Three years after debuting for PC on the Epic Video games Retailer, Tony Hawk’s Professional Skater 1+2, a remastered bundle of the primary two video games within the long-running Tony Hawk sequence, lastly made its method to Steam earlier this month. By and huge it has been properly acquired, however there’s one persistent criticism: A variety of gamers would like to see the always-online requirement dropped. Yesterday it lastly occurred, due to the 1.1 patch for Steam, however solely partially—very oddly, the offline mode is barely out there on Steam Deck.
The 1.1 patch notes are very transient:
- Steam Deck customers can now play offline.
- The keyboard overlay now works correctly for Steam Deck customers.
There was some hope that the Steam Deck offline possibility would additionally apply to the usual Steam launch, however that does not look like the case. A number of customers on Reddit and Steam confirmed that THPS1+2 is now playable offline on the Steam Deck, however say it is nonetheless not playable offline on common ol’ PCs.
I fired it up with Steam in offline mode to double examine, and certain sufficient, it refused to run and not using a connection:
Even higher, there was no method to exit the sport from this “press enter to begin/you have to be linked” loop apart from a great ol’ Alt-F4.
That is bizarre, proper? Why make an offline mode out there for a conveyable platform however withhold it from desktop PCs? So far as I can inform there’s nothing within the Steam Deck compatibility necessities that calls for offline help, and whereas I can see the place it is perhaps useful if you’re, as an illustration, Professional Skating on the bus with none connectivity, why restrict that performance to only the Steam Deck? Piracy is the most typical justification for always-online necessities, however THPS1+2 has been out for 3 years now—I believe it is honest to say that anybody who was going to pirate the sport already has.
And certain, you are most likely not going to be hauling your PC round prefer it’s a handheld, however always-on necessities is usually a headache even when your connection is working completely properly. Take a look at Payday 3: It has been pummeled by gamers on Steam nearly totally due to server points which have made it tough to play the sport, even for individuals who need to play solo.
The underside line is that there is simply no good motive for it. There is not any good motive for an always-online requirement for any recreation that provides a singleplayer mode so far as I am involved, however within the case of a years-old recreation that permits offline play on this platform however not that one, it is particularly egregious.
I’ve reached out to Activision to ask why the Steam Deck is allowed offline play however PCs aren’t, and if the aptitude will likely be prolonged to common PCs at any level sooner or later, and can replace if I obtain a reply. Within the meantime, an offline workaround is on the market and it apparently works, however be warned: It additionally appears to be like like an enormous ache within the ass.
