Battlefront's Offline Combat update is the event that solo players have been asking for for so long

When Star Wars Battlefront came out in 2015, it looked incredible.

Hot looked so cold that you could crash into it. Endor seemed dense and dangerous. Blaster shots streaked across the screen with a unique Star Wars sound. DICE sure knew how to make the galaxy feel luxurious.

The problem was what happened when you wanted to play alone.

For a game called Battlefront, the lack of a full-fledged single-player campaign and deeper offline bot support were one of the main complaints. EA later admitted that eliminating the single-player campaign was a deliberate decision due to the simultaneous release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but also acknowledged that the game was criticized for lacking depth and variety.

That's why the announcement of 2016's Offline Skirmish mode was so significant.

EA finally gave something to solo players.

In July 2016, DICE introduced Skirmish, an offline mode that allowed players to fight in Walker Assault andFighter Squadron against AI bots. Console players also received split-screen support, making the update much closer to the good oldBattlefrontplayable on a single screen.

No, this was not a full-fledged election campaign.

No, it didn't suddenly turn Battlefront2015 into old pandemic-era games.

But the game desperately needed this: a way to enjoy the biggest battles without relying entirely on online servers, matchmaking, or other people acting like caffeinated stormtroopers.

For solo players, Skirmish mode is a small but significant change.

Operation Walker was an ideal test case.

Walker Assault has always been one of the signature modes of Battlefront 2015.

The scale of the game was impressive. AT-AT walkers. Rebels trying to activate communication channels.An empire moving forward as if all subtlety had been erased from the game files. In multiplayer mode, it was the one that most closely resembled a marketing fantasy.

Disabling this feature to protect against bots made sense.

This gave players the opportunity to practice, study maps, experiment with weapons, and enjoy the spectacle without being destroyed by someone who had already turned the match into his personal masterpiece.

The “Fighter Squadron” mode also fits in well. Star Wars style space battles, bots, offline play, fast paced chaos. It's not difficult. And still useful.

Too little, but not quite

The criticism was obvious and fair: the Skirmish mode was limited.

It covered only two modes. This was not a campaign. It didn't solve all the problems with the game's structure. Some players still wanted the larger, faster-paced "instant action" style gameplay they remembered from the old Battlefront games.

But as a historical moment, Skirmish is still interesting because it showed DICE's response to one of the main complaints about the game.

Battlefront 2015 was beautiful, noisy, polished, but strangely empty at times. Offline Skirmish mode didn't fix all of this.

This simply opened up an option for solo players that probably should have been available from the start.

And for many Star Wars players, this mattered.