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PC users can now play Sonic Mania offline

Sonic Mania Running

Update August 30, 2017: After a bit of a snafu yesterday, Sega have pushed out a Sonic Mania patch that allows you to play the game offline.

Following community outcry, Sega have rectified the always online issue, meaning you can go fast whether you’re connected to the internet or not. Sega have also added a disclaimer on the Steam store page which confirms that Sonic Mania does use Denuvo. While fans are still not happy about Denuvo being present in Sonic Mania, crackers are probably at work as we speak to try and remove the DRM.

If Sonic Mania gets you all nostalgic, why not check out our list of the best classic games?

Original story August 29, 2017: The PC version of Sonic Mania reportedly requires an internet connection. Attempts to access the game offline are met with a pop-up telling users that they “must be logged in [to Steam] to play this game.”

This has been met with some consternation, as Sonic Mania is a single-player side-scroller, and as such doesn’t have any features that require online play. To not be able to play it offline, therefore, is understandably irritating, but it’s something that the team are working on fixing.

In a Steam forum post, a Sega developer says, “Sonic Mania is intended to be played offline and we’re investigating reports on that.” The dev also acknowledges issues with the game’s previously unannounced Denuvo DRM.

Sonic Mania’s Steam store page didn’t mention Denuvo in the run-up to its release. Sega say “we’ve noticed an error in the Steam store not mentioning the DRM for Sonic Mania. We’re fixing that now.” There are, however, several users in the comments below the post more upset that the DRM software has been included at all, not that it wasn’t previously mentioned.

These issues aren’t the first to plague Sonic Mania, as the game’s PC release has already been pushed back two weeks to allow for extra quality control. The game’s social media and PR manager, Aaron Webber, encourages users to provide their feedback to Sega about the DRM (or any other issues) via the official support site.