Today, you can finally play SimCity offline
In related news, hell has frozen over. Yes, the fix that Maxis once declared impossible has become a reality. SimCity can now be played without an internet connection. This isn’t due to a hack or a rushed patch, either. The new SimCity offline mode is a robust, fully featured update. Oh, and it’s free. Read on for the details.
Anyone who was within screaming distance of the internet last year knows all about the SimCity debacle. The decision by EA and Maxis to take what had always been a single player, offline experience, and turn it into a multiplayer game that required a constant internet connection was one of the most controversial events in recent gaming history. The outrage over the game’s changes was made even worse by the game’s many post-launch server meltdown which left SimCity largely unplayable for weeks. Fans rightly demanded an offline mode, but were told that such a change to the game was impossible. Remember this infamous tweet?
@Azbiker72 The game was designed for MP, we sim the entire region on the server so this is just not possible
— SimCity (@simcity) March 9, 2013
Yeah, about that… earlier today, Maxis released Update 10 for SimCity, which adds a single-player mode to the game. Once installed, this mode will never, ever, ever again require an internet connection. So even if the Maxis servers were stolen by Mole People, never to be seen by us surface dwellers again, you’d still be able to play SimCity. And this ain’t some two bit rush job, either. In single-player, you’ll still be able to build multiple cities, and share resources between the cities. You’ll also still have access to the Global Market, although prices will be fixed. Unlike the multiplayer game, cities in single-player are saved locally on your computer. So go ahead and bulldoze your entire downtown, just to see what happens. Your city is still just a reload away, safe and sound on your hard drive.
Maxis put together a FAQ which you can find here. Scroll down to the bottom for some nice cheat codes. I wonder if “imacheat” still works. They’ve also released a short video tutorial, which gives an overview of how the new single-player mode works. Check it out below.
Update 10 is available as you read this for both PC and Mac versions of SimCity, and it’s free. So now would be a good time to forgive Maxis, and give SimCity another shot.