Following last month's Xbox Developer Direct showcase, we now know quite a bit more about Arkane's open world shooter Redfall, including a proper nailed-on release date for the game. In light of the latest gameplay deep dive, and the release date reveal, the team at Bethesda has updated Redfall's FAQ page, and it provides some... interesting info.
The one note that instantly sticks out here is that even when playing in single-player, Redfall will require a constant online connection. Right now, there's no offline option for diving into Redfall, whether playing on Xbox Game Pass or not.
"A persistent online connection is required for single player and co-op."
Arkane's upcoming title will also require players to hold a Bethesda.net account to log in, which in turn will also need to be linked to the user's Xbox or Steam account to play - depending on the player's platform of choice, of course.
Arkane and Bethesda have done their best in recent months to explain that Redfall can indeed be played in solo, even if the game's hero-based nature does look better suited to co-op play. However, even as a solo player, you'll need to be OK with being permanently connected to the internet to enjoy Arkane's latest effort.
Does this matter for the solo players out there? Leave your thoughts on this down in the comments.
[source bethesda.net]
Comments 57
Why is this required?
As someone who will always have internet, this will Never bother me and will never be a big deal.
So will this require xbox gold or gamepass to even play the game?
@Rmg0731 No. You can still buy the game and play in solo without gold/game pass, you'll just need to have your system connected at least.
I don't like it, but it's par for this course thesedays.
@Rmg0731 more than likely yes. Wish they would get rid of Gold, it’s dumb to have to pay for online play on Xbox and not PC. Plus that would maybe force Sony to rethink their subscription. Players would be happier.
are you sure this applies to the xbox version and not just the pc version?
it seems baffling if they have made this online only for single player on xbox.
i think £8 is the most i have ever payed for an online only game, most i only will buy if they are £5, because frankly it is a coaster waiting to happen and i can't stand having my gaming reliant on not having any internet issues.
i make the time to play a game and i would be fuming if connection issues prevented me from my enjoyment.
For me, no need for it if there is a single player component. I'm always connected to the internet, yeah, but that's not the point. How annoying it would be if you're in the middle of a single player session then you have a network downage all of a sudden.
@MrList @Kaloudz Beat me to it, exactly that!
That stinks. All the reason for me to just indulge in GP as opposed to buying the game outright.
@ChromeMud if it wasnt on gamepass the persistent online would have kept me from buying and playing i will NEVER buy a game that requires online for single player play.... thats just straight up scummy as when the servers go down the game goes down... being on gamepass ill play it.
Not a fan, and I have avoided games I loved in the past over similar requirements. My internet is not always reliable, sometimes it’s great all day, others I get intermittent blackouts every hour or so.
I detest not being able to play a single player game simply because someone decided it had to be always online.
This news just here downgraded Redfall from something I was going to play solo day one to something I’ll only play once I go through my absurd backlog (so… likely never.)
This is off putting for me as my Internet isn't always the most reliable, I just dont understand the need for a single player game to have this as a requirement. And if I remember correctly Gran Turismo 7 got a lot of flack for the exact same thing so this game deserves the same treatment. Maybe then they will backtrack on this.
@Kaloudz Oh I don't think so mate 😂 But credit to a much greater, quicker mind!
Honestly, I don't get the problem with that. The most played games in the world are online (Fortnite, Call of Duty, GTA Online). We are always online on phones, we need to be online for YouTube and streaming services. But when a game with solo campaign requires online connection, it is suddenly a huge issue. In 2006, I would understand the problem, but in 2023?! I don't get it.
@UltimateOtaku91 Not at all mate, this deserves as much flack as GT 7 got.
@MrList Totally agree with you, I remember playing GT7 last year, it needed persistent online connection for single player - cue me with my free day to game and the game went off line (not PSN or my internet), absolutely fuming. Redfall just isn’t as appealing to me now 🫤
@OM1993 Exactly
And just like that Microsoft lost my purchase. Deal breaker for me.
To all those saying it’s no big deal just wait until the Arcane server gets hacked, goes down or has scheduled maintenance when you want to play the game you paid good money for. Why do they do this for the single player campaign, I know it’s to prevent cheating and piracy etc but those sorts of people always find a workaround and it ends up stinging the rest of us for no reason. Really hope they go back on this like back 4 blood did.
@Kezelpaso ok thanks
Eh, it’s on Gamepass. I’ll probably play it with xCloud anyway. No big deal to me. Doesn’t take anything away from how I feel about it. Ideally, I’ll be playing it online with friends anyway. I’ve truly missed the days of playing games with friends and this could buck the trend much better than sporadic Warzone sessions.
I'm really not that into this game and gameplay trailers have not helped. Something is just off and generic. But, games have came out and surprised me, changed my mind. Maybe Redfall ends up being another one.
Either way, as of right now I don't care if it requires online, because I don't think I'll bother long enough.
its on gamepass which requires online connection nohows what moron would pay for this game when it on gamepass.
