Microsoft Redfall (Xbox Series/PC) - Open World Co-Op Shooter from Arkane, update: Doritos/Mountain Dew/Rockstar Energy Drink cosmetic DLC now available!

[Brian]

Phil be

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Yeah I’m definitely waiting on this game to see if it ever gets patched to be good. 60fps and most bugs getting resolved will be major factors. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

"Not too good".  The site that accidentally broke embargo gave it 4/10.

[stepee]

Arkane’s first bad game wouldn’t be the best sign for Microsoft Studios finally getting their first party in line.

[Xbob42]

Somehow I'm always just as excited for potential dumpster fires like this as I am for good games.

[Bacon]

1 minute ago, Xbob42 said:

Somehow I'm always just as excited for potential dumpster fires like this as I am for good games.

Can't say I enjoy playing them, but I do enjoy the kinds of content they create for me to watch.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Congratulations to Dead Island 2 for maintaining its position as the most "technically competent" major release of 2023 so far!  

[Xbob42]

1 minute ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Congratulations to Dead Island 2 for maintaining its position as the most "technically competent" major release of 2023 so far!  

What a world we live in, huh?

[Mr.Vic20]

My God... Starfield is going to be an absolute train wrecked launch , isn't it? I'm talking dragons flying backward in space when there are no dragons in the actual game bad! 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

8 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

What a world we live in, huh?

 

In all honesty, Dambuster Studios/Deep Silver NEED to find a way to work that into the game's marketing campaign!

 

"Are you sick and tired of playing busted-ass so-called 'AAA" titles?  Then come take a trip to HELL-A with Dead Island 2!"

[BloodyHell]

5 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Congratulations to Dead Island 2 for maintaining its position as the most "technically competent" major release of 2023 so far!  

Did dead space have problems? I kinda forget. I think it ran fine for me.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Just now, BloodyHell said:

Did dead space have problems? I kinda forget. I think it ran fine for me.

 

Sure did - stutters on the PC and some performance issues on the UHD consoles.

[Firewithin]

4 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

My God... Starfield is going to be an absolute train wrecked launch , isn't it? I'm talking dragons flying backward in space when there are no dragons in the actual game bad! 

but this will be Bethesda so we all expect it anyway and will charm us all 

[stepee]

Just now, BloodyHell said:

Did dead space have problems? I kinda forget. I think it ran fine for me.

 

The game has traversal stutter on all platforms but is mostly solid beyond when entering new rooms. I consider it fine personally some people are more nit picky than me with stutter though. Dead Island 2 has very very rare traversal stutter, like I noticed it a couple times in 20+ hours.

[TheLeon]

Well, I have it preloaded thanks to Game Pass, so I’ll keep my expectations at rock bottom and see where we can get to from there! 

[BloodyHell]

14 minutes ago, TheLeon said:

Well, I have it preloaded thanks to Game Pass, so I’ll keep my expectations at rock bottom and see where we can get to from there! 

That’s my approach. If it sucks, it’s bad for MS, but it doesn’t matter much to me.

[CitizenVectron]

The entire industry needs to just take more time when making games. Will they? No. And people will get more and more jaded.

[Mr.Vic20]

11 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

The entire industry needs to just take more time when making games. Will they? No. And people will get more and more jaded.

5 years ago I would have been more concerned, but a whole new geenration of indie devs are picking up the slack so if the big players want to lose their repsetive lunches, they can certianly feel free to do so! The last two years of PC gaming have me fully accepting that the launch date of any major PC title is actually a month after you can download the initital code. 

