Redfall looks rad. There’s a box quote for you, Arkane, be sure to make the cheque out to t🐠he usual place. Ah damn, now you know I’m a corrupt games journalist shill. The jig is up.
Even if I wasn’t, I’d still be excited for Redfall and its gorgeous aesthetic, punchy guns, and compelling approach to co-operative play that adopts the formula pioneered by Left 4 Dead before taking it to myriad new place👍s. Slay alone or with friends, it will be a blast either way.
The recent Xbox Bethesda Showcase kicked off with an extensive gameplay presentation for Redfall that confirmed how the first-person shooter will l🔜ook, play, and work. You can choose from a quartet of characters each with their own distinct abilities before jumping into the titular town of Redfall to murder vampires and investigate exactly what brought this humble little place to ruin. Get ready to slay in perpetual darkness against a selection of vampires, creatures, and other such threats amidst an adventure that goes far beyond combat.
Redfall immediately reminded me of Deathloop. It’s clearly running on the same engine, which is evident in both the movement of its characters and chunky feedback of firing weapons before watching bodies fling themselves across the screen. It looks and likely feels incredible, possessing a level of charming confidence that is both a far cry from Arkane’s usual flair while also staying stringently within its own ballpark. Hardcore immersive sim 🎉fans are rightfully paranoid that Redfall might abandon these tenets entirely, but if it’s anything like Deathloop, it will instead aim to express them in entirely new ways.
Deathloop was a multiplayer game, albeit an unconventional one. You played as Colt who was tasked with wiping out a selection of targets in a single sequence across Blackreef Island. Falling at the hands of anyone or anything would reset the time loop and force us to do it all over again. But as a consequence we earned better equipment, formulated better strategies, and built up a pool of knowledge that would make each subsequent run that much easier. This is made possible through 🔯exploration and experimentation that was completely driven by the player. Each part of the island was beautifully distinct with unique architecture and clashing aesthetics that saw imagination almost dripping from the walls.
Arkane has always been the best of its kind when it comes to creating immersive worlds to sink into, and Deathloop was no exception d🅷espite its departure from a primarily single-player approach. Redfall will likely achieve the same, and usurp current doubts surrounding its focus on a multiplayer experience instead of a solitary one. Deathloop hasꦓ shown that this studio should never be underestimated, even more so as it abandons tried-and-true conventions in favour of something new. Redfall could be chasing trends and focus testing, but it is clearly taking those ideas and seeking to innovate upon them wherever possible.
The opening of last week’s gameplay demo was little more than a spooky foray into a church before some vampires decided to ambush our heroes, but this simplicity was a smokescreen to introduce nuanced co-op mechanics and a central mystery at the heart of Redfall that will require us to explore in search of quests, characters, and secrets that piece together the overarching mythology. Each playable character likely isn’t a bland personality either, Arkane will have imbued them with nuanced backstorie💞s and cool little quirks that justify playing as each one of them. I want to play as each one and get to know them, finding a firm favourite before embarking on the full campaign or teaming up with friends.
When Arkane Studios was acquired by 💧Microsoft there was a justified fear that the games it makes so well would be left behind in favour of more mainstream successes. That is happening with Redfall, but in a way t🅷hat appears to maintain creative control and hopes to introduce the immersive sim genre to a bigger audience than ever before. You could play this game as a straight shooter, but the real joy will come through players who are willing to experiment with each playable character and the intertwining systems to best enjoy everything it has to offer. Just like Deathloop, you need to put a tiny bit of work in to make it really shine.
It was the same with Dishonored, Prey, and even Dark Messiah if we’re really digging into the weeds. Arkane is a studio that never stops building upon what came before, ensuring its core design philosophy remains untouched regardless of the genre or setting each new project happens to occupy. I had my doubts before Deathloop’s arrival before falling head over heels for it, and I can already feel the same thing happening with Redfall.
