Galaxy is GOG's answer to the Steam, and has been gaining traction since the release of Witcher 3. There are already a number of alternative game clients to Steam, so as well as competing with Valves powerhouse discounting game client, GOG has to stand out from a crowd of wannabes many of which have already cut themselves out a respectable corner of the market:
"Desura, (mostly DRM free) specialises in indie games and mod management.
Origin, (DRM) hosts many big name EA games, and reportedly has good customer service.
Battlenet, (DRM) like Origin but with blizzard only games.
Uplay, (DRM) also host some big name games from Ubisoft but unlike EA, will also market them on Steam.
And many others...."
Like Steam, Origin, Uplay, and similar systems Galaxy already has its own extensive catalogue of exclusive games to draw on, but unlike those platforms, Galaxy does not take advantage of this, it doesn't force players to use its system whenever they play a game, it doesn't insist on recording hours spent with a game (although it has that option if you want it too) and it doesn't force you to log into you galaxy account or be online every time you play either.
Desura and some other clients, are also just as light with their DRM control, but Galaxy has just gone one step further, the latest update (1.1) has added the "Rollback" feature. This allows you to select and install any specific versions of a game, and allows you to opt out of any further updates too.
This is Great news for Modders, it's very annoying to lose your carefully built mod collection because of an update, but being able to select specific versions means that if support ends for particular mods, it will never become obsolete.
Apart from mods, sometimes game updates can introduce new bugs or even add features that make you save incompatible, thus losing your progress (this is rare but happens), on some games updates have even been known to remove content, but it's good to know that this will never effect Galaxy games.
If GOG keep true to their principle, and if they continue to attract new AAA and Indie titles, then we are left with not just an alternative to Steam, but a true competitor to Steam too.
