So I want to play Witcher 3. For ages I have had a shortcut on my desktop that started the game. Now today I do the same thing and Galaxy opens inviting me to click on "Play".

Isn't the whole point of Galaxy, is it is optional? Doesn't seem to be anymore! Another small step toward being like Steam since they did that deal with them?

I installed it through Galaxy (which is flawed but not bad), and I too had this problem. The shortcut opens Galaxy, not the game. So I had to go find the executable and make a shortcut myself.