How do I run this game from its executable? The game simply will not do anything if you click a Windows shortcut to its executable. The only way to start the game is to launch it via GOG Galaxy. How do I get around this? The game's store page says that it's DRM-free. There should be no requirement of any sort of launcher to start it. The game starts fine as long as it's allowed to log into my GOG account via Galaxy. That's not acceptable. It has to work without it. How do I make it so that it does?

FYI: I downloaded the game's "offline installer" setup executable and installed the game via that.

UPDATE: I've figured it out. And if you're a fan of GOG as a DRM-free platform, you're not going to like the answer. The game refuses to run without logging into Galaxy if you've installed the game while Galaxy is installed on your PC. The game appears to get hard-locked into the Galaxy client so it's not possible to play without logging in. So, essentially this DRM-free game receives DRM if you install it while Galaxy is present. You need to download the backup installer, uninstall Galaxy, then install the game. Now you can play without logging in to GOG.

Very odd; I installed with Galaxy and do not have this problem.

Try contacting Galaxy Support because this is a defect

Do you mean that you installed with Galaxy and then you were able to run the game without Galaxy running and there was no background process trying to call home with Galaxy? Because according to Task Manager that's what is happening. The game tries to launch some kind of Galaxy app and then crashes. But if the game is installed using a backup setup executable while Galaxy is not installed at all, the game never attempts to launch that Galaxy communication software and then starts up just fine.

Hmm, I see the communicator process launching, but even when I completely disconnect my internet connection (thus guaranteeing any call-home fails) the game doesn't crash.