use Galaxy again.

The title "Rewards for owning The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" is misleading, at best, false advertising, at worst, since not ALL owners get the rewards.

Lol, yeah, I believe it does have all the languages included. All of this was gone over in the announcement thread last month (271 posts). Even the people who claimed it wasn't DRM knew you had to get online with Galaxy to get these. There's also a thread that has a workaround to get the DLC without Galaxy (I guess the content is there, but you generally need to unlock it with Galaxy). A workaround for DRM, especially one most won't know about, is still DRM.

https://www.gog.com/forum/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt/the_witcher_3_which_used_to_make_fun_of_drm_now_includes_it_too_discussion_prohibited

https://www.gog.com/forum/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt/unlocking_my_rewards_without_galaxy

It's basically a crack. They're technically legal in Poland, just like mods, but cracks have gotten a shady reputation for being used in piracy and containing trojans, and that's why in my opinion DRMs in PC games make little sense.

Guys, why is nobody talking about this? I just randomly found out about this and I'm just speechless. GoG was supposed to be the chosen one, the only hope for guys like us who actually want to own everything and be happy.

Yeah, it was talked about a lot in Dec. Some are fine with this slippery slope they think is a minor problem and others see it as the serious problem it is. GOG's biggest (only, lol) selling points were DRM free and old games. What are they without a fully DRM free site and other places carrying more older games? I haven't even seen many old games for a long time that make me take notice.

What kind of a person would be fine with this? Shouldn't people that use GOG to get their games know what DRM-freedom is all about and why it's so important? Locking content behind a launcher directly contradicts GoG's principles.

Yep, it's strange. Besides just not caring, their position seems to be it's just cosmetics and doesn't matter and that if you can run and play the game all the way through it's not DRMed just because the new, unnecessary, extras are. Faulty logic and, yes, completely opposite to GOG's previous definition of DRM. It's also a way to get people more accustomed to DRM a little at a time...

You can read the arguments on the announcement thread:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/the_witcher_3_wild_hunts_free_nextgen_update_is_here_f78bf

Thank you for creating this wish! I immediately added my vote for it.