In the lead up to Redfall’s release, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:during the preview event I attended, the messaging cℱoming from directors Harvey Smith and Ricardo Bare was that while different from previous games, Redfall was still full of Arkane DNA. It’s hard to see how an open-world co-op looter shooter could be anything like Dishonored or Prey - and as it turns out, it’s not.
There are glimpses of Arkane doing what it does best throughout, but those elements never seem to mesh well with Redfall’s gameplay. Even when𒉰 it’s showing off Arkane’s exceptional level design skills, the structure of the game is so at odds with the design that it ends up making the experience worse. Ultimately Redfall does have Arkane DNA, but it might be a better game if it didn’t.
One of the earliest missions takes you to the Hollow Man’s mansion, a large compound on a hill swarming with vampires that you need to get into. With Watchers standing on tಌhe rooftops and enemies patrolling the front yard, there are a couple of ways to approach the house. Broken windows and side doors give 🌃you an alternative to fighting your way in through the front door, and depending on which character you’re playing you have even more options. Devinder can toss his teleporter onto the roof and climb in through a window, Layla can use her elevator to jump on the Watchers before they can alert backup, and Jacob can turn invisible and sneak right in the front door.
When I played this section during the preview, it was easy to recognize the influence of Dishonored in this mission. I was hopeful that this early encounter was a good indication that the rest of the game would evolve ಞfrom here, but it doe🐻sn’t – or rather, it can’t.
Part of the problem is that Redfall, unlike Dishonored, is an action shooter. This is a game where you can do a full 360 while sliding and fire a machine gun into an exploding barrel that causes a chain reaction that blows up ten cultists at the same time. It’s designed to be played loud and fast, and the clearest path is always the most direct one. You can try to sneak around the edges and look for alternate entrances, but there’s no stealth systems here to support that playstyle. There’s no cover indicator when you crouch down or visibilitജy changes when you’re in shadow or light, there’s no stealth kill prompt when you get behind someone, and the AI is so stupid that you can fire a revolver at a guy at the bottom of the stairs, and a guy at the top of the stairs won’t even react.
There’s almost no challenge to combat. Human enemies will move forward until they're in range then stand still and shoot you, making it easy to pop each one in the head. Vampires chase you, but all you have to do is walk backwards and move left or right when they swipe at you. Even in a heavily fortified location like the mansion, it’s so much easier and faster to just kill everything and walk in the front door than to sneak around and try to play it quiet. You’ll miss out on combat XP if you do that, so there’s no incentive to be sneaky.
The only consequence of going loud is The Rook. Whenever you cause chaos, a meter increases until eventually a mini-boss called The 🎉Rook is summoned. You can avoid this by being sneaky, or you can kill The Rook in five seconds and collect a rare weapon from his ashes. 🔜The Rook may seem like something to avoid, but its yet another incentive to raise hell.
The other problem 🌌is the way abilities work. In Dishonored and Prey, you have lots of different waysℱ to spend your skill points and build your character. If you want to take a stealth approach, Dishonored will let you invest in abilities that help you stay swift and silent. If you want to hack computers to disable locks instead of finding the keys, Prey will let you become a hacker. In Redfall, you can only do the things your character does. Layla can get up high with her elevator, Remi can disable trip mines with her C4, and Devinder can teleport through windows with his translocator (sometimes, when it actually works). If all you have is an elevator, then you’re going to approach every building from the roof. You only have choices about your approach when playing with other people, but then why not just shoot your way in together? More hands make less work after all.
All of those entrances make exploring places frustrating in Redfall. Because they’re all meant to be different wa🤡ys to approach an environment, they’re all beautifully set-dressed and stand out like critical paths. When you’re wandering around a warehouse looking for a key, you frequently end up following paths out of the building that were only ever meant to be ways to get in. The level design is working against the strengths of the gameplay, and as a result nothin𒀰g in Redfall feels cohesive.
Playing Redfall is frustrating. It feels like I should be exploring each space and taking advantage of the tactical opportunities they present, but in the end it's always faster, easier, and more rewarding to just run past enemies or shoot anyone that gets in my way. Arkane built a lot of beautiful, intricate spaces that aren’t useful to anyone. There’s just no reason to sneak around the back, climb onto the roof, and drop through the skylight, when the front door is wide open. And when you do have to find another way around, your options are limited by the one thing your character does. I love the way Arkane designs spaces, but seeing elements of Dishonored and Prey here just served as a depressing reminder that Redfall is definitely not those games.