Redfall

Arkane Austin's game doesn't need to reinvent the sandbox and open-world genre. It just needs to be effective in its proposal. Redfall is a solid production whose best letter of introduction lies in the fun it delivers to the user. The enemies are varied, the exploration is entertaining, and the missions always give something back to the player. It has some performance issues that somehow detract from the gaming experience.

Redfall is fantastic in most ways. A few baffling design decisions around its co-op implementation and some frustrating technical issues hold it back. It is fun as hell solo, and ridiculously so in co-op. With a little post-launch support it is going to become something special. This may end up being Arkane’s worst-reviewed title ever, but it is going to be their most successful. Alone or with friends Redfall is a game any fan of the genre should play.

Redfall is that kind of game that gets you into the action with your friends. It's super fun, especially when you join a team of four, and are tasked with fighting hordes of vampires to save survivors and meet haven objectives. But that's not all, what really takes this game to another level are the character enhancement mechanics and dynamic agility of movement.

Redfall becomes Arkane's most fun game: no moral dilemmas, no existential doubts and totally enjoyable both with friends and alone.

Redfall will be a good game by the time all the technical problems it has at launch are fixed. Arkane's good hand in terms of setting and gameplay is pushed to the background because of constant bugs and glitches and despite everything, this exclusive is extremely fun.

Redfall is a truly exciting experience. It's great solo, has the potential to be great with friends -- especially if someone has a save so I can access that last 17 Gamerscore I need, thanks. It’ll be perfect for anyone who's loved an Arkane game -- sci-fi, fantasy or otherwise -- in the past.

Redfall is a bigger and much more deliberately paced game than I was expecting. Fun in multiplayer, I found that I enjoyed it even more solo. Creeping around with a sniper rifle, shooting vamps with stake launchers from afar, I was able to play Redfall as a stealth game, which was highly enjoyable. Some technical issues still need to be ironed out, but there is a lot of fun here for folks that vibe with the spooky open world.

Redfall is an open world game that does preserve some of Arkane's biggest virtues regarding game design, but at the same time it also feels held back by its own genre. It will probably grow into something much bigger in the future, but I felt conflicted from the very first moment I finished it. As of right now, I feel that in spite of its good points, the best thing about Redfall is what it could become... and I don't really know whether that is a good or a bad thing.

Redfall offers satisfying gameplay, with the classic flavor of Arkane games especially when played in co-op thanks to the synergy between the different heroes' powers, but overall it fails to fully convince due to a series of technical problems, dated game design, and an uncompelling plot. Still, it remains a good opportunity for intense online games among friends, hoping that future patches will solve at least part of the problems encountered.

Redfall is an entertaining, albeit shallow, romp in the FPS genre solo or with a team. Though PC seems to be performing less than favourably and next-gen consoles aren’t being pushed to their true capabilities, the game remains functional, fun and occasionally frightening.

The best word to describe it is that “it is a very simple game”. Redfall is fun, but not exciting. The formula is there, waiting to be polished, covered in a thick layer of dust full of bugs, poor animations and missing features. As a fan of Arkane, they'll have me first in line when they buff it. A server is very given to getting hooked on products of this style, which I end up loving, but you also have to admit and explain where they have been wrong, because a good review is also an opportunity for improvement. My advice is the obvious: try it on Xbox Game Pass for yourself and judge. More than one of you will be surprised… for better or for worse.

Redfall is a competent action shooter - the only problem is that the market is filled with other options that do things a bit better. It is one to download and try on Game Pass, especially if you have a few friends willing to play co-op mode. You may well be best off waiting for a patch or two in order to get a more optimal experience. Out the gate, Redfall just doesn’t spark joy.

Personally, I’d rather play a co-op shooter that’s flawed and interesting than the third iteration of a hyper-polished template – Far Cry 2 will always be more interesting than Far Cry 6 and the Breaking Bad man can’t even change that. Redfall has a personality all of its own. If Arkane stands in front of a mirror and takes stock, it will probably see all the scars and imperfections, too, but it’s better than seeing no reflection at all.