[Bacon]

Just now, Mr.Vic20 said:

indie devs are picking up the slack

The issue is that I pretty much exclusively play third-person action-adventure games that may or may not have RPG elements (and FFXIV). Indie Devs pretty much never make those and if they do they are unpolished enough that I don't want to play it, like Mortal Shell. Hell, Indie devs don't even make non-cringe turn-based fantasy RPGs with a human/human-enough cast. I don't want more side-scroller games, or isometric games, or these massive sim games where you don't even have a main character or a story and it was made in some guy's basement over the past 20 years, or a visual novel with or without furries, or a puzzle walking simulator, or a boomer shooter. And it isn't even that I hate all of those types of games, it's just that they gotta be 100% up my alley and cater to all of my preferences if I am to play them. Sometimes, I'll play a good side-scroller Metroidvainia or a retro Zelda-inspired game but they aren't my favorite types of games. Like, I still feel like I waiting for the next Bastion all these years later.

 

And for the most part, with very few exceptions, I wanna play as an anime protagonist, or a Conan the Barbarian incarnate. I am a Gears of War fan after all. I have no desire to play a pasty shlubby guy from Minnesota who wears glasses and flannels with their defining character traits being that they like coffee and craft beers and the only woman in their life is their pet cat.

 

My FFXIV character is both of those btw.

Spoiler

Spoiler

OK well that is a joke set and my is my current glam

 

 

[Mr.Vic20]

1 hour ago, Bacon said:

The issue is that I pretty much exclusively play third-person action-adventure games that may or may not have RPG elements (and FFXIV). Indie Devs pretty much never make those and if they do they are unpolished enough that I don't want to play it, like Mortal Shell. Hell, Indie devs don't even make non-cringe turn-based fantasy RPGs with a human/human-enough cast. I don't want more side-scroller games, or isometric games, or these massive sim games where you don't even have a main character or a story and it was made in some guy's basement over the past 20 years, or a visual novel with or without furries, or a puzzle walking simulator, or a boomer shooter. And it isn't even that I hate all of those types of games, it's just that they gotta be 100% up my alley and cater to all of my preferences if I am to play them. Sometimes, I'll play a good side-scroller Metroidvainia or a retro Zelda-inspired game but they aren't my favorite types of games. Like, I still feel like I waiting for the next Bastion all these years later.

 

And for the most part, with very few exceptions, I wanna play as an anime protagonist, or a Conan the Barbarian incarnate. I am a Gears of War fan after all. I have no desire to play a pasty shlubby guy from Minnesota who wears glasses and flannels with their defining character traits being that they like coffee and craft beers and the only woman in their life is their pet cat.

 

My FFXIV character is both of those btw.

Spoiler

  Reveal hidden contents

Spoiler

  Reveal hidden contents

OK well that is a joke set and my is my current glam

 

 

I will grant you that there is a ton of content in the indie category that is not for me, but there is also just enough to get my RPG fix and a few other genre as well. Do I miss the 360 days of content? Oh yes, yes I do! But I'm also hoping that we see the endie dev scene continue to mature as well. Games like Outward and Moonlighter have been wonderful suprises, and I've booked marked over a hundred other titles coming in the next year that show promise. 

[Bacon]

12 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Outward and Moonlighter

"Outward is an open world fantasy RPG with survival elements"

"Moonligher is a roguelite"

 

*sighs*

i thought they might have been mentioned because they fit what i wanted...

[Mr.Vic20]

27 minutes ago, Bacon said:

"Outward is an open world fantasy RPG with survival elements"

"Moonligher is a roguelite"

 

*sighs*

i thought they might have been mentioned because they fit what i wanted...

No,no, it was all about me!  

[stepee]

Personally I don’t have time to play everything I want to. I think even if I quit my job and focused on playin games full time that I would still not have time. My backlog insures I’ll never be without a game I want to play at this point. I do want to see a return to more frequent AA games that are smaller in scope and more focused but I feel like that’s started already.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

It has begun.

 

Redfall Reviews

OPENCRITIC.COM

---

Redfall is rated 'Fair' after being reviewed by 18 critics, with an overall average score of 69. It's ranked in the bottom 37% of games and recommended by 38% of critics.

