It does not require internet, but it does ping our servers to grab the like banner image you see on the main menu. If you don't have internet, it shouldn't error out, but it might display a warning or something maybe?
If I disable my wifi, the game loads with no error
If I use my android firewall (Netguard), and tell it to block internet access for this app, then the game gets stuck loading it. It doesn't display an error or anything
The only thing I can theorize is that it detects my phone has internet connection (because it does), so it keeps trying, despite the fact that the app has no internet connection. If this is the case, the game may also not load in wifi networks with strict firewalls since they might block whoever's hosting your image (schools, workplace, etc)