Redfall shows some good ideas (especially in its level design), but they are not enough to compete with the brilliant previous works that Arkane gave birth to.

Redfall is ultimately a fun experience thanks to the world, the enemies, and the gunplay itself, but as a whole, it's an incredibly shallow one too. Because of this, some may question whether it's worth the price tag, but it's noteworthy that Redfall is launching on Xbox Game Pass. It feels like the game is designed for the service, with an experience that is easily digestible, is full of simple mindless fun, and is easy to move on from.

It just makes no sense that Microsoft promotes this game as this grand co-op experience but then puts in place every system known to man to hinder that process or make it harder than necessary; no quick match in a multiplayer game in 2023 is ridiculous. Sadly, Redfall is a prime example of what current day Xbox has become, the potential for greatness is there but they can’t get out of their own way to reach it.

In no way is Redfall groundbreaking — but sometimes all a game needs to be is fun to play, and Arkane has created an experience that is a hell of a good time.

The crime of mediocrity is often more disappointing than the crime of simply being terrible and that feels especially true here.

In Redfall, Arkane's trademark can only be seen in places, and the end result, while not entirely awful, falls far short of what we expected from the return to the scenes of Prey’s creators.

Redfall is a hodgepodge of influences that fails to excel in the many categories it aims for. Far from being uninteresting, in particular thanks to a quality level design and cogs that fit together rather well in its main systems, the title of Arkane Austin is disappointing compared to the pedigree of the studio. Unlike Prey, the game design is not brilliant or original, but in return, the app is surely the most accessible game imagined by Harvey Smith. This adventure to be lived in co-op, featuring vampires who have managed to hide the sun, is to be tested with friends thanks to the Game Pass before it is overshadowed by other outings. Bethesda's action game will divide, but not rule.

Redfall is a gold dust-rare miss for what has been a very consistent deliverer of quality video games. If you are able to look beyond the game’s several questionable design choices, Redfall can serve up just a small bite of mindless fun beneath the island’s black hole sun.

Redfall is all about Arkane Studios and many fans will actually love it. This is an FPS with a rich lore story, action, various characters, and lots of looting. However, it feels simplified in some mechanics and very generic. The strength of the game is in the multiplayer mode where each character complements each other and becomes more fun. As for the graphics and performance, it's clear that rushing the development of the game has been part of its own failure.

Sadly, Redfall had unbelievable potential and a dynamic studio behind this that is known for quality gaming, but under delivered at quite literally almost every facet of the game. Redfall, unfortunately, should be avoided, and in fact, I hope that the industry starts taking a look at these games and starts evaluating its processes, because if you're only as good as your last game, then Arkane isn't looking good at all.

There's something here: a glimmer of promise, the kind of idea that surely shone bright in the game's original conception. But the realities of development have resulted in a game that, like a misjudged Translocator leading only to a dead drop, falls well short of the imagined outcome. [Issue#385, p.102]

Redfall never manages to be anything more than fine. My time playing through its single-player campaign it rarely wowed me once the skillful crafting of the world itself wore off.

Arkane Studio's Redfall stretches the very definition of what a finished game should be. It's unfinished, unpolished and uninspired in almost every regard. It feels like a dye prototype years from a full release. The few moments of Arkane's magic, when visual design of the vampires, some fun weapons and frantic co-op gameplay come together are quickly overshadowed by catastrophic bugs, bad performance and an empty-lifeless shell of a game.

Redfall is hampered by issues like poor AI, texture pop-ins, and bland missions, meaning its stronger moments are overshadowed.

Redfall isn't a bad game per se, but its lack of a clear vision or sense of direction prevents it from being anything more than just decent at best. It spreads itself too thin and overextends beyond Arkane's wheelhouse, falling back on systems and mechanics borrowed from around open world games and beyond that don't really gel with one another, and leaving Redfall a game confused. Enemy AI is largely pretty shocking, which stops the big multi-faction fights being as interesting or intense as they could be, and while gunplay and abilities do feel good, you're constantly re-gearing up for an endgame challenge that never comes, upgrading to new gear simply to tread water against the same threats as before at a slightly higher level. There's definitely a decent time to be had with Redfall (especially in co-op) in spite of some baffling design decisions, but given Arkane's track record, it's hard not to be deflated by what Redfall could have been compared to what it actually is.

