I've downloaded and installed Witcher 3 GOTY yesterday, using the latest offline installer.

Installation went through without a problem. I installed the latest patch directly after that.
But when I tried to start the game later, using the Desktop icon the installer had created, it just opened an Explorer window on drive C:\.

Checking the link explained why: Instead of a link to the actual installed game, the installer had created a link to:
"C:\ /command=runGame /gameId=.... /path="G:\The Witcher 3... "" to start in "C:\".
This is obviously meant as a command to start the game through GOG Galaxy, which is not installed on my system, and will never be unless GOG forces it upon us.

Why does the OFFLINE BACKUP INSTALLER, that's supposed to work without Galaxy, create a completely useless link to a launcher that's not even installed?

The problem can be easily solved by manually creating a new icon that links directly to the executable, in my case: "G:\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt GOTY\bin\x64\witcher3.exe", but it's still irritating and might be a real problem for people who don't know where to find the game files or how to create an icon on their own.

I contacted GOG many months ago about this problem but nothing has been done about it. It's kind of lame to have a faulty installer for what must be the biggest game on the site! Cmon GOG, give us a proper installer. Geralt deserves it! ;)

I can confirm that the problem still there.

Thank you Mav99 for pointing out this problem and the solution.

I just bought and installed The Witcher 3 GOTY (during the Black Friday sale); and I don't use Galaxy - and I had this problem.

I used the good-old GoG Downloader and that "version" of the game is what I DL'd (not the "Backup Installers" version).

So.. this post is also confirming that the problem persists.

Ah that was what the heck was going on!

I had installed the main GOTY edition and decided to not hit the 'Launch' button after it had finished (integrity check whent fine as well before install started). Then the witcher launch icon opened somewhere on C: instead of launching the game.

I noticed i had not added the patch for 1.3.2 yet so did that and after used it's 'Launch' icon to run the game, and it worked. But for the life of me i could not find the game exe so have been stuck for a few hours not knowing what to do.

GOG this should not still be like this after how long? Ok these are the offline installers, but wow, on one of your platforms most famous games!!!

Now i'm going hunting for "E:\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt GOTY\bin\x64\witcher3.exe" to make the link the launch icon should do. Happy Xmas and New Year to me! ;)

Thanks OP for the tip! Rep given.

just confirming, still a thing 2022. also missing the asset for the round medallion gog witcher 3 icon :P

edit: appears its the 1.32 patch that obliterates the game folder somewhat. through testing it seems the icon was present before patching (though they deviated from the round style with witcher 3 for whatever reason)

Still a problem at least on classic version of Witcher 3 Standard and Complete edition in 2024. Did not check nextgen one.

To run the game, run executable at \The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt GOTY\bin\x64\witcher3.exe