True OFFLINE support for the single player ?

[Strelok]

I played a little bit the alpha and I think it's quite awesome. Definitely interested, will play more in the following hours and days.

But before everything else I need to know if the single player campaign can be played also completely OFFLINE without an internet connection, like the Left for dead games were.

The thing is there's nothing worse than being locked out of the games you love if the servers are down or if your internet connection is down (happens a lot more since Covid19 put a strain on the ISPs) or if you have massive lag. some nights.

I have a growing pile of games that I can't play offline, that are completely and utterly useless without being tethered to the internet.

L4D2 was one of those games I could always count on. Online or completely Offline.

I want Back4Blood to be that game after it releases, and take L4D2's place.

So dear developers, will the single player be available offline without an internet connection or not ? (I would be terribly disappointed if not...). I will not pre-order unless I get a clear answer to this question.

Thank you !

[T-Rex]

yes this is good to know.
Can you start and play the game if you don't have access to internet?

[Strelok]

Currently in the alpha it's not possible, but I expect this functionality should be present in a 60$ dollar game (60$ for the cheapest version).

Otherwise, I'm sorry to say I will skip it entirely.

If there's anything I learned is the fact that there's nothing worse, gaming wise than "always online" DRM. (Lawbreakers, Battleborn, Hawken and many many others are completely unplayable today, nothing more than digital paper weights).

"Always online" puts the user at the mercy of factors completely outside of his control like server uptime, ping, connection availability.

While acceptable for the multiplayer portion of the game, there's absolutely NO EXCUSE for not implementing the single player portion offline. If it worked for Doom Eternal, for RDR2, for Horizon Zero Dawn, for Metro Exodus and countless other AAA 60+$ games, it should also work for Back4Blood.

[[{******---Dead4Life---******}]]

I also want SP offline mode for all the content with bots man, and mod support. If those 2 are there, alright I'll bite and buy it.

[KomdivCCCP]

Yeah, SP is a must.

[Strelok]

Originally posted by Dead4Life:

I also want SP offline mode for all the content with bots man, and mod support. If those 2 are there, alright I'll bite and buy it.

Yeah, exactly, me too. If they confirm those, I'm set, I'll probably get the ultimate edition to show my support.

Otherwise I'll skip it and just play L4D2 when I feel like it.

Mod support, steam workshop support and offline single player made the original L4D games immortal as opposed to all the "always online" crap the industry has been pumping out the last five years or so.

Mind you I also got the original Evolve, before it went f2p, and that's still 100% playable offline. If not for the offline mode it wouldn't even start.

[[{******---Dead4Life---******}]]

Originally posted by Strelok:

Originally posted by Dead4Life:

I also want SP offline mode for all the content with bots man, and mod support. If those 2 are there, alright I'll bite and buy it.

Yeah, exactly, me too. If they confirm those, I'm set, I'll probably get the ultimate edition to show my support.

Otherwise I'll skip it and just play L4D2 when I feel like it.

Mod support, steam workshop support and offline single player made the original L4D games immortal as opposed to all the "always online" crap the industry has been pumping out the last five years or so.

Mind you I also got the original Evolve, before it went f2p, and that's still 100% playable offline. If not for the offline mode it wouldn't even start.

Yup, you know how it is if a company drops support for a MP only game then it is lost forever. I think we have the same mindset there. I also would buy the gold edition if so.

[Strelok]

Originally posted by Dead4Life:

Yup, you know how it is if a company drops support for a MP only game then it is lost forever. I think we have the same mindset there. I also would buy the gold edition if so.

I'm glad that there are still people that share this mindset.

Most gamers don't care enough to stick for years with a game. They want as cheap as possible (preferably free to play) so they can hop on have a little fun then move on to the next best 'free' thing.

I think good games should be treated like good vinyl music albums. You build a collection and enjoy them for years. This is the status L4D2 has achieved. This is the legacy that B4B needs to live up to.

There's no place like for "always online" in this approach.