Redfall would have needed a more extensive development cycle, and a pinch of courage in building the structure. It is an imperfect product, but one that knows how to entertain when one finds oneself burying vampires in the company of friends, also given the presence of protagonists with unique abilities and an arsenal equipped with various types of death tools. For these reasons, Game Pass subscribers looking for a few hours of co-op leisure could give it a chance, but keeping one thing in mind: we are not at all facing the next evolutionary step of Arkane-branded productions.

Redfall feels like a victim of the great, Game Pass machine. A game with heaps of style and potential that ultimately falls short in core areas like story, mission variety and technical performance. I can’t help shake the feeling development may have been rushed in order to fill a gap in the subscription service’s exclusives release schedule. It’s fun in parts and its wider potential occasionally manages to shine through, but it ultimately serves as another reminder that Microsoft’s first-party offerings still lag behind the best the industry has to offer.

Redfall disappoints. Arkane Austin decided to take some risks and experiment a bit, but the result is a game whose target audience is really hard to define.

Redfall is a serviceable first-person open-world shooter with perhaps the most needless "RPG layer" in the history of always-online games. Tools that might make the sandbox more fun are arbitrarily spread across four separate playable class characters. Weapons you enjoy using will lose effectiveness as you "level up" with the game's pointless progression system, which only hinders the otherwise interesting campaign. There are far too many similar shooters out there that simply do almost everything Redfall is trying to do, only far better. Redfall struggles to grasp an identity of its own in a very noisy market. While embers of fun do exist in Redfall, it's maddening that this is the product of the legendary studio that gave us Prey. Arkane is very clearly out of its depth with Redfall.

With a terrible gunplay, a blank open world, and a forgettable story, Arkane's new open world shooter is something far distant from anything that the studio made in the past. Something must have gone irreparably wrong in the development of Redfall, nonetheless, it represents a huge defeat for anyone who expected a good reason to fire up their Xbox Series S|X after a 2022 of empty promises.

Redfall is perhaps one of Bethesda and Arkane Austin's most ordinary titles. A perfectly competent first-person shooter that does little to raise itself above the competition. The perfect Game Pass game that's not worth the money, but is worth a casual weekend of play.

Immersive sim meets four-player co-op in this vampire themed first person shooter that features competent gunplay but a lack of ingenuity in its challenges.

Redfall sees Arkane experiment with melding genres, to mixed results. There's plenty of flashes of the style and narrative flair we've come to expect from this incredible studio as you explore the town and face off with its undead inhabitants. However, the mixing of FPS action and story beats with open world exploration and a relatively relaxed pace leads to a balancing act that may leave hardcore shooter aficionados and Arkane super fans alike wanting more. If you come at it looking for a chilled out bit of vampire hunting there's still plenty to enjoy here, but some irksome AI issues and a lack of clarity over what it really wants to be leave it feeling a little lost in a limbo of its own making.

There is a sense of more hiding beneath the surface of Redfall; and an urge to find it is what pushes you onward through endless vampire skirmishes. But while pieces of promised treasure are sprinkled throughout, Redfall never shines quite as brightly as it should.

Even apart from the technical problems, Redfall doesn't manage to convince in any way or to reach the quality of other genre representatives.

To say that Redfall needs major work to fix some balancing issues would be a bit of an understatement. For a game that had so much hype during its development and was supposed to be the first big game of 2023 for the Xbox family that wasn’t called Halo or Forza, it has fallen short in its delivery. There are quite a few issues with Redfall, lots of unbalance in gameplay, and plenty to correct before it can be considered a permanent and worthwhile IP.

A shooter in which you slaughter vampires with your friends sounds fun on paper, but in the case of Redfall it is especially frustrating in practice. The game has a nice game world and great shooting action, but that doesn't make up for the bizarre choices, technical problems, stupid enemies and extremely short playing time. Redfall is an Arkane-unworthy product.

