Redfall’s always-on online connectivity makes a hard sell even harder

It wasn’t long ago that people thought Microsoft and Xbox might be in for a banner year, thanks to the surprise hit of Hi-Fi Rush. Finally, there was a reason to be excited about the future of Xbox “Hey, Game Pass is good value, huh?” However, it hasn’t even been a week, and it looks like Xbox has decided to shoot itself on its knees, to kill any hype some players may have had for RedFall after announcing that it There’s always online games.

Redfall, an open world FPS game about reclaiming an American suburb from the clutches of some evil vampires, supports both solo and co-operative play. However, if players are hoping to play the game alone, they will still need to make sure they are playing online the entire time, otherwise they may not be able to play the game at all. This is beyond a joke, but we really shouldn’t be surprised as this is the direction in which Xbox has been setting itself for a long time.

This always-online idea of ​​Xbox has been around since before the launch of the Xbox One in 2013, and players hated it so much that they caused a huge uproar, forcing Xbox to make some changes ahead of the console’s launch. Still, with the success of Game Pass, the DRM problems that practically turn the Xbox into a doorstop if it’s offline, and the decision to make a console like the Xbox Series S that only allows digital games, it seems That’s Xbox is slowly pushing towards the always online goal anyway. Redfall is only for those chickens that come to visit the house.

This news about Redfall comes at a time when the potential community for the game isn’t sure whether they’re sold on the gameplay. Some people have created threads on Reddit discussing how they’re not entirely impressed with what they’ve seen so far, while the response to gameplay deep dives on YouTube hasn’t been exactly positive. Right now, it looks like Arkane could do with a win in regards to public perception of Redfall, and this always-on online news contradicts that.

Either way, always being online is a move that practically kills RedFall’s physical sales dead in the water. You don’t even have to worry about buying the game physically, because not only do you have to be online to download the day one update and all that crap that’s not on the disc, but you even have to be online There will also be a need to live. Just play the game on your own. Maybe I’m just clinging to the idea that gaming consoles should be able to stand on their own without being all-singing, all-dancing, always-online multimedia machines, but if only someone could go out and buy a single-player game. So they can’t even play, so what’s the point of selling it?

On top of that, there’s the whole protection aspect to consider here. There’s going to be a time in the future after Redfall launches where Xbox decides it’s not worth keeping the servers online, and when that happens, everything is gone. Not just co-op mode, but single-player mode as well. Why should we even bother investing in this new IP when it’s supposed to be on a survival countdown clock as soon as it launches?

The news comes alongside the fact that Xbox will be removing a number of games from its Xbox 360 Marketplace, including some backward compatible titles like Lost Odyssey and Daytona USA. For games like Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon, which were JRPGs published by Microsoft that were never released on other platforms, this is a huge conservation blow that seems kind of meaningless. Unless some sort of HD re-release is in the works, or the rights are being reverted elsewhere in exchange for a new project, it’s hard to justify why this is happening. Then again, this is entirely within Xbox’s wheelhouse, given how often Forza games get sent to the slaughterhouse.

It looks like Xbox has thrown all the goodwill it earned with its developer direct and hi-fi rush out the window and we’re back to square one again. Part of me wants to say that it would be great to see Xbox and Bethesda reverse the online-only status with regards to Redfall, but considering the past 10 years of Xbox, it will only be a matter of time before they make something happen. Will try otherwise always online.

No wonder I’m having more fun playing PS2 games on my Steam deck.

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