There are some game design features that really will never be popular with the community. Heavy microtransactions and loot boxes have long been the highlight, but as we’ve transitioned to a more online gaming industry, developers have started making their games always need to be online, and players generally hate it.
Especially when a game is either entirely single player, or a full game can be played alone, as was the case with Arkane’s Redfall. Fans have been outraged since it was announced that the game would require a constant online connection, and Arkane has taken that criticism into consideration, announcing that it is working to change that decision.
asEurogamerAs reported, game director Harvey Smith addressed the issue, stating that: “There are two ways a developer can react to this, right? They can say, ‘Oh my God, you’re always online. If you go on your Steam and it’s not online, you’re freaking out. Bad. If you go into your Xbox and you can’t get the latest patch, or see what your friends are doing, you freak out. You want to be always on! But, I think, that response lacks empathy.
Some people live where the power is out, or their broadband sucks, or they’re competing with their family because their mom is streaming a movie or their brother on another device. So I think that’s a legitimate criticism.
smith continued: “We do have a lot of sympathy for it. We listen. We’ve started to fix this in the future. We’ve got to do things like encrypt your savegames and do a bunch of UI stuff to support it. So we’re looking into- I Nothing should be promised – but we are researching and actively working to fix this in the future.
As for why Redfall needs to be online in the first place, Smith touched on that as well, saying it has to do with accessibility and telemetry efforts, which allow Arkane to see where players are struggling the most and what needs to be addressed first.
We recently had the chance to play a bunch of Redfall, and you canit’s hereFind our preview.