Does this game require an internet connection? — Part 2

[Special]

This is a question for one of the developers, as it's kinda their forte, so hopefully someone from Good Shepherd Entertainment can answer this.

What are these connections that happen, and what are they for? and how, if possible can they be stopped?

These happens every time the game launches for example;

https://i.imgur.com/e404or4.png

[Good Shepherd Entertainment]

As was already mentioned in the locked thread, Monster Train can be played offline. It was even voted one of the Best Offline PC Games. https://gamerant.com/best-offline-pc-games/
Simply go to Steam > settings > offline mode. When in online mode, the game requests specific data to enable players to access challenges and utilize multiplayer modes. Monster Train does not utilize DRM checks.

[Special]

"played" Yes sort of, but some of the menus will hard-lock up the game forcing an Alt+F4 if it does not have access, for example the Run History screen.

Shouldn't these connections happen if and only if the player clicks on "Daily Challenge" or some other Online mode? Why do they happen when the game is launched.

Could you maybe change this to happen that way?

Any thanks for the answers! :)

[HouseOfTheRat]

Not to defend someone like GSE, but the run history screen works just fine in Steam offline mode. I didn't try actually disconnecting my computer though.

In your other thread they locked, you say that you tried it disconnected and also with a firewall specifically for the game. So if you are having problems with that setup, it is possible that the game does something shady behind the scenes and it won't work if your computer doesn't have internet access at all. I will test it some time and see if that happens.

[Morphic]

For what it's worth, I've done:

Steam > Offline Mode > Disconnect Ethernet Cable > Play Monster Train

And:

Steam > Offline Mode > Play Monster Train

Game works completely fine for me both ways. Clicking on the multiplayer components, such as Daily Challenge, cause the game to briefly try connecting/loading, then stop and throw a pop-up that says "Failed to Connect". At which point you can click the "Back" button in top left to return to Main Menu.

Ended up doing two quick runs just to see and it completed fine. No Hard Locks or anything.

That said, I didn't check if the game tried making various connections at launch as OP posted despite being in Offline mode. IMO, if the game did something "shady" it would have already been discovered by now. Especially when you consider other games, like that fidget spinner simulator game, were discovered to have Crypto miners that mined your PC for the developer within days of release.

[Special]

Sorry it took me so long to get back, I only really ever play games on the weeks ends and now that it's warm outside, whelp. Also sorry for the low quality gif, I don't really know how to make these and I tried to keep it as short as possible to keep the file size down, like sheesh it was only a few seconds long and it's 45MB... Anyways.

https://i.imgur.com/ckuN2Dn.mp4

This is what happens for example when I go to the "Run History" without an internet connection, aka it has a block rule, it says connection failed, I hit Okay, then I get this blue screen, I can do literally nothing on that screen but Alt+F4 out. Esc, Enter, Backspace, etc. don't take me back to the title screen.

This only ever happens with a Firewall rule that blocks connections from game, if I allow it a connection, it works 100%. I've also encountered this blue screen at the victory screen when it tallies up the score, not always though, 2 times out of maybe 7 runs.

So while the game is technically playable without internet, there are still issues of you being locked out of stuff you should honestly be allowed to see offline, like a record history... So kinda does have online DRM in a way.

[Morphic]

Yeah that is really weird. That didn't happen at all for me when I was in Offline Mode or when I unplugged my Ethernet cable. Though I did get a Failed to Connect for Run History as well as challenges/Leaderboards. However, clicking okay let me click the "back" button and return to Main Menu.

Only thing I can think of is that you aren't entering Offline Mode first before launching the game. So the game "locks up" because it keeps attempting a connection and your firewall blocks it. I agree with you though that something basic like Run History should be viewable and work even in offline.