3 years is 181 dollars when u buy 3 years of gold with current promo of gamepass for dollar.
@A01 100% right. No need to require a Bethesda account or a persistent network connection in a single player game like this.
For anyone saying "I always have internet", that's true until it isn't. Internet goes down from time to time, routers reboot or break, other things happen that knock out your internet...
e.g. Last year some absolute donut drilled through the cables on out street while putting in fibre, they fixed it relatively quickly but we were still without internet for 2 days. Couldn't work from home and wouldn't be able to play games like this either. It's also awful for game preservation.
@BBB I get what you’re saying, you could always play something else and it’s not the end of the world. But in my opinion and lots of others it seems well kinda unnecessary. If you’re really into a game and want to play it you should be able to whenever you want. With GT7 the servers were down for several days, not just a few hours, I know that’s extremely unlikely with Redfall but you never know. I think the thing that gets most people is like why even make it a thing in the first place. Why is it necessary to be online for the single player. Many many games don’t do this and I think for a big party AAA, £70 at retail exclusive it sucks.
Doesn't bother me in the slightest - My consoles have been connected since the days of the OG Xbox and since the 360 era, always had a Gold subscription.
I don't know why this game specifically requires Online in 'Single Player', it might just be different events and things that can crop up in the open world and whether you are playing on you own or with a group of friends, it would still require 'online' to keep the game world and 'game-play' consistent.
I know that 'internet' can be an issue and can 'go down' from time to time, but if/when that happens, there are a lot of games I can't play if I really wanted - even if I predominantly play 'Solo' so I am limited to the 'games' without online connections required - whether that's required for MP/Co-Op gaming or playing Solo, whether that's to check I have a 'valid' licence - like Gold or Game Pass Subscription to 'verify' I am able to play.
If my 'internet' goes down with Redfall, I can't play it because they can't verify I have a valid Game Pass subscription anyway so I couldn't play it whether it requires an online connection or not...
PC and Series S will basically need to be connected online anyway to even buy the game, download/install it as they are 'all-digital' and Cloud users would need to be Connected to stream...
This is a really, REALLY weird requirement. Why would a single player game need an always online connection? DRM on PC but on console makes no sense unless it's streaming assets, which it likely isn't. But there are games that do that for whatever reasons they do that.
But this one jumps to a whole other level of crazy in that it needs a Bethesda Online account. Why on earth would a single player game that even has a DIFFERENT gameplay design to combat when in single player than multi need you to be logged into a specific account online to play a game?
To me that screams "the purpose of this game is datamining." So, basically like "facebook games."
And before anyone points at "Game Pass this" and "Microsoft that" I'm pretty sure this is a 100% Bethesda decision that would have been true without the acquisition either.
There's another logicial reason for it which is "this was built on the Fallout76 engine", and the whole setup just requires their servers for who knows what and they didn't bother changing that since it's basically the same kind of MMO cooperative play intention at its core.
I wasn't really sold on the game before, but it being a sort of MMO puts me off. I bought FO76 at full price and never started it again after launch day.
@UltimateOtaku91 GT: Sport got ripped for that and then they duplicated the problem in 7. Having played partway through the game (but saving the rest for VR) I have seen not one thing in the game that uses anything online, or something that even indicates it IS connected online. I don't understand these studios sometimes.
@biggiantcowfart Game Pass doesn't require always on, I think it needs a "check-in" every few days, but downloaded games on the primary console don't otherwise need a constant connection. But more importantly, GP only uses your Xbox account and doesn't need a second login to a second publisher's online service and presumably playing always on some shared realm server like an MMO.
It’s doesn’t bother me personally.
But why for single player solo play?
Anyone know why?
@NEStalgia The Bethesda account requirement happened with DOOM Eternal as well.
Ordinarily I'd say it isn't a big deal as my stuff is always online, but we had one of those street cabinets vandalised near us and it took the internet down for nearly two weeks. It was awful. No Netflix and I had to actually put on clothes and go to work. Tough times.
@eduscxbox
For one, not everyone plays those online games.
Secondly, no , phones are not always online. Not if you take long cross-state drives, go through tunnels, etc. Big reason I no longer bother with mobile games, most these days demand always-online to make sure no one cheats out of their limited life stock or whatever, and that makes those games useless in the above situations (long trips, going through tunnels, etc) precisely the main situations I would want to use those time wasters instead.
These days, most of my smartphone time is spent listening to pre-downloaded podcasts or audiobooks. Hell, even Youtube and Netflix lets me pre-download stuff I want to watch on the road.
Anyways phones aside, few things are as annoying as jumping into a game day one and not be able to play single player mode because the multiplayer servers are overloaded, got a DDOS, or years down the line because the devs decided to take the servers down.
@BAMozzy @biggiantcowfart Game Pass games don't need you to be online to play. So long you have been online in the last 30 days (one hell of a difference from always online) you can play Game Pass games, so long you are playing from the xbox you designated as your primary/main device.
