Why Do We Need Internet Access to play???

[ThronosStudios]

Why in the world is this game in need of online access to play when it's a single-player RPG??? My internet went out yesterday and I tried playing offline only to get a "you need to play this game in online mode once before playing in offline mode" prompt. My brother in Christ... I've been taking my time with this game, so I have 72 FREAKING HOURS IN ONLINE MODE CLOCKED IN!! This happen to anyone else?

[jordyexists]

I haven't received that message, but I have received warnings that I've lost connection to Steam while playing the game. It warned me that cloud saves might be unavailable (for obvious reasons.)
I think in both occasions Steam's servers were doing a restart or something, because my connection was lost and then re-established within minutes.
The game does have online leader boards for Arcade Mode and Kairos Gate game modes, but that's hardly an excuse for requiring internet access.
If it were anything, I'd assume it would have to do with Denuvo anti-tamper trying to verify your installation and hardware configuration with Denuvo's servers.

[Sniper Joe]

Originally posted by ThronosStudios:

Why in the world is this game in need of online access to play when it's a single-player RPG??? My internet went out yesterday and I tried playing offline only to get a "you need to play this game in online mode once before playing in offline mode" prompt. My brother in Christ... I've been taking my time with this game, so I have 72 FREAKING HOURS IN ONLINE MODE CLOCKED IN!! This happen to anyone else?

Probably a mix of drm stuff and a special global leaderboard function that shows up in Newgame +.

Mostly the Drm cause the game lets me play it offline fine.

[Good Night Owl]

I got a few disconnect message that I barely read. I thought it was only for leaderboards or something. That was the impression I was under, but maybe I am wrong. It never booted me from the game or anything.

[Xengre]

That is a Steam issue, not an issue with the game. It needs it the first time to validate you aren't pirating the game and actually own it. However, for some reason (I forget if I ever found out why, it has been a long time) it will do that even though you've played hours (72 hours in your case) of the game. It can do this with any game on Steam and is purely a Steam related issue to troubleshoot.

[jordyexists]

Originally posted by Xengre:

That is a Steam issue, not an issue with the game. It needs it the first time to validate you aren't pirating the game and actually own it. However, for some reason (I forget if I ever found out why, it has been a long time) it will do that even though you've played hours (72 hours in your case) of the game. It can do this with any game on Steam and is purely a Steam related issue to troubleshoot.

Could be Steam, could be Denuvo; both use their respective servers to enforce their DRM.

Generally Steam does it on install though, so I would assume it is Denuvo.

[[JRE] Joe Rogan]

How's the Holy Land looking now a days? Have they got any preparations ready for me yet?

Anyway you just need to make sure every month or so launch steam in offline mode.

[Ray]

Played 90 percent of my game in offline mode. Had no trouble with the achievements either.

[Dante]

Denuvo games require internet to play even if it is single player. Nothing new here. Next time be sure to remember this and not support this garbage DRM that only hurts legit customers.

[Xengre]

Originally posted by Dante:

Denuvo games require internet to play even if it is single player. Nothing new here. Next time be sure to remember this and not support this garbage DRM that only hurts legit customers.

Except it was already pointed out the issue OP presented had nothing at all to do with Denuvo and was a Steam only issue. That message can occur with ANY Steam game.

Some more info on how to fix it and how this error can occur, for any Steam game, https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/0E18-319B-E34B-B2C8#:~:text=If%20your%20game's%20status%20is,files%20need%20to%20be%20updated.&text=Games%20that%20require%20an%20active,not%20work%20in%20offline%20mode.

As others in this thread have pointed out, and even OP, they've been playing dozens of hours offline. This is a Steam issue that can mess that up sometimes. Also, Proton can cause issues like this, too, if they're playing using Proton.

[jordyexists]

Originally posted by Xengre:

Except it was already pointed out the issue OP presented had nothing at all to do with Denuvo and was a Steam only issue. That message can occur with ANY Steam game.

Some more info on how to fix it and how this error can occur, for any Steam game, https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/0E18-319B-E34B-B2C8#:~:text=If%20your%20game's%20status%20is,files%20need%20to%20be%20updated.&text=Games%20that%20require%20an%20active,not%20work%20in%20offline%20mode.

As others in this thread have pointed out, and even OP, they've been playing dozens of hours offline. This is a Steam issue that can mess that up sometimes. Also, Proton can cause issues like this, too, if they're playing using Proton.

I pointed out it could be either DRM method, either Steam's or Denuvo. I also mentioned that it was more likely Denuvo because Steam tends to do its DRM check on install.

Since the OP hasn't elaborated and didn't provide any screen shots of the error message, we can't be certain which DRM was keeping him from playing, but given the Denuvo checks with its servers enough that changing how your CPU behaves in your BIOS (locking/parking cores) a handful of times can lock you out of playing for a day for using "too many different hardware configurations" (IE: Denuvo thinks you've installed the software it is protecting to multiple machines because the hardware profile is slightly different) and this is the first time I've heard of anyone running into DRM issues with Steam after install, I'd say that the probability of the DRM getting in the way is with Denuvo. That is, from all the reports I've heard about Denuvo locking out legitimate customers, it seems like it connects to its servers and checks the hardware profile and install of the game more often and more aggressively than Steam does.

That isn't to say that you're wrong, only that we don't have enough information to confirm or deny either of our theses.

[Xengre]

We actually do know. This is a Steam error prompt, specifically. A DRM related prompt will not be produced by Steam, but by a separate prompt window via Windows for serving and it will also likely not have the same wording.

[jordyexists]

Originally posted by Xengre:

We actually do know. This is a Steam error prompt, specifically. A DRM related prompt will not be produced by Steam, but by a separate prompt window via Windows for serving and it will also likely not have the same wording.

Oh, I think I see where you derived that from. Specifically "...online mode once before playing in offline mode."

I was looking through the original post a few times and didn't think to make that inference, as I just assumed he was paraphrasing the error message.

Yeah, that would definitely point towards Steam's DRM and not Denuvo.

[Xengre]

Indeed. I only was aware due to seeing the message and it happen to two games during a large scale network outage in my region a few months ago that I had played a ton and didn't have Denuvo.