"Always online" means cheap, disposable games with built in planned obsolescence. "Always online" means having a kill switch in the heart of a game.

"Always online" means completely locking users out of the game they purchased for a myriad of reasons, including server issues, maintenance, routing issues, user side connectivity issues and the list goes on and on.

There's ZERO benefit whatsoever from the user side for an "always online" implementation of the single player functionality, regardless of the narrative pushed by game publishers.

I have no issue with supporting game developers by purchasing the most expensive digital version of their games.

I do however have a huge problem with "always online", because it's just a glorified form of rental. I'm into building game collections, not at all into game rental.

[DeathGun]

Originally posted by Strelok:

Currently in the alpha it's not possible, but I expect this functionality should be present in a 60$ dollar game (60$ for the cheapest version).

Otherwise, I'm sorry to say I will skip it entirely.

If there's anything I learned is the fact that there's nothing worse, gaming wise than "always online" DRM. (Lawbreakers, Battleborn, Hawken and many many others are completely unplayable today, nothing more than digital paper weights).

"Always online" puts the user at the mercy of factors completely outside of his control like server uptime, ping, connection availability.

While acceptable for the multiplayer portion of the game, there's absolutely NO EXCUSE for not implementing the single player portion offline. If it worked for Doom Eternal, for RDR2, for Horizon Zero Dawn, for Metro Exodus and countless other AAA 60+$ games, it should also work for Back4Blood.

idem

[[{******---Dead4Life---******}]]

Originally posted by Strelok:

Originally posted by Dead4Life:

Yup, you know how it is if a company drops support for a MP only game then it is lost forever. I think we have the same mindset there. I also would buy the gold edition if so.

I'm glad that there are still people that share this mindset.

Most gamers don't care enough to stick for years with a game. They want as cheap as possible (preferably free to play) so they can hop on have a little fun then move on to the next best 'free' thing.

I think good games should be treated like good vinyl music albums. You build a collection and enjoy them for years. This is the status L4D2 has achieved. This is the legacy that B4B needs to live up to.

There's no place like for "always online" in this approach.

"Always online" means cheap, disposable games with built in planned obsolescence. "Always online" means having a kill switch in the heart of a game.

"Always online" means completely locking users out of the game they purchased for a myriad of reasons, including server issues, maintenance, routing issues, user side connectivity issues and the list goes on and on.

There's ZERO benefit whatsoever from the user side for an "always online" implementation of the single player functionality, regardless of the narrative pushed by game publishers.

I have no issue with supporting game developers by purchasing the most expensive digital version of their games.

I do however have a huge problem with "always online", because it's just a glorified form of rental. I'm into building game collections, not at all into game rental.

Couldn't agree more with your statements. I love collecting games, either if they are physical or digital I have a list of thousands of different games at this point from PS One era to current gen. Also it is good to notice that Back 4 Blood is not a cheap game, it is a AAA game with quite expensive DLC plan ahead, so I think the implementation of an AI would not be too difficult for the devs. I mean countless games did "companion AI" very well so I see no reason for them not to do so.
As for the always online part, yes I don't like it but now a days even Steam requires Internet connection every so often to verify the credentials. So do games with denuvo for example. I don't mind being online much, because I think the Internet is the feauture but when a game is unplayable due to lack of people it is a huge problem. Say Evolve didn't die off completely because it does have bots. I believe this game shall be no different, since it also says "single player" as a tag on Steam. My hopes are up now.

[Kein Zantezuken]

If you want to try alpha in offline for the remaining time of denuvo activation period: https://web.archive.org/web/20201222195347/https://www.reddit.com/r/Back4Blood/comments/kicl0g/timelimited_offline_play_win10_only/

[Strelok]

Originally posted by Kein Zantezuken:

If you want to try alpha in offline for the remaining time of denuvo activation period: https://www.reddit.com/r/Back4Blood/comments/kicl0g/timelimited_offline_play_win10_only/?

