The large survival MMO Atlas has opted for a drastic step after some tough situations and much feedback from the community: A single-player mode is on the way.
What kind of mode is this? In a development update on Steam, the developers of Atlas announced a single-player mode. This is currently planned. A beta is currently running and can be tested.
In this mode you play completely alone, but have access to all features of the game. You can explore all islands and make any progress – just without other players.
Can I play with friends? There will not be a “local server” running in the background. You are playing in a “real” single-player mode. Inviting friends will probably not work either. There is currently no work being done on an option for local servers.
What is behind this?
That’s why this is such a big announcement: Atlas presented itself as a big MMO at its release, wanting to truly live up to the “massive” label. Up to 40,000 players were expected to be able to play on one server.
The sudden shift from this massive number to single-player is a big step. However, Atlas has been plagued by many issues since its release, which have affected the game:
- extremely negative reviews
- loads of cheaters
- space issues due to claimed areas
- racism
All of this led to a significant decrease in the player base in recent months according to Steamcharts . Last month, only 7,276 players played Atlas simultaneously (as of July 3 at 4:50 PM).
This is what the community thinks: The decision for the single-player mode is widely supported. There were already mods for a single-player experience, but the game was always very focused on multiplayer.
With the new option, many players feel more comfortable and especially appreciate that they can avoid many of the problems. Although there are still some bugs, this is manageable – after all, the mode is still in development.
What’s next for Atlas? The big update in May was supposed to save Atlas. But that didn’t really work. Now it is hoped that the single-player mode will do the trick. At least according to the first impressions from players, it seems promising for the time being.
Whether and how Atlas will hold on remains to be seen. In the meantime, if you’re looking for another survival game for yourself, we have compiled the 10 best games here for you:
