Will the single-player gameplay be significantly diminished if you don't have a reliable internet connection?
1958048
No, the single player part can be played without Internet at all. People who play the game with Internet will have the opportunity to compete in races, play deathmatch, stalk other players, and play a type of capture the flag. They will also have periodic invasions (unless they're on a single-player mission) from other players. The online stuff can be turned off altogether, if desired. It's a fun game. I especially enjoyed stalking other players, which I could do even with my crummy satellite Internet.
1958049
I get hacked almost every time from online contracts and my internet speed is 512kbps download / 256kps upload. So if you internet connections slower than this, then you won't be bothered by most people trying to hack your single player experience.
1958050
A couple articles have mentioned there may be some disadvantages to not playing online. When choosing to play offline, a window pops up with the following: "By disabling Online Invasions you will not be available for other players to invade, but you will also not be able to participate in Online Hacking and Tailing. Your Notoriety will be reset to 0 and any Notoriety Skills you have unlocked will be lost." More here: http://fansided.com/2014/05/21/watch-dogs-punish-offline-gamers/#!QL16h http://www.gamezone.com/news/2014/05/21/you-can-play-watch-dogs-offline-but-you-ll-be-punished-for-it
471185
Yes, my son only uses the internet for updates, otherwise he plays exclusively "offline".
690222
I don't blame you. I don't like to use Steam either. Luckily you don't need to have Steam running or installed to run the game, and as far as I know, you can play the single player offline.
1900629
I'm sorry to bring the bad news but yes, playing offline mode is single player only. The only way to play together would be to play online with another system and game :(
1867945
Yep. And due to that I wouldn't waste your time on it. Uplay's online service is spotty at best, so unless you ONLY want to play Singleplayer, the game isn't worth it.
1171659
if you do not update then you can play with no problem if you update it take time and no you not have to have wifi but you you need the internet to get updates
649887
Absolutely. The game can be enjoyed either way. You don't have to be connected if you'd rather enjoy single player.
1491318
I think you need steam to play it but you can always play offline if thats all you wanna play.
1998877
You can play offline it just won't be connected to Steam, and a msg will pop up that says Steam won't be able to sync your game files from the cloud. That's the best answer I have from our little experiment we just did by turning off our internet and seeing if our son could still play and he could....Hope it helps!
575244
No, you can not play this game without having internet. You can download game to your computer,that way you can get all software for game.
2217678
It does - you can choose to play the game persistently online in the menu and other players will pop into the map. Get ready for even longer load times though and in the end it still eats your save game. There definitely is on offline single player mode because I went in and changed the settings.
683363
We have had the same problem. I was told that it requires a lot of pull from the internet so if you have a weak signal strength at all then you will have a hard time playing it.
2269560
Well, yes and no. It does need an internet connection to update the patches, which fix a few minor issues. And you need the internet connection if you want to have the option to do the multiplayer, but you can play the game without a connection. I don't have one for my PS3 and it works just fine. The multiplayer doesn't add a whole lot to the experience except random encounters with hostile players and an option to have players join you for boss fights, so if that doesn't interest you, you miss nothing without the connection.
760176
You don't have to be connected to the Internet at all! My son has been playing this game for over a year and loves it!
1019719
You will need an internet connection. You will need it to get the dlc unlocked through steam.
1366083
If you are buying the PC version, then yes; you must have an internet connection. Also you have to have a Steam account otherwise game will not work. A steam account is free to set up if you do not have one.
2028506
It needs the internet to download and install the initial update that allows offline functionality, but after that, it doesn't require an internet connection. I tried searching, but found nothing to suggest that any consoles are yet shipping with this update already pre-installed.