Redfall developer looking to address always-online restriction, but aren’t making any promises

Last month, players found out that Redfall, the new vampire-slaying RPG shooter from Arkane Studios, would be an always-online experience, even for those playing single-player, and they weren’t too pleased about it. Now it seems like Arkane has listened to fan criticism, and game director Harvey Smith has told players they are “working actively” to address the always online restriction when playing in single-player. While this will be welcome news for many, he was quick not to promise anything and give concrete details on how they would address the issue.

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Speaking with Eurogamer, Smith says that they have listened to fan concerns and to do otherwise would “lack empathy.” He also let fans know that they have already started work to address this requirement in the future, though whether or not that means it will be sorted before or after the game’s release on May 2 remains to be seen. He goes on to detail some of the things the team will need to do, such as encrypting saves and reworking the UI. More importantly, he made clear that he and the team understand why players were not happy with the always-online requirement, saying, “There are people who live in places where there are outages or their broadband is shitty, or they’re competing with their family members” and does believe it is a “legitimate critique.”

In the same interview, he also explained the decision to have the game be an always-online. He reassured fans it was not for any “insidious” reason, stating there is “no store in the game, and there’s no microtransactions,” but the idea is it will help improve the game. The idea is that with the game always online, they can see and react to issues with the game, such as difficulty spikes, bugs, and accessibility, much like an MMO such as Destiny 2 or Final Fantasy XIV would.

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While we aren’t exactly sure what shape these changes will take or when we may see them, it’s a welcome update from Arkane and shows they are willing to take on feedback. We need to wait and see, but here’s hoping they can remove it entirely for single-player.