Redfall Reviews
A hollow open world FPS which feels more like you're playing through an already abandoned live service, as opposed to a fully supported one.
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.
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.
Arkane's open-world vampire shooter has some of the developer's trademark spark, but is let down by an identity crisis and technical woes
Despite occasional flourishes, Arkane's latest game feels fundamentally at odds with itself
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.
Redfall isn't as unplayable as some of the most intense reaction might lead you to believe. That said, we found it to be a rather mindless experience, often finding ourselves going through the motions. And when considering how it falls short in ways we wouldn't have expected from an Arkane title, the game is sadly a disappointment.
Redfall is a broken mess that serves as the worst kind of Xbox Series X|S representation and a huge stain on Microsoft, Bethesda and Arkane's reputation going forward.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Redfall is an indecipherable mess. Many technical problems destroy its playability, making it still fun when played with friends, but otherwise it is clearly an incomplete game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Redfall is an initially compelling game, but once it bears its teeth the sheer lack of quality propped up by unfinished ideas is abundantly clear.
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.
I had fun playing Redfall, both solo and with friends. There’s a definite Salem’s Lot vibe to a New England town oppressed by a vampire apocalypse. All the characters are interesting to play and the monsters are varied. Still, Redfall does not revolutionize the open-world shooter, or even really evolve Arkane Austin’s by-now familiar formula. Redfall feels like the product of a reliable game plan that’s due for an update.
It just makes no sense that Microsoft promotes this game as this grand co-op experience but then put 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.
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.
With Redfall, Arkane strayed a bit too far from its roots and couldn't nail the landing. While the core gameplay is fun, and there are moments of brilliance that harken back to Arkane's glorious portfolio, most of the studio's strengths clearly do not mesh well with the open world genre, as exemplified by the disappointing safe house missions. Additionally, the writing is very uneven, never succeeding in making the player care about any of the characters, and the co-op mode adds little substance.
There are so many things wrong with Redfall; every element feels plagued by poor decision-making. The visuals are dated and buggy, the story is paper-thin and filled with annoying archetypes, and the gameplay is floaty, unsatisfying, and generic. Don’t even get me started on the atrocious AI, which can’t even make its way around basic objects. If Redfall was truly developed by the Arkane Studios I love so much; it must have been under difficult circumstances. Rarely do games like this exist without low budgets, tons of studio interference, and short development cycles. I don’t blame Arkane, and nobody should, but Microsoft needs to rethink their entire strategy if this is what we can expect from their AAA exclusives going forward. Keep the casket closed for this one.
The more fantastical elements of Redfall fail to impress, but the everyday detail of its setting manages to shine through, surfacing little stories left in the wreckage. The problem is that, even if you’re willing to dig for those moments, they’re still overshadowed by the glimpses of another, larger story: the one that explains how Redfall came to be released in such a state as this.
Redfall was conceived with a bunch of promises around it, the real vampiric apocalypse is that it coulnd't hold up to any of those. Looking as a last get game with loading textures and an incredibly dumb AI. This game looks more like a concept or an alpha version than a Microsoft Game Studios final product.
Review in Spanish | Read full review