There are some game design features that the community never liked. Microtransactions and loot boxes have long been the most notable, but as we move closer to a more web-centric gaming industry, developers have begun to make their games always connected to the internet, and players no don’t like this feature. .
Especially when a game is fully single-player, or can be played fully single-player, as is the case with Redfall, from esoteric. Ever since it was announced that the game would require a constant online connection, fans have been thunderous, and Arkane has taken those criticisms to heart and announced that work on the inversion to this decision.
As reported by Eurogamer, the game’s developer, Harvey Smith, addressed this issue by stating, “There are two ways for developers to react to this, right? They might say, ‘My God, you’re still online. If you go to Steam and it’s not live, you’re going crazy. If you go into your Xbox and you can’t get the latest patch or see what your friends are up to, you’re going crazy. You want to be always connected. But I think that response lacks empathy.
“There are people who live in places where there are blackouts or where their broadband sucks, or they compete with loved ones because their mother is watching a movie or their brother is on another device. So I think it’s a legitimate criticism.”
“We take it with a lot of empathy. We are listening. And we have already started working to fix this issue in the future. We have a few things to do, like encrypt game saves and work on the UI. I can’t promise anything, but we are actively working to address this in the future.”
According to Smith, the reason Redfall needed to connect has to do with accessibility and telemetry, which allows Arkane to see where players are struggling the most and what needs to be fixed first.
There’s just over a month to go until Redfall’s visit, but if you want to get some first-hand insight into what the game looks like, you can already take a look at our final impressions.