The upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguewill eventually be playable offline, confirmed Rocksteady Studios. Following the newest trailer at last night’s Game Awards, the studio confirmed on its official Discord (spotted by VGC) that an offline story mode was in the works.
“We are planning to add an offline story mode that will give players the option to experience the main campaign without an internet connection,” it wrote. The update will come after the game’s February 2024 release, though a specific timeframe wasn’t offered.
As far as how the offline mode will affect the game’s RPG mechanics or other elements built specifically with co-op in mind, Rocksteady offered no comment.
What is a Suicide Squad? A live-service enigma
Like other live-service games, Suicide Squad requires an always-online connection to play. In the game proper, solo players can switch between characters through the D-pad, with the other three characters controlled by bots (to theoretically be inhabited by co-op players).
Allowing an offline mode adds an extra layer of security to a multiplayer game if it gets taken offline or delisted sooner than expected. Most online games allow for offline modes (like story campaigns or player v. bots) to persist if the title itself has its support ended or becomes delisted.
Even so, it’s very clear Rocksteady’s newest title is aiming to fill a superhero gap in the live-service space. Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav indicated WB Games would lean towards ongoing games for much of its future output, and this game has been known for some time to be the first go at those plans.