Can anyone comment on whether this game requires Galaxy to run?
https://www.gog.com/en/game/starsand

The most helpful comment in the reviews below states that it does.

"You're in the unique position to confirm or disconfirm that suspicion."

It seems like it does require Galaxy. First I thought that was an Early Access problem, but the review from cocconutwireless is from the release version and still states that the offline version isn't usable.

There seems to be a workaround:
https://www.gog.com/forum/starsand/here_is_a_fix_for_the_offline_installer_version/page1

But in the state that GOG offers the game, it doesn't seem to be DRM-free. Probably it's accidental DRM that the dev doesn't bother to fix. But still it makes the offline version unusable without fixing it (just as some DRM can be 'fixed' by cracking)

Can someone alert me, when the issue is fixed by the devs or GOG?

The game does not require Galaxy.
My computer game is offline permanent.
Just follow the UltraComboTv instructions in the link provided by Lifthrasil.

SkyDrift Infinity

One plane and some plane skins are locked to playing online multiplayer matches.

While the online multiplayer works without GOG Galaxy and no online accounts, it doesn't have a option for LAN or direct IP and it will say "Can't join game right now, please try again later." if you're offline or if you blocked the developer servers connecting to the internet in your firewall if you try to play online multiplayer.

Meh, more multiplayer gated stuff. Developers, if multiplayer were fun and desired, people would just play it without forcing it through sticks like this. (It's not a carrot, but a stick.)

Have you emailed the developer your concern?

I just stumbled across your posts and have installed v.1.0.9 right now on an offline PC (W10) without GOG-Galaxy.

I can confirm that without the intervention described by UltraComboTV, the start menu is not displayed correctly.

However, if you create the folder structure, the game works as described (wait 10 seconds).

Thank you for the confirmation!
Does this only concern the multiplayer part? Or is there single-player content, that is only available if you are online or have Galaxy running?

I don't think emailing the developer will do anything since it's a 2021 remaster of a 2011 game and never got a update. (it's still at version 1.0)

The locked plane and the locked plane skins is part of the singleplayer content so it can be played in singleplayer but you need to play online multiplayer matches to unlock it.

You can play the online multiplayer mode without Galaxy running and no online accounts but it will say "Can't join game" if you blocked the developer servers in your firewall or if you're offline when you try to play the online multiplayer mode. So it still depends on the developer servers and if that server shuts down... you cannot unlock the plane and the skins because it's locked to the multiplayer mode even though the plane and the skins can be played in singleplayer.

I tested the game online multiplayer mode on 2 computers, 1 Windows PC with Galaxy installed and 1 Linux PC with no Galaxy installed.

OK, Thanks for the explanation.