I'm unable to launch the game without it bringing up the GOG Galaxy client. I can't find an executable to use or anyway to bypass this. I thought this was a 'DRM free store,' so why am I forced to use it as the gateway to launch the game?

Eventhough i start is with GOG Galaxy (not to happy with it btw.)
The game to me is there:

c:\GOG Games\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt\bin\x64\witcher3.exe

Thanks.

Thanks :)

Sorry to be late on this. I have Windows 7. To bypass Galaxy, I go to the Start menu > Games > The Witcher 3.

Or you can download the installer with the gog downloader by selecting the game in your library, then clicking on the "more" tab and on "gog downloader links"; or you can even download the installer files one by one by selecting the game in your library and downloading them individually on the main page ;)
Galaxy is totally optional, you can download, install and run every GOG game without it. If you install it and use it to download and install your games, then it's supposed that you stick to it... or so does GOG think.

I can launch the game from Steam or from the Nvidia GeForce updater or, probably, from the File Explorer ( haven't tried it but I see no reason it wouldn't work just like any other program ... it's a simple .exe file ).
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You can launch the game by just double clicking the executable. I do it all the time.