So I guess I have sort of a specific question.

First off I am new to PC I'm interested in using GOG. For those wondering, the game I am interested in Pre-Loading is No Man's Sky.

I know that not many new games come to GOG, but for those of you who have been in a situation similar to me, is it possible to pre-load games? If so, is it all games or is it on a case by case basis?

To clarify my post, by pre-load, I mean download a game before it is released so that it can be played when the game is released.

I do not mean pre-order, which is to purchase a game before it is released.

Thanks ahead of time.

It was possible for Witcher 3 (and Witcher 2, I believe). But those may be special cases as they're games by GOG's sister company. Not sure if was ever done for any other games)

Excuse my ignorance, but what is pre-loading?

thats hard to say. best answer you can get, is to ask the developers via e-mail about their pre-load plans on gog?

So pre-loading is receiving a game code, before the actual game is released to download the file, so that it can be played when the game is released.

Ah, thank you.

Alright I will take a look at that, thanks!

Do you mean that you get the game code/game in your library before the game is released so you can download it after it's released? In that case, yes, they call it "pre-ordering" at GOG.
Do you mean that you can DOWNLOAD the game before it's released, then actually play it after it's released? In that case, I'm not sure. Considering that GOG is committed to a DRM-free games, I can't quite figure out how they'd even DO this except through Galaxy.

Either way, from what I understand, buying No Man's Sky from here will just shove it in your library with a "soon" tag on it, and if you click on it close to the date it's being released, a timer will pop up telling you how long before it's out (they did this with Day of the Tentacle, they won't necessarily do it again, I'm just assuming here). As far as downloading it goes, to my knowledge, you can't do that until it's released.

that the loading phase a user enters commonly after the pre-pre-loading is over.

"commonly"
You mean that sometimes they skip that and go straight into loading? Blasted cheaters.

>Do you mean that you can DOWNLOAD the game before it's released, then actually play it after it's released?

Yes

Thanks for the answer!

They have done this with Witcher 2 years before Galaxy was even a thing. Give preemptive access to all files except the executable and reserve the executable for the release date. That way, you won't have to download GBs of files but only a few MBs on release day.

Exactly this, this is what I am wondering, but it seems like it was maybe a once or twice type of deal with GOG. I was just curious if it was a common thing.