 

 

[stepee]

yo Microsoft 

[Bacon]

*cough* ahem

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Game Information

Game Title: Redfall

 

Platforms:

• PC (May 2, 2023)
• Xbox Series X/S (May 2, 2023)

 

Developer: Arkane Austin

Publisher: Bethesda

 

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 58 average - 14% recommended

 

Critic Reviews

We Got This Covered - 4.5 / 5

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With rich, beautiful open worlds, a multitude of weapons, and a wide variety of enemies to square off against, Redfall amazes. Players won't regret staking their claim on Arkane's latest masterpiece.

DualShockers - 8.5 / 10

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Redfall is an open-world shooter where you can creep through a spooky mansion alone at night, then link up with some friends to take on a giga-vampire in another dimension. It's weird, and it's the right kind of weird.

XboxEra - 8.5 / 10

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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.

SomosXbox - Spanish - 8.3 / 10

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Redfall is an entertaining and very fun game to play with a colleague or a team of four people, taking down hordes of Vampires and saving survivors and fulfilling objectives of the shelter. Its person-enhancing mechanics and movement agility give a unique twist to the Arkane Studios title, hooking the player quickly and keeping them exploring Redfall's not-so-large open map.

IGN Spain - Spanish - 8 / 10

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

Niche Gamer - 8 / 10

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It still feels a bit unfinished in some aspects, but it has a good amount of content that is bound to have you hooked for 20 hours or so, maybe longer considering how addicted you get to clearing the vampire nests like I did.

VGC - 4 / 5

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Redfall is a compelling adventure with killer combat and an atmospheric setting in which you can easily lose a weekend. Even though it feels watered down by Arkane’s systemic standards, it’s an ambitious, primarily successful experiment full of narrative nuance and unique ideas. Hopefully, Redfall’s shakeup of the genre will pave the way for more inspired looter shooters in the future and, selfishly… another immersive simulator?

XGN.nl - Dutch - 8 / 10

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However, the adventure can get quite lonely if you play alone, especially because of the not memorable characters. And while the world can be atmospheric and eerie, we do miss the finish we've come to expect from Arkane. If you are looking for a game that offers fun alone or together with friends (but no strangers) then you have come to the right place at Redfall.

COGconnected - 78 / 100

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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.

Cerealkillerz - German - 7.8 / 10

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Storywise Arkane Austin nails their presentation about the vampire infested small village Redfall. Graphic and audio design are very fitting with B-Movie flair. Sadly the game doesn't deliver that many highlights besides very basic open-world co-op shooter gameplay. Even though, four different classes, a small skilltree and several weaponoptions are provided the gameplay loop doesn't get much more than shooting at everything that moves. Using gamepass or waiting for a sale is recommended.

Hobby Consolas - Spanish - 78 / 100

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Redfall will be a good game for when all the technical problems that launch treasures are fixed. Arkane's good hand in terms of setting and gameplay is moved to the background due to errors and failures and despite everything, this exclusive is very fun, despite innovating rather little.

33bits - Spanish - 75 / 100

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Redfall will surely not go down in the annals of Arkane Studios great works, nor will it become a console seller. It seems, in fact, a video game typical of more modest companies with errors and lack of optimization more typical of small independent companies. Beyond this, Redfall can give us hours of fun. The setting is attractive and the game can shine at times, even if it doesn't stand out in any particular way.

GameGrin - 7.5 / 10

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Redfall's a great title with lots to do throughout its world, but the lifelessness of the NPCs and story alongside the amounts of bugs and the steep entering fee, I can't assume it'll be for everyone.

Stevivor - 7.5 / 10

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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.

Areajugones - Spanish - 7.4 / 10

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Redfall is an open-world game that retains some of the greatest virtues of Arkane's design, but is weighed down by certain issues related to the genre to which it belongs. Possibly it will be a game that becomes something much bigger in the future, but finishing it has left me with mixed feelings. Right now I feel that, despite its successes, what shines most about Redfall is the promise of what it could become... And I don't know if this ends up speaking well or badly of the game.

