I really want to purchase this game on GOG, but my experience with other big titles here (read: Rime), makes me want confirmation from the devs that they will patch the GOG release on a similar schedule to the Steam version.

Often this is not GOG's fault, developers just choose to ignore GOG because of lack of sales or whatever, but as customers we expect the same kind of support regardless of the platform we choose.

Ninja Theory is pretty reputable compared to wallet rapers such as League of Geeks. I am by no means official in any capacity, but my understanding is this game is getting patched around the same time as the PS4 version. HOWEVER, given that it's also on Steam and not a GOG exclusive, I'd be interested in finding this out, as well.

A few modern games I've purchased recently are way behind their steam versions. In one case, Inner Chains, last time I checked was at least 2 patches behind Steam. I agree that I don't want to buy a game on here if it's not going to be supported.

I have the same concerns but after what I experienced I don’t think there is a real answer to this question. Most likely this thread will never see an official reply and even if it does and they promise everything, patches can still be late!

In case of inner chains Devs lied about the way they patched it and the state of the gog Version. It has been patched now but it was way behind for far too long and it was a very bad experience.
But this was so serious because the game was released really bugy and some of the problems fixed on steam but not on gog were deal breakers for some people.

I think the risk of buying another game with something like this happening is rather low but there is no way to know for sure and I don’t want to stop buying from gog.

So here are a few things I have decided to do:
-Check if patch notes on gog and steam are the same when I buy (and maybe if past patches have been late)
-Check steam and gog Forums if people are reporting existing problems that may be fixed too late on GOG for my playthrough. For hellblade I think it needs performance tweeking. I think I will wait for the first patch to see what they fix and if it comes late for gog.
-GOG promises a refund for 30 days after purchase if a game “doesn't work and our team of expert Support staff can't solve the problem for you”. So if I run into major unexpected Problems I will refund. If they fix it and I want to buy again I will have to buy on steam if the GOG version doesn’t have the fix.
-If within 30 days the steam version gets important improvements the gog Version doesn’t get I can still try to refund because the game clearly doesn’t work the way should!
No idea how this will work out but for now I will keep buying from gog whenever I can.

If even these guidelines don’t protect me from more bad experiences it is clearly GOGs fault for not ensuring the quality of their products and I will have to decide between DRM free games and patches. But I am not there yet and I will buy Hellblade on GOG!

Oh and always remember: Be fair when refunding a game on GOG! Buy it again if you want to play it again!!!

Greetings,

You raise some very good points. I hadn't realized Inner Chains finally got patched. I might reinstall it because it looked very nice from the bit I played before uninstalling it till patches hit.

I definitely want to get Hellblade, I just don't want to support devs that don't support GOG. I don't think Ninja Theory is like that, but you never know. The fact that they released it here as well as on Steam shows that they're fans of the service to some degree, which gives me hope.

I'm definitely getting the game eventually, either on GOG or on my PS4, but will have to see how big my paycheck is.