I don't understand why anyone feels the need to make up excuses on why its acceptable for a single player game mode to require an always-online connection. This is precisely the main reason I, and millions of others, skipped out on the XBox one, even after the did a 180 on that plan.
@Grumblevolcano Are you sure? I played Eternal from GP, and I definitely don't remember the Bethesda account step. I could be forgetting though. That's beyond weird if so though.
Like the Xbox itself, a lof of Xbox games use the internet to do heavy memory lifting, so I can assume it is this. I can't even run quick resume or most of my games when my internet goes down.
Naturally people who are lucky enough to access affordable and stable internet won't worry about this.
I figured all games require this in 2023.
Its 2023 even my grandma have internet
first off this is an games as an service whole game runs on servers. you can choose to play game single playered but whole game was designed like destiny 2 is.
you can choose to play with an group but if you want play solo game is still hosted on servers. hello people it doesnt take rocket scientist to realize this is an gaas title
Translation - - DO NOT buy this game. Only rent or play on game pass.
In few years you WILL LOSE access to ever playing again since servers close.
At least, that's my impression.
Will be canceling preorder immediately 😭.
This implies that eventually the game will be unplayable when the servers inevitably get canned. I figured there had to be something stupid about a promising game. Can't wait for when they reveal Starfield is launch Fallout 76 in space.
@biggiantcowfart then they lied when they specifically told us this was “not like left 4 dead but like Far Cry 2”
@CrazyJF I’m guessing it due to the fact Bethesda is still operates as a separate business from Xbox. So they are probably still allowed to push their own account system.
This probably means co op will not be tethered to a host connection and instead use a dedicated server. Huge benefit for co op gameplay but might be disappointing for some solo players. I don't know if there is a way around that, it is kind of one or the other.
I for one was considering this on PC for steam deck play at the family cabin but probably going xbox now.
@Blessed_Koz Gran Turismo 7 is the same. They had problems shortly after release, game was unplayable for a couple of days. They gave everyone 1000000 credits as an apology. No issues since mind.
Bollocks to that
@Darylb88 Really? That must be for verification purposes, or something, as it makes no sense that the internet would actually be used for intensive things like Quick Resume.
Even the old Xbox One can pull over 100 MB of data from its (annoyingly slow) hard drive per second.
Meanwhile, many people's internet connections are 15 MB/s (120 Megabits/s) or less- if you're in a rural area, probably 625 KB/s (5 Mb/s, or about 1/8 the speed of the PS2's DVD drive!). Not enough to do any real data crunching or loading, yet their Xbox games still play.
PS: If you know of specific cases where anything resembling heavy lifting actually is done via the internet, let me know!
PPS: I'm in Canada, so you may have better results, depending on where you live. Still not multiple gigabytes per second like the Series S|X does, though!
Whilst Im not personally particularly bothered by such a requirement, its at least nice to see the consistancy of people here that despise this un-needed practise and were also vocal about GT 7s online requirement.
Even single player games in this age have several components that require online, so I think this issue will never die and start to affect more and more titles. Its a shame, but I cant see it going any other way. That some of you may cancel a preorder or not buy doesnt bother the devs in the slightest, we are not the demographuc that matters. Buy it, dont buy it, they wont care.
okey its kool ,,.. jump In
@smoreon The fact i can't use quick resume or play a lot of my xbox without the internet is the real issue here, esp as the internet is very unstable in my area. I have no issues on my Switch or PS5 which are themselves very security heavy so no idea why MS can justify it to be honest.Not every has access to stable and afforable internet as I said before.
Yeah no, I don't like always online single player games, either I buy it when there's big discount (like $20 for the division 2) or I only try it on gamepass.
Hi there fellow gamers;
So Redfall needs a constant online connection to be able to play even in singleplayer? And a Bethesda.net account?
Not only it doesn´t make any sense as many of you have mentioned with reason, but they just lost a purchase from me.
Another Gamepass only game I guess.....
If this is the future of gaming, it´s not very bright in my oppinion.
Cheers, stay safe everyone and happy gaming to us all
@RaZieLDaNtE yea I think you’re right and this will be the future of gaming. Digital only and you sign up for the subscription only. Have a box under the TV with Games pass and then other individual developer subscriptions like Netflix, Disney plus and amazon prime …
@Darylb88 Yeah, that's not great.
I believe MS's usual policy is to allow games (that you own physically or digitally- not GamePass, of course) to work offline indefinitely on your "home" console, but this hasn't always been as consistent as it should be. I had issues starting up recently-updated games offline a while back, for one.
However, some improvements were made last year, which should allow most games to play or even install from disc while offline, even if Quick Resume may not factor into that. (YouTuber MVG did a couple of videos investigating and describing this.)
Looking forward to this game with my always online connection. May 2nd HERE I COME!
@Sebatrox that is exactly what I came here to say
@jordan1992 sorry should have said SHUTDOWN, when they shut the servers down the game cant be played unless they patch it and if thats the case the persistent online wasnt needed in the first place was put there to be a pain in the ass...
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