With the closure of Arkane Austin, it was looking like the offline patch that was in the works for Redfall was never to materialise.
The Redfall Twitter account recently tweeted some good news, it’s still happening.
The offline patch will be part of Game Update 4 which will also include “revamped Neighbourhood and Nest Systems” as well as the ability to pause when playing in single player.
No mention of the timing when this patch will drop.
IGN reported that with the closure of Arkane, the in-the-works offline patch might not materialise, rendering Redfall being at risk of being unplayable forever once the servers shut down.
Works on DLC characters as part of the Hero Pass, something players spent real money on, has been scrapped, however.
Arkane Austin was one of the three studios at Bethesda that was closed down last week due to restructuring.
The studio, together with Arkane Lyon as Arkane Studios, created the original Dishonored, the first-person action-stealth game that were part amongst the immersive sim revival movement alongside Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
As Arkane Austin, they developed Prey (2017), one of the finest examples of the immersive sim school of game design philosophy.
Redfall took Arkane to uncharted territory by being more of a co-op open world looter shooter, which unfortunately was not good. The game’s quality and reception was not the primary reason Arkane Austin was closed, even the creators of the highly-lauded and fan-loved game Hi-Fi Rush suffered the same fate.
That said, no game deserves to be rendered unplayable due to online-only restrictions. And it’s good to see Redfall can live on.