GOG enters the Steam fray

Has anyone seen GOG's game store client, GOG Galaxy? It seems cleanly put together. Anyone been using it? I just got it to download Witcher 3 in a single executable.

I've used it and it feels very barebones compared to Steam. Definitely like the aesthetic and will continue using it since I've started building a sizable library on GOG, but Steam's had such a huge head start that it'll be a while before GOG Galaxy can really compete.

Looks good (link) the benefit of creating something from the ground up were Steam still seems to be drowning in its interface.

Only limited experience with it so far, it seems... alright? Its not broken in my experience, but a lot of features are not in yet. You cant simply add a friend, but have to find someones avatar somewhere in the store section and then click on it to "invite to friends". That seems... not optimal?

Also it doesn't show what downloads you have downloaded yet. A checklist next to the one you have already downloaded or still need to play the game would be nice.

I have bought a few games from GoG in the past but havnt tried their client. I will for sure give it a chance just becouse CDPR is a way better company than Valve.

Right now it really sucks.. you can't even pause a download, no way to limit dl speed, sometimes it shows you the download progress with the current dl speed and sometimes it decides it won't show you anything and I'm sure there are more problems to find, just didn't messed with it that much.

But hey steam was absolute crap at first also so.. and that speed limiting thing came just a few years ago if I remember correctly, I hope it turns out good because my main gripe with GoG is having to update games manually, it's perfectly fine for older games that are not getting patched anymore but when you have newly release games that get like 2 patches a week it gets pretty tiresome, yep I've been too spoiled by steam at this point...

I'd love to see how it looks in a few months time. As has been said, it's functional but nothing more than that right now and I get the feeling that it might have been released in a less than optimal state in order to have some kind of client for people to download Witcher 3 on.

I've been playing around with Galaxy since the Alpha and would love to give GOG/CDPR my money over a Steam I'm becoming increasingly tired of ... but not just yet. I bought Witcher 3 on Steam...

Bare bones but probably the smoothest big game launch in ages.

For me it seems to be barely functional. Couldn't get it to download The Witcher 3 last week, so I just downloaded the GOG files the old fashioned way. Haven't really touched it since. Going by the GOG forums, there seems to be a long list of various problems at the moment.

My only gripe with GoG is when you download the game and realize that someone have replaced the game icon with his selfy... It's just weird.

I'm really interested in how it evolves in the future.

I've been using Galaxy, it is pretty bare bones at the moment. I'm annoyed that I can download packages/patches that I have already installed again. Shouldn't it just tell me if I have those already or not? Oh, and I don't know how to take a screenshot in-game with the Witcher 3 using Galaxy. That's not clear at the moment and print screen isn't working for me.

@giant_gamer: You're talking about the Fallout games?

They've always been like that.

It's just the website in client form. It needs to load my library of games from the internet. I guess this is ok?

One of things I like is advanced filtering options (which Steam doesn't have). I can show games from my backlog AND my favorites. I can filter those games on singleplayer/multiplayer. I can filter on language. I can filter on individual OSes (Windows XP, Vista, 7...). I can filter on genre. All at the same time!

It does exactly what I want - that being a "library" list view that allows me to download and launch GOG games from a single client. That single convenience is all I ever wanted for my GOG games, and makes it so I'll be happy even if the Galaxy client never adds another feature and just focuses on stability updates.

I checked it out. It's nothing special, it's just launching their website from the desktop so basically you are on their webpage all the time. I still prefer to use their website from a browser, although this may be useful for updates so I may just use it for that. I don't know yet.

All the complaints people have are directly correlated to it being a website launcher and not a software platform. Eventually it might be, but right now it's nothing more than a website launcher.

edit:

@kewlsnake: So you know, Steam does have advanced filtering options. I can even make a custom list of games and filter by only that list. So, for example, you can create a list called "backlog" and filter by games you place in that list.

The only major issue I've found is that A-it doesn't seem to detect stand alones for games I've bought from them and B-clicking links on my desktop opens the client, instead of opening the game (witcher 3 in this case).

Otherwise like, its fine. Its Origins more or less. It lacks many many of the features of steam..but personally I prefere it that way. Steam is the main game in town, everything else should be clean simple stores that don't try and add all the functionality of steam (mods, webbrowser, forums, reviews, etc etc) beyond whats needed to just jump in and play the game (so, friends list, mulch-player architecture)

As is, its something I'm going to treat like every other non-steam store. Only to be used for games I can not or do not wish to get on steam. Older titles are best without DRM, since its easier to transfer them to my crappy ole PCs without having to worry about internet verification. The Witcher 3 gets bought because I prefere to give the people who made it the full 60$, instead of 50-60% when I can.

So, its origins, as I said. I only use that for games EA won't release on Steam that I want to play.

In what regard?

@kidavenger: Probably because GoG is DRM free, and Valve is not.

Also GoG guarantees their games will run which Valve also does not (if you complain enough Valve will give you steam credit, but you can't ever get your money back).

There's probably other reasons people would say that too, but I don't have a problem with Valve so I can only think of more obvious reasons they may think that. A lot of people have a real problem with DRM even if it's as inoffensive as Steam.

To each his own and all that.

I like having it. I have bought several games on GOG and it's nice to have them all in one place. It's basically just my hub for Infinity Engine games, but still. It's not as feature rich as Steam, but I love the idea of DRM free games and the client makes me more likely to purchase from GOG instead of Steam.

The client seems pretty bare-bones right now. I'll see how it is in a few months.

Already a thread.

http://www.giantbomb.com/pc/3045-94/forums/gog-galaxy-client-in-beta-1771369/

my only gripe is i cant seem to pause a download.

@dave_tacitus: oh I see now my bad, I just thought that it is their thing. The only games I had from GoG are the classic fallout games.

It doesn't prevent the computer from sleeping while downloading either. I've been trying to preload Witcher III for two days before I realized.

I like it so far. All in all I'm a huge proponent of GoG, that service kicks ass.

DRM free
Guarantees their games work, else a refund

Pretty fucking great. Plus all the little bonuses like downloadable artwork, manuals, avatars, etc. Cool stuff.

Huh, weird, it was totally possible to pause a download during the alpha, but that option seems to have disappeared when they switched to the new UI.

Either way, I rather like the client. The friends list is a joke and the community features are nowhere to be seen, but the client is incredibly light weight memory wise, and is really quick and responsive, unlike Steam and Origin.

@giant_gamer: Heh, I remember the icons from the games when I first bought them on release. As soon as I saw your post it all came flooding back.

I like it, I now have something to remind me that I own games on gog digitally meaning I no longer have to keep the games installers around on my harddrive in case I forgot.

I generally use Steams 'Add a non-steam game' feature whenever I buy something from GOG, Humble etc. I prefer to be able to launch all my games from the one place rather than having multiple clients.

The only real advantage I see for individual clients is easy patch downloading but the vast majority of games I don't buy off steam are older and aren't getting patches anyway.

I didn't like putting GOG games on steam as sometimes some of GOG's titles needed updating but I couldn't do anything with the patch because the installed game was on a separate drive and the patch installer couldn't find the game install. Now with it's own client, I don't have to worry about this issue at all.