Redfall has the potential to be a good game, but it has a bunch of issues that need fixing first.

Redfall is an epic miss from Arkane. The combat is mind-numbing, the quests are uninspired, co-op is a bummer, and the story doesn’t reach its potential. The only saving grace is its setting, but it’s pulled down by everything else. While co-op is the focus of the marketing, it doesn’t feel like a priority in Redfall’s design. There is some basic enjoyment in the solo campaign if you just want to turn your brain off, explore the town, and blast some goons, but there are easily better alternatives out there.

Redfall not only has big performance and balancing problems, but the story is also boring and the characters are annoying. This shooter is already one of the big disappointments of the gaming year.

Redfall isn’t the game anyone wanted it to be, and what is there is just OK. It’s a freak show, a roadside attraction, inviting you and your friends to come and gawk at one of god’s failed designs for an evening or an afternoon. The longer you stay, the less fun it gets, but curiosity and the low cost of admission (for Game Pass subscribers anyway) is likely enough to keep up a slow trickle of players.

Redfall does not meet the standards we're used to from Arkane Studios. The game is not thought through and is a technical blunder. The game is okay when it comes to shooting and has a few cool guns, but that's it.

Redfall is a fantastic idea that just doesn’t pan out. Clunky combat, horrible AI, and boring gameplay make this one an easy pass.

Redfall is disappointing. A moderately enjoyable co-op game set in a stylish and inviting game world marred by repetitive and bland design and a long list of technical shortcomings.

Redfall tries to be a lot of things but only finds success in little area. Coop is fun enough to be oblivious to its numerous flaws and weird design decision, but that does not mean they're not here.

Redfall is Arkane's most underwhelming game to date. A fascinating setting and some remnants of the developer's beloved gameplay formula aren't enough to overcome the game's numerous issues, from stiff controls and disappointingly rote design choices to lackluster storytelling and technical deficiencies.

A disappointing take on open-world first-person shooters, Redfall has none of the flavour or mechanical finesse that we’ve come to expect from Arkane Studios.

The result is a game with no identity of its own. Redfall simultaneously wants to be a looter shooter like Borderlands, in an open world like Fallout's, with action like Dying light and a lengthy multiplayer experience like Destiny. But it fails on all counts. The game environments are bleakly empty, the gameplay is wooden. Like the vampires from the world of Redfall, the game has no soul.

Redfall’s environmental storytelling is somewhat worth witnessing, but shoddy performance, sluggish gunplay, and a boring story have left me drained – just like the victims of the town.

I really, really wanted to love Redfall. It is genuinely impressive how much a development team from a studio recognized for its talent and design philosophy took the wrong decision at every fundamental aspect of a game. After finishing the game, the only relevant question in my mind was "how did we get to this point"?

Redfall's biggest problem is that it has no clear identity, with an empty open world and a lot of design and technical problems that seem to be very difficult to solve with updates.

There is a mission relatively early on in Redfall’s tale that draws you into the mansion of one of the town’s main antagonists. It is a creepy, looming pile creaking with atmosphere and, once inside, plays smartly with Arkane’s knack for twisted level design; shifting time and space and spinning a hair-raising tale through gameplay and artistic direction. It is brilliant and, for a moment, recalls some of Arkane’s best work. But then it’s gone, fading in the wind as you return to wrestle the so-so shooting, lacklustre looting and barrage of bugs...Rather aptly, the mission is called The House of Echoes.

Redfall features none of the variety to support its bloated length, in either its slow-to-unfold character progression or its bizarrely thin loot system, which is scant on customization and quickly devolves into finding the same guns at progressively higher levels.

Pardon the pun, but playing Redfall really sucked the life out of me. It's a game that so desperately feels like it wants to be more than what it is, which is understandable. It's dreadfully dull, buggy, frustrating, and feels shackled to a genre that it doesn't really want to be part of. Far Cry with vampires sounds like a great idea, but ultimately, what we got feels like a shell of a prototype for such a concept. The vibes the game radiates are great and there are glimmers of a better game when all of the game's elements are working together in harmony, but that so rarely happens.

