‘Redfall’ to launch with Denuvo and require internet connection for single-player

Bethesda has confirmed that its upcoming vampire shooter Redfall will launch with Denuvo and require a “persistent online connection” to play, even within its single-player mode.

On this page on Bethesda’s website, the publisher has clarified that a “persistent online connection is required” for Redfall‘s single-player and co-op elements.

It’s likely this is due to the game featuring Denuvo anti-piracy software, which has been confirmed via an update to Redfall‘s Steam page. Traditionally, games using Denuvo have been unplayable without an internet connection due to the software’s anti-piracy measures.

However, Denuvo’s approach to preventing piracy has been criticised for a number of reasons. While some players disagree with single-player games requiring an internet connection, others have accused the service of having a negative effect on the performance of some titles.

Back in 2021, hackers alleged that Denuvo was to blame for Resident Evil Village‘s performance issues, which Capcom addressed with a patch designed to “optimise” the software.

In the same year, Humankind developer Amplitude Studios said Denuvo’s integration was “not good enough” to avoid performance issues, and dropped it ahead of launch.

Last month, Hogwarts Legacy came under fire when it was announced that it will be launching with Denuvo included.

As for Redfall, the game is currently scheduled to release on May 2 and will apparently have more in common with Ubisoft’s open-world shooter Far Cry than Left 4 Dead.

When asked about Redfall‘s co-op mode, Arkane Studios‘ creative director Ricardo Bare acknowledged that although it was “totally understandable” players would draw parallels to Valve‘s wave survival shooter, Redfall in fact offers a “big-ass open world” to explore.

“We have a home base where you can talk to NPCs and get side-quests,” explained Bare. “You can go to the mission table and pick up story-driven missions. Or you can not give a shit about any of that and just head outside; pick a direction, start hauling ass, and run into the living-world stuff that we have going on.”

In other gaming news, Microsoft will be removing a series of titles from the Xbox 360 Marketplace this month.