Does Phasmophobia now require internet? Stuck on "Initializing" whenever I play offline

[Lymiau]

I'm (mostly) an offline player, so this makes the game playable for me. I bought Phasmophobia in the first place, because multiple sources confirmed to me that this game has offline capabilities. I strictly don't buy server based games.

Now it requires internet to play? Is this intentional? I can't even stay in 2+ games because my internet is so unreliable.

[Casiy Rose]

I heard this from my friend who also doesn't have internet - that the game now requires Internet to play singleplayer

[GreenGiant]

Yes, it requires an internet connection to fully load into the lobby. Once in the lobby you can disconnect the internet; at least that worked fine for me when I was doing it in September before the progression update.

The documentation is confusing with the EULA saying only "some parts" require an internet connection, the minimum system requirements not saying internet is required but the recommended requirements do.

[TTVColaEagle]

You need internet anytime you need to load into the lobby, be it when first starting up the game, or even after you finish the investigation at a map, and then go back to THE LOBBY because Phasmophobia stops loading the lobby once you go into a match… it’s sorta dumb in my opinion