Gaming Nexus - 7.4 / 10

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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.

MondoXbox - Italian - 7.3 / 10

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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.

AltChar - 70 / 100

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Despite some obvious flaws, Redfall is still an enjoyable experience even if you don't have a buddy or two to help you out in staking those bloodsuckers in co-op. Arkane once again managed to create an immersive, atmospheric world with their signature environmental storytelling and gameplay. 

 

While Redfall definitely isn't the studio's strongest game to date and can feel a bit undercooked I couldn't put it down as I had a blast wandering around the vampire-infested streets and countryside of this cosy American town.

 

Attack of the Fanboy - 3.5 / 5

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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.

CGMagazine - 7 / 10

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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.

Game Rant - 3.5 / 5

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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.

Generación Xbox - Spanish - 70 / 100

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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.

NextGen Player - 7 / 10

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While not the showpiece for Xbox Series X fans were likely hoping for, it's a nice Game Pass addition that I've happily plunked 20+ hours into and will definitely continue playing to secure the 1000/1000 Achievements.

PCGamesN - 7 / 10

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As long as you don't mind the truly daft AI making things a bit mindless, Redfall is a good-enough co-op action game, but it makes me sad for the vampire-hunting immersive sim Arkane could've delivered.

Screen Rant - 3.5 / 5

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There is a lot to enjoy with Arkane's latest, even if some aspects don't feel as fleshed out as they could be. The game looks and plays great on PC with several graphics options, including performance and ultra-performance modes. Although the gameplay could use more variation, the locations and enemies in Redfall are a lot of fun to experience with friends. Redfall does more right than wrong in a gaming genre filled with multiplayer shooters competing for limited screen time - and it's worth a try, especially for friends who've dreamed of forming a group of vampire slayers.

Seasoned Gaming - 7 / 10

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Redfall's compelling world-building and settings are inhibited by shallow mechanics and a lack of identity.

Spaziogames - Italian - 7 / 10

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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.

VideoGamer - 7 / 10

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Frankly, it’s a relief to see real neck-biters treated with the proper pulp care. Arkane Austin gets right to it: teeth, claws, and clear agendas.

Worth Playing - 7 / 10

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It's a bit difficult to parse out the overall quality of Redfall. If you're talking about it from a technical perspective, it's scattershot but comes out better than some games that look and sound pretty but have terrible performance. If you're looking at it from a story perspective, it's a slow burn that cranks up things once you get close to beating the first major vampire, and the same can be said for the gameplay. Solo play is also better than co-op, based solely on the issues we ran into with connectivity, but mileage can vary. Overall, Redfall asks quite a bit of time from players before getting really good, which makes it perfect for Game Pass but tougher for those who don't have the patience to spend the time to wade through the jank to reach that point.

ZTGD - 7 / 10

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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.

Atomix - Spanish - 69 / 100

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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.

Wccftech - 6.8 / 10

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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.

IGN Italy - Italian - 6.5 / 10

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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.

INVEN - Korean - 6.5 / 10

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A title that feels incomplete in every perspective. At least the Vampire hunting was a good experience, but only the boredom and stupid AI are the ones that fill the hollow open-world. On top of that, a lot of bugs and insufficient optimizations are making the experience even worse.

Press Start - 6.5 / 10

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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.

SECTOR.sk - Slovak - 6.5 / 10

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Arkane Studios brought co-op in the world of vampires, but the game does not reach the quality of the titles Dishonored, Deadhloop, Prey, for which autors became famous.

Tom's Hardware Italia - Italian - 6.5 / 10

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Like the experiments that threw Redfall into chaos, Arkane Austin's new title is a half-baked mess. What made Arkane famous emerges only partially between incredible game atmospheres and narrative that is never dull and able to draw you into its mysteries. What creaks is a rather bland open world form made up of activities without bite that do not quite do justice to the care with which the game world is instead created. A really underwhelming artificial intelligence deadens the shooter phases and does not stimulate the search for different approaches to deal with the situations in front of us. Redfall is also playable alone, but the playable characters are clearly designed to act in groups and that is the best way to take advantage of all the synergies.

