Can it be played offline?

[Frag4Friends]

Looking before I buy. Can it be played offline?

[Geldric™]

I played offline so that I could play older versions, so yes offline works fine. You obviously don’t have access to online services but the game is the same

[Mr. Bufferlow]

Yes, it is possible. Obviously, you will not get any updates for the game until you go online and they get loaded up.

AFAIK, you can't just tell Steam to not upload updates for the game and consider that to be "off line". The game will still force any waiting updates if you are actually online but just don't want any of those actions.

That is sometimes an issue for folks with very slow internet speeds. Especially after a big update when there are daily or even more frequent patches.

[Idaho]

Names you choose for planets, star systems, animals, plants, and rocks won't be saved to HG's servers until you go back online. So there's a 1 in a trillion chance that someone else could swoop in and steal all your discoveries.

[Jaggid Edje]

@Mr. Bufferlow, if you set steam to only update games at a specific time range, and make that time range during a time when you never have your PC turned on, you can actually skip updates entirely. It will still flag games for an update any time you go online with Steam, but it won't start downloading them. If you then go offline again before playing any of those games, they are still entirely playable and don't get updated.

This is what I do to keep certain games from updating. I have steam set to update only between 3 am and 4 am, when I am soundly asleep. For the games that I DO want updated, I just drag the updates that Steam queues for "later" into the "update now" location and force the updates to happen when I'm actually online with Steam. For those games I do NOT want updated, I never do that...and they never update.

It works perfectly, as long as you never actually play a game that you don't want updated while steam is set to Online.

[WarnerCK]

Also, there's offline and then there's offline, depending what you're after. If you want to never see another soul, even in the anomaly, then you can turn off multiplayer and still be online as far as discoveries and the like. If you really want completely offline then the game will function OK without an Internet connection.

[Krash Megiddo]

Starting at post #11
https://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/discussions/0/3283699172770979279/

[Mr. Bufferlow]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

@Mr. Bufferlow, if you set steam to only update games at a specific time range, and make that time range during a time when you never have your PC turned on, you can actually skip updates entirely. It will still flag games for an update any time you go online with Steam, but it won't start downloading them. If you then go offline again before playing any of those games, they are still entirely playable and don't get updated.

This is what I do to keep certain games from updating. I have steam set to update only between 3 am and 4 am, when I am soundly asleep. For the games that I DO want updated, I just drag the updates that Steam queues for "later" into the "update now" location and force the updates to happen when I'm actually online with Steam. For those games I do NOT want updated, I never do that...and they never update.

It works perfectly, as long as you never actually play a game that you don't want updated while steam is set to Online.

Good to know. So the key is to be offline when you play. That was my main point for OP. Just telling Steam not to update the game but staying online is not an option if you want to play.

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

Good to know. So the key is to be offline when you play. That was my main point for OP. Just telling Steam not to update the game but staying online is not an option if you want to play.

Correct, it will always force an update when one is available if you launch a game when Steam is online, regardless of what your update settings are. Steam is evil that way.

[Rexxer]

Offline is the ONLY way you can play prior versions of the game. There are various reasons one may want to play and older version other than nostalgia. The main value for me is in being able to load up a single biodome with thousands of plants, then upgrade the game and you will still have a thousands-of-plants-biodome in the current version.

[Extra_Friess]

What do I do if I have crappy internet and don’t want it to mess up my game

[Kool Shade]

Yes, I play off line far more than online. Mostly I just online to get updates.