Upcoming vampire shooter Redfall can be played solo, or in teams of as much as four other players – but no matter which way you choose to play, you’ll need to have a steady internet connection. Inside a new Redfall FAQ page posted by publisher Bethesda, the requirement for an always-online connection for those players has been confirmed.
Even if the game is played solo completely, persistent service is required. An energetic Bethesda.net account can also be needed to play the game. This is likely a means to prevent players from pirating Redfall, and will likely also help players maintain their progression across different platforms and sessions.
According to Arkane, every player inside a session of Redfall will maintain level progress, gear, and experience points – but only one player (the host) will gain actual story progression. All of this will be tracked via the game’s always-online internet connection, which will also ensure fairness amongst players.
Regardless of intention, it’s likely this feature will frustrate some players, particularly those with inconsistent internet or limited bandwidth speeds. In recent years, many games have implemented similar settings for players, to less-than-successful results, and loud outcry.
Back 4 Blood launched being an always-online game, and was later patched with an offline solo mode after overwhelming feedback from players. Epic Games was forced to issue an apology after a similar situation with the single-player game, Control.
While the slim advantage of always-online requirements is apparent, there is often vocal pushback against this feature. Whether Redfall will inspire similar outrage to Back 4 Blood and Control happens to be unknown – but it’s something Arkane and Bethesda will probably have to consider as the game rolls out.
Currently, Redfall is set to produce for Xbox Series X/S and Windows PC on 2 May 2023.
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