Arabhardware - Arabic - 6 / 10

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Arkane Studio's worst game yet.. While the studio wanted to introduce something fresh to the table, they failed miserably which made Redfall lackluster, with no identity for its own along with weird gameplay decisions and technical problems that makes recommending this game right now a very hard bargain even if it's available on Game Pass

But Why Tho? - 6 / 10

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

ElderPlayers - Arabic - 6 / 10

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Arkane Studio tried to take risks with RedFall to break out of the ordinary mould, by adding several new elements such as an open world, cooperative gameplay and merging them with other elements such as RPG, looting system in addition to immersive simulation. But trying on more than one front and without sufficient experience in all of them will inevitably lead to shortcomings  in several aspects with less efficiency and fluctuating quality of the final product. And this is what RedFall really struggles with!

Everyeye.it - Italian - 6 / 10

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Without mincing words, Redfall would have needed a more extensive development cycle, and a bit of courage in the realization of the structure.

GAMES.CH - German - 60%

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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.

GameSkinny - 6 / 10

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Redfall's fun with friends, but there are a few problems with the formula.

Gamersky - Chinese - 6 / 10

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Redfall is a letdown. Arkane Studios' signature immersive simulation and level design are nowhere to be found in the game. Instead, their typical poor shooting experience, lack of polish, and rough performance issues are present in the game, which is a little too rebellious.

GamesHub - 3 / 5

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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.

Geeks & Com - French - 6 / 10

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Redfall malheureusement tente beaucoup de choses sans en réussir aucun de manière parfaite. La jouabilité tente d’être rapide, mais nous sommes confrontés à des ennemis qui ne bougent pas et qui proposent très peu de difficulté. Les développeurs ont intégré un système de compétence qui n’apporte pas de réel changement dans le déroulement du jeu. Le scénario tente d’être mystérieux, mais il y a très peu de cinématique pour nous immerger correctement. L’ambiance de son côté est plutôt réussie, mais gâchée par les nombreux problèmes techniques. Vous l’aurez compris, le titre développé par Arkane Austin n’est pas profondément mauvais, mais il n’est pas non plus profondément bon. Si vous n’avez pas un abonnement au Game Pass, il est préférable de passer son chemin.

God is a Geek - 6 / 10

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

Metro GameCentral - 6 / 10

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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.

Oyungezer Online - Turkish - 6 / 10

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Redfall is proof that Arkane's familiar design habits don't fit well into the open-world formula, especially when there are raw online elements involved. That's why it's by far Arkane Studios' worst game.

PowerUp! - 6 / 10

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Redfall is not the second coming of first-party AAA games on Xbox and it was never going to be. It's an average co-op shooter with half-baked ideas that never fully come together. It's fun for a few minutes but it wears thin very quickly. Give it a try on Game Pass but don't expect too much.

Pure Xbox - 6 / 10

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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.

PushStartPlay - 6 / 10

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Redfall is a fun game at times, but its lack of cinematic storytelling and uninspired open-world gameplay loop struggles to allow me to feel immersed as much as I would have liked. In a nutshell, Redfall is a solid vampiric shooter that lacks the bite required to make this another Arkane classic.

The Outerhaven Productions - 3 / 5

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For all its shortcomings, Redfall isn’t a bad game, a bit dated but not bad.

TrueAchievements - 6 / 10

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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.

Twinfinite - 3 / 5

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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.

Use a Potion - 6 / 10

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Redfall is a bit of a technical mess right now, but there’s no doubting that behind the issues there’s a satisfying vampire-slaying romp for players to embark on. It won’t win points for originality with its gunplay and the missions can get repetitive, but between uncovering the sinister sights of the town, working with friends in rewarding co-op action, and utilising the wonderful abilities of your character, there is a good time to be had.

