diff --git a/RLTest/env.py b/RLTest/env.py
index 3b6d29d1..c0ffe4ae 100644
--- a/RLTest/env.py
+++ b/RLTest/env.py
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ def getKwargs(self):
 class Env:
     RTestInstance = None
     EnvCompareParams = ['module', 'moduleArgs', 'env', 'useSlaves', 'shardsCount', 'useAof',
-                        'useRdbPreamble', 'forceTcp']
+                        'useRdbPreamble', 'forceTcp', 'decodeResponses']
 
     def compareEnvs(self, env):
         if env is None:
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ def __init__(self, testName=None, testDescription=None, module=None,
         self.env = env if env else Defaults.env
         self.useSlaves = useSlaves if useSlaves else Defaults.use_slaves
         self.shardsCount = shardsCount if shardsCount else Defaults.num_shards
-        self.decodeResponses = decodeResponses if decodeResponses else Defaults.decode_responses
+        self.decodeResponses = decodeResponses if decodeResponses is not None else Defaults.decode_responses
         self.useAof = useAof if useAof else Defaults.use_aof
         self.useRdbPreamble = useRdbPreamble if useRdbPreamble is not None else Defaults.use_rdb_preamble
         self.verbose = Defaults.verbose
diff --git a/RLTest/exists_redis.py b/RLTest/exists_redis.py
index e71044fc..a36f6d05 100644
--- a/RLTest/exists_redis.py
+++ b/RLTest/exists_redis.py
@@ -12,10 +12,11 @@
 
 
 class ExistsRedisEnv(object):
-    def __init__(self, addr='localhost:6379', password = None, **kargs):
+    def __init__(self, addr='localhost:6379', password = None, decodeResponses=False, **kargs):
         self.host, self.port = addr.split(':')
         self.port = int(self.port)
         self.password = password
+        self.decodeResponses = decodeResponses
 
     @property
     def has_interactive_debugger(self):
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ def stopEnv(self, masters = True, slaves = True):
         pass
 
     def getConnection(self, shardId=1):
-        return redis.StrictRedis(self.host, self.port, password=self.password)
+        return redis.StrictRedis(self.host, self.port, password=self.password, decode_responses=self.decodeResponses)
 
     def getSlaveConnection(self):
         raise Exception('asked for slave connection but no slave exists')
@@ -63,7 +64,7 @@ def _waitForBgsaveToFinish(self):
         while True:
             if not self.getConnection().execute_command('info', 'Persistence')['rdb_bgsave_in_progress']:
                 break
-        
+
     def flush(self):
         self.getConnection().flushall()
         self._waitForBgsaveToFinish()
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f7ef301f..e6ec29c8 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [tool.poetry]
 name = "RLTest"
-version = "0.4.2"
+version = "0.4.4"
 description="Redis Labs Test Framework, allow to run tests on redis and modules on a variety of environments"
 authors = ["RedisLabs <oss@redislabs.com>"]
 license = "BSD-3-Clause"
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ classifiers = [
 [tool.poetry.dependencies]
 python = "^2.7,<2.8 || >= 3.5.0"
 distro = "^1.5.0"
-redis = "^3.5.3"
+# redis = "^3.5.3"
+redis = { git = "https://github.com/redisfab/redis-py.git", branch = "3.5" }
 redis-py-cluster = "*"
 psutil = "^5.8.0"
 pytest-cov = "2.5"