This is just disappointing from all angles. Boring combat in both gun feel and enemy AI, lifeless open worlds that actively discourage exploration, and hero powers that are flat out rubbish to use make not for the fun co-op shooter we were hoping for. A massive miss for Xbox, Arkane, and Game Pass.

Redfall is a poor execution of ideas ill-at-ease with Arkane’s historic design ethos, a sad misuse of Arkane’s a unique developer’s particular talents.

Redfall is a bafflingly bad time across the board, whether playing solo or with a friend or three suffering alongside you. That it comes in the wake of Arkane’s excellent Deathloop, the enduringly beloved Prey, and the acclaimed Dishonored series honestly beggars belief. Its performance on Xbox Series X is regularly dire, plagued with pop-in, stutters, and a long list of display bugs. It’s beleaguered with bodgy AI enemies that struggle to mount a basic defence, choose appropriate cover, or even effectively navigate the world. The one-note mission design recycles and repurposes itself all the way until the anticlimactic final encounter. Button commands break, characters vanish, and the cheap and static story scenes seem woefully unfinished by typical standards.

Redfall makes concessions to work as a middling multiplayer game at the expense of a promising single-player experience.

Between the failed infiltration and dull fights, Redfall leaves us with a particularly bitter taste. The desire to loot epic equipment, to discover the bosses of the game (ultimately too rare) and the coop are all reasons that prevent the controller from falling from our hands. But with each confrontation - as insipid as it is ridiculous because of a strawberry AI - and with each new uninviting objective, one wonders what we are still doing there. So, we continue, to see if what awaits us is worth it, to realize that it is not. Are you looking for a very good FPS to do solo? Redfall is definitely not for you. Are you a fan of vampires and want an affordable experience to do with friends thanks to the Game Pass? Arkane Austin's game will fill you up for a very short time, at best.

Redfall is an anomaly because a game with this good of a team behind can't possibly be this bad, and yet, it is. There are these drips of looter shooter, RPG, and multiplayer elements sprinkled throughout, but none of them work together, delivering a messy and almost incomprehensible experience. Still, gunplay and exploration stay consistently fun, thanks to the satisfaction of taking down enemies and the level design. That being said, the single-player campaign is dull, but the multiplayer campaign could provide bouts of fun comprised of laughing at the strange AI behavior or the fact that no one can find keys to a door.

Ultimately, Redfall is a game that should not have been released yet. Its litany of bugs hampers the gameplay loop of exploring its world with friends, and that loop itself feels compromised by elements that are poorly executed and ill-suited to the team implementing them. I can't pretend to know whether Arkane chose to make a loot shooter or was assigned to make a loot-shooter, but I can tell you what it feels like: one of the best game studios in the world suddenly made toothless.

Between the half-baked gameplay loops, repetitive open-world busy work, and shockingly poor optimization, Redfall feels like a title that’s still in alpha, never mind a product that’s supposed to represent a flagship release for Microsoft’s premium subscription service.

Redfall resembles the vampires it's based on. It lacks identity, and sucks the life out of you. Every time I see a spark of potential, it's stomped out by bugs, braindead AI, and an empty world not worth exploring. I wish Arkane well in their next endeavor, because they need to let this one die.

Redfall is a sorry skeleton of a game that meets the lowest bar possible to be considered a functional, sellable product, and it manages to bungle even that elementary task. At its very best, this embryonic embarrassment almost aspires to mediocrity, but such heady heights are too frequently beyond its reach. If it were interesting enough to inspire any emotion other than boredom, the humiliatingly cretinous enemy AI, recycled assets, lack of basic features, and laundry list of glitches would be laughable. The quality of this game, however, isn’t funny. It’s exasperating. Arkane Studios is so much better than this, and be it through a lack of time or a lack of money, they’ve made something a studio of such pedigree could rightly be ashamed of.