 

As it stands, though? It really needs some work. I would recommend holding off on Redfall until it has a couple of patches to fix its issues, but when the game is finally in full working order, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised.

 

VG247 - 3 / 5

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An echo of Arkane’s past glories - one in which the studio’s unique voice can still be heard, but more faintly than we’ve come to expect.

Windows Central - 3 / 5

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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.

Xbox Achievements - 60%

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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.

The Games Machine - Italian - 5.8 / 10

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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.

GamePro - German - 56 / 100

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

Digital Chumps - 5.5 / 10

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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.

Merlin'in Kazanı - Turkish - 55 / 100

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Redfall is a game that has wasted its potential as a fun co-op game in an interesting world, with both technical problems and poor game design choices.

Geek Culture - 5.1 / 10

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Ultimately, Redfall could have been a great way for Arkane to branch out in its development philosophies and strategies, but the final product leaves too much to be desired. Instead of turning players into willing thralls of exciting combat and teamwork, dropped into an engaging world full of treasures, what we have got is the opposite. Everything fans love about the studio’s work is sorely missing in this nightmare, and that is but a stake through the heart of a risk not worth taking.

AusGamers - 5 / 10

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And so this once sleepy locale has been turned into a gothic hellscape, where citizens are hiding, and cultists are working with their vampire overlords to appease the more powerful vampire gods.

Capsule Computers - 5 / 10

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Redfall struggles to find its identity with mundane loot and attempted co-op focus that drags the game's interesting potential down to being a mediocre and disappointing FPS.

Checkpoint Gaming - 5 / 10

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Redfall is an interesting concept with some valid ideas, some cool lore, and some great moments driven by solid visual design and a knack for leaning into the supernatural. But with a vapid and dull open world, bad mission design, constant backtracking, and a plethora of performance issues—this release ends up sucking the life out of you one glitch at a time.

Destructoid - 5 / 10

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I really spent most of my time playing Redfall thinking about what else Redfall could have been. I like that Arkane tried something new, and I’m bummed it came out like this. It’s a really unique premise and concept in its first bite, but its fangs don’t leave a lasting mark.

Easy Allies - 5 / 10

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Redfall misses the mark with nearly everything it does, while wasting a solid premise and setting.

Game Informer - 5 / 10

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Looking at the world of Redfall, I become sad by its wasted potential. For every great location, there are a handful of forgettable ones. The result is an empty-feeling game with several puzzling problems, like a lack of proper stealth takedowns, a tedious quest and waypoint system, and the inability to pause gameplay in single-player mode. Rampant technical issues hinder brighter moments, including frequent server crashes during multiplayer, inputs failing to work, broken animations, and numerous other bugs that make playing Redfall a frustrating experience. For a game about fighting the undead, Redfall feels soulless in all the wrong ways.

GameSpew - 5 / 10

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After some updates, Redfall may well become a Game Pass must-play, whether you like to play alone or with others. But right now, while you can have fun with it if you grit your teeth and give it some leeway, it’s very hard to wholeheartedly recommend. While some issues here are likely to persist even once the title has been polished up a little, such as the world feeling too empty at times and skill trees being underwhelming, it’s the technical problems that are the stake to Redfall‘s heart.

Gamefa - Persian - 5 / 10

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The idea of fighting vampires in a world designed by arkane sounded exciting, but unfortunately, Redfall cannot meet the 2-year wait of fans and becomes a one-time and forgettable experience. Numerous technical problems, lack of innovation and outdated gameplay are some of the problems that ruin the experience. For now, maybe the existence of the game on Game Pass can be the only reason to justify playing this title and it might entertain you for a short period of time.

Gamers Heroes - 50 / 100

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

GamesRadar+ - 2.5 / 5

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Redfall is ultimately not up to Arkane's usual standards. It feels rushed, unfinished, and unsatisfying to play.

GamingBolt - 5 / 10

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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.