Thanks for the info ! :)

[CheeseBoar]

Originally posted by Dead4Life:

Originally posted by Strelok:

I'm glad that there are still people that share this mindset.

Most gamers don't care enough to stick for years with a game. They want as cheap as possible (preferably free to play) so they can hop on have a little fun then move on to the next best 'free' thing.

I think good games should be treated like good vinyl music albums. You build a collection and enjoy them for years. This is the status L4D2 has achieved. This is the legacy that B4B needs to live up to.

There's no place like for "always online" in this approach.

"Always online" means cheap, disposable games with built in planned obsolescence. "Always online" means having a kill switch in the heart of a game.

"Always online" means completely locking users out of the game they purchased for a myriad of reasons, including server issues, maintenance, routing issues, user side connectivity issues and the list goes on and on.

There's ZERO benefit whatsoever from the user side for an "always online" implementation of the single player functionality, regardless of the narrative pushed by game publishers.

I have no issue with supporting game developers by purchasing the most expensive digital version of their games.

I do however have a huge problem with "always online", because it's just a glorified form of rental. I'm into building game collections, not at all into game rental.

Couldn't agree more with your statements. I love collecting games, either if they are physical or digital I have a list of thousands of different games at this point from PS One era to current gen. Also it is good to notice that Back 4 Blood is not a cheap game, it is a AAA game with quite expensive DLC plan ahead, so I think the implementation of an AI would not be too difficult for the devs. I mean countless games did "companion AI" very well so I see no reason for them not to do so.
As for the always online part, yes I don't like it but now a days even Steam requires Internet connection every so often to verify the credentials. So do games with denuvo for example. I don't mind being online much, because I think the Internet is the feauture but when a game is unplayable due to lack of people it is a huge problem. Say Evolve didn't die off completely because it does have bots. I believe this game shall be no different, since it also says "single player" as a tag on Steam. My hopes are up now.

Just a quick correction: Steam games themselves don't require an online check, even periodically. Steam's Offline Mode lasts indefinitely, and any games that use only the client as DRM can even be moved to another offline PC along with the client, and no online validation will be required. Only games with server-based DRM like Denuvo -- i.e., glorified rentals -- require you to ever go online again after the initial download.

[GRRz|Snake]

Dying Light is much better if you want a SP zombie game...

[[{******---Dead4Life---******}]]

Originally posted by Future-Proof-13:

Originally posted by Dead4Life:

Couldn't agree more with your statements. I love collecting games, either if they are physical or digital I have a list of thousands of different games at this point from PS One era to current gen. Also it is good to notice that Back 4 Blood is not a cheap game, it is a AAA game with quite expensive DLC plan ahead, so I think the implementation of an AI would not be too difficult for the devs. I mean countless games did "companion AI" very well so I see no reason for them not to do so.
As for the always online part, yes I don't like it but now a days even Steam requires Internet connection every so often to verify the credentials. So do games with denuvo for example. I don't mind being online much, because I think the Internet is the feauture but when a game is unplayable due to lack of people it is a huge problem. Say Evolve didn't die off completely because it does have bots. I believe this game shall be no different, since it also says "single player" as a tag on Steam. My hopes are up now.

Just a quick correction: Steam games themselves don't require an online check, even periodically. Steam's Offline Mode lasts indefinitely, and any games that use only the client as DRM can even be moved to another offline PC along with the client, and no online validation will be required. Only games with server-based DRM like Denuvo -- i.e., glorified rentals -- require you to ever go online again after the initial download.

Well I did have the "Your Steam credentials have expired" error when I used steam offline for 2 weeks like 3 years ago and I couldn't log into steam itself to play any games until I reconnected online. It is possible that steam updated their client or maybe there was something I could've done back there, since I didn't bother to "fix it".
Not sure if it was steam or my PC though.

[StopItStepBro]

I mean they're adding support for a single-player mode if you look at the game's FAQ so I highly doubt they wouldn't add support for offline play. It was present in L4D2 even if people didn't play it as much, a title like this would get too much backlash for being a forced online-only game.