ONCE BITTEN, TWICE SHY
Is Microsoft's Vampire Shooter 'Redfall' Any Good? Here's What The Reviews Say
Microsoft has acquired countless studios in recent years, but it's been having a hard time actually delivering exclusive games. In fact, you could argue that none of their studios have put out a proper AAA game since "Halo: Infinite" in 2021. Unfortunately, what Arkane Studios was able to create with "Redfall" isn't likely to turn their fortunes around.
Arkane is best known for making systems-driven single-player games like "Dishonored" and "Prey." Players are given a toolkit, and let loose in an clockwork world to solve problems as they see fit. Sadly, "Redfall" jettisons large portions of that formula to create a sub-par loot shooter with a co-op focus. We can't say for sure, but it sure does smell like executive-level meddling.
With over 60 reviews aggregated at OpenCritic, "Redfall" has a "Weak" average of 65/100. Compared to the 88/100 average that their previous game "Deathloop" got, this is a massive disappointment.
Want a better understanding of the current state of the messy release? Here's what the critics are saying:
The game is a technical mess
While Arkane's abandonment of its own core design principles is jarring from a fan point of view, you need not have played anything from the team before to be stunned by "Redfall's" lack of polish. This game is simply not ready, and yet here it is, meant to serve as the spring showcase for Xbox Game Pass. There's really no flavor of bug or glitch I did not encounter: game crashes, A- and T-posing characters, oddly duplicating character models, disappearing quest items, incorrect UI information, texture pop-in--and of course the game's lack of a 60-frames-per-second mode, which was recently a pre-launch headline, too.
Even on 30 FPS, "Redfall" has a persistent stuttering issue- it's never too drastic, but it's hard not to notice, especially given how frequently it pops up. Then there are a variety of visual and UI glitches, like my character getting stuck in an endless running animation loop one time, even when stationary, or when the menu UI's cursor got stuck on the screen even during gameplay and cutscenes. Add to that significant texture pop in, rough draw distances, and even a crash during my time with the game, and it becomes clear that "Redfall" needed more time in the oven.
It doesn't benefit from Arkane's strengths
"Redfall" is exactly what I worried it would be: a lifeless multiplayer shooter without any of the playful, systemic creativity of a singleplayer Arkane game. After around 40 hours with it, I'm not sure I'd even recommend it to Game Pass subscribers — 77GB is a big download for an FPS this bland.
However, the narrative it's all packaged with is oddly lifeless in its presentation. It's something that comes as quite a shock compared to Arkane's other games. For each core story mission, you'll get a kind of cutscene intro, but rather than a visual set piece they play out like someone put the Ken Burns effect on some concept art. You get story beats through memory flash-backs, which involve watching blue silhouettes replay a key moment from before the vampires took over. Again, it's super passive, and underplays whatever interesting narrative is buried within them. Characters you meet in the bases also feel painfully underdeveloped, with the majority of your 'chats' with them being a single grunt, sigh, or simple hello. I've never met such apathetic NPCs or [lackluster] cutscenes, and it makes everything feel like a rush job.
If you're gonna play, play with friends
"Redfall" allows up to four-player co-op where everyone in the match can take on main missions and sidequests. "Redfall" shines in the co-op space mainly because everyone in the game can play as different characters. Using abilities to elevate teamwork is the focus here, and it can be a lot of fun when you pull it off correctly. For example, use Bribon to run into a group of enemies for distraction while Layla lifts Jacob to the top of the building to snipe them all out. This thinking on your feet and communication put teamwork at the forefront for "Redfall."
Of course, the place feels much less empty in co-op, where your unusual traversal and combat powers combine in creative and unexpected ways. Playing as Layla, "the telekinetic threat in student debt," I soon fell in love with the spectral elevator which flings her high into the air; a friend, meanwhile, experimented with Devinder's translocator, a grenade that creates an exit portal for teleportation. Before long, we'd discovered a way to combine the two, and with practice, could scale cliffs and water towers in an instant — a double-act that never got old.
"Redfall" is available on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