Inverse - 5 / 10

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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.

Jump Dash Roll - 5 / 10

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Redfall, with its mediocre gameplay, forgettable story and generic visuals, comes closer to destroying Arkane's legacy than it does to being a properly enjoyable video game.

Nexus Hub - 5 / 10

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We know Arkane is capable of so much more which is why this feels like such a disappointment and a step back for the studio. Some inspired ideas and a creative concept can't hold Redfall up from buckling under its own blood-drenched weight. On the bright side, it's on Game Pass.

Saudi Gamer - Arabic - 5 / 10

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Redfall may be Arkane's first disappointing game! This is not because the studio moved away from what distinguished it in its previous games, but rather through the game itself as an open-world game that did not offer anything special and did not try to move away from the issues of this type of game that has been criticized in many games since the beginning of the last generation. And on top of that the fact that the game is technically tragic, and it is preferable to wait for a lot of updates to fix its problems, whether from technical issues or wobbly performance.

The Beta Network - 5 / 10

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Redfall turned out almost exactly as you thought. Not only is the usual Bethesda jank on full display, but the game is just straight-up lacking in quality.

WellPlayed - 4.5 / 10

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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.

PC Gamer - 44 / 100

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Redfall's empty open world, flimsy shooting, and siloed systems make for a flat, dull experience.

ComicBook.com - 2 / 5

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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.

Dexerto - 2 / 5

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Redfall is one of the worst-performing games I’ve played in years, and even when it’s working, it’s undercooked and uninspired. It’s impossible to say if this is the case, but Refall ‘feels’ like a game that has succumbed to too much compromise. There’s a world where there’s a great version of this concept, complete with a much grander vision, however, we sadly don’t live in that timeline.

Digital Spy - 2 / 5

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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.

Digital Trends - 2 / 5

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

GGRecon - 2 / 5

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Redfall tries to bite far more than it can chew and delivers a package with a middling presentation, a lack of interesting mechanics, and some pretty woeful performance.

 

Despite its issues, and perhaps like its cultists, I want to love it - it just won't love me back.

 

GameSpot - 4 / 10

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Arkane takes a stab at infusing the genre du jour with its signature style, but the end results are a bloody mess.

Gameblog - French - 4 / 10

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Between the failed infiltration and dreary fights, Redfall leaves us with a particularly bitter taste.

Gaming on PC - 4 / 10

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Redfall is Arkane Studios’ first major misstep, a game that feels unfinished and without soul, as if it was designed by a committee looking to cash in on all the newest trends with no care for the developer’s past glory.

Guardian - 2 / 5

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Despite occasional flourishes, Arkane's latest game feels fundamentally at odds with itself

Hardcore Gamer - 2 / 5

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From a studio having delivered far better and should in all likelihood have done so once more, Redfall is an uncharacteristically poor and cobbled-together brand of tedium.

Hey Poor Player - 2 / 5

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In all my years of gaming, I struggle to think of ever feeling a sense of disappointment as profound as I do when playing Redfall. Sure, you can increase the fun factor by adding a few buddies into the equation, the varied classes lending themselves well to group play, and there are glimpses of something great when you’re afforded the opportunity to slow down in one of the more tightly scripted missions, but these positives merely serve as momentary distractions from the multitude of issues that plague Arkane Austin’s latest effort. 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.

IGN - 4 / 10

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Redfall is a bafflingly bad time across the board. Plagued with bland missions, boneheaded enemies, and repeated technical problems, Redfall simply wasn’t ready for daylight in this state.

Kakuchopurei - 40 / 100

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While the game's "early access" state means that its technical issues can be fixed, Redfall's major problem is that its makers do not know what makes this type of shooter work. Maybe Arkane did not have enough time to properly make it, or maybe they shipped it a year too early. Whatever the case, this just feels like an obligation project, with its team woefully inept at figuring out why this genre of shooters functions in the first place. 

 

From its uninspired and not-so-hot loot system, its broken combat, its empty world, and ho-hum-to-boring missions that are poorly designed, there is really no sane reason why you should play Redfall. Well, apart from mild curiosity and the fact that you can subject yourself to the suckfest for free on Game Pass.

 

LevelUp - Spanish - 4 / 10

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Redfall is an amalgamation of ideas from other more popular video games, however, lacking in its own originality and entertainment value.

PC Invasion - 4 / 10

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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.

Saving Content - 2 / 5

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Redfall is a far cry from Arkane’s usual work, and it’s sad to see this is the final product from this team. The writing is the best part, but nothing about it can save this from being a mediocre game that can’t manage to do more than one thing at a time, whether it be an immersive sim, an open-world game, or even an RPG. Try as I might, I can’t find enjoyment in this, or even continue to play a game that looks and feels this incomplete for its $70 price tag. Redfall is playable, but in the most threadbare way, as it’s a shell of a game that will exhaust you long before the credits roll. And like vampires are wont to do, Redfall sucks.

Siliconera - 4 / 10

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Redfall has some relatively interesting concepts, and could make for a decent multiplayer shooter, but is lacks the substance to see it through.

Telegraph - 2 / 5

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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

TheGamer - 2 / 5

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Redfall isn’t a total disaster, and there’s fun to be had in slaying vampires, especially with a couple of friends. But to call Redfall a shallow experience would be an understatement. I’m happy to loot and shoot and make my own fun, but there still needs to be something there to pull me through it. Nothing in Redfall, from the loot to the characters to the exploration to the power climb, ever made me want to keep playing, or feel like there was something more to achieve. No amount of bug fixes or updates will be able to improve Redfall’s fundamental gameplay flaws. It’s not just rough around the edges, it’s rutted all the way through.

eXputer - 2 / 5

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Redfall is a disappointing offering from Arkane that lacks the charm, depth, and mechanics that made their previous titles so beloved.

GamingTrend - 35 / 100

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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.

3DNews - Russian - 3 / 10

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When Arkane releases a new game, it's always a celebration. But not this time. It's rare to see a new game from a big publisher of which you can't come up with anything good to say.

GameMAG - Russian - 3 / 10

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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.

Gamerheadquarters - 2 / 10

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Redfall is an empty mess, an embarrassment of the Xbox platform and a completely mundane exercise in insanity.

Total Gaming Network - 1 / 5

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Redfall is the worst AAA game release in years. Bugs, glitches, poor performance, terrible mission design, broken AI, and everything in between are here in spades. There is no saving this one and there is no excuse for how this game was released in this state.

ACG - Rent

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"Redfall is uninspired, unpolished, and mostly unfun. A game that doesn't merge two ideas but instead separates them so much they still feel like 2 different games"

Eurogamer - No Recommendation

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Arkane's vampire thriller is muddled and deeply compromised, but has moments of real charm.

Eurogamer.pt - Portuguese - Avoid

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The concept, as I said at the beginning of the text, has potential. There is no game on the market to unite the concept of vampire slayers with a looter shooter. It remains to be seen whether Arkane Austin will be able to reverse the sorry state of the game through successive updates. It would have been better to have released Redfall as an early access game, because that's what it sounds like. An embryonic idea, with many loose ends, in which the game systems do not work in unison.

One More Game - Wait

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Redfall is a highly anticipated title for Xbox fans, and while it may not hit the extreme highs that may have been expected of it, the game does provide some semblance of decent gameplay with fast-paced combat and some vampire-slaying action.

 

Despite that, performance problems plague the PC version of the game, with wildly inconsistent frame rates even when nothing is happening on screen. Redfall isn't releasing with a 60 fps option on the Xbox Series X as announced by the studio, and seeing how the game is performing on the PC, the game clearly needed more time to get optimization in and iron out kinks, which could lead players to wait before trying it out.

 

Polygon - Unscored

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If this tone takes center stage in the back half of the story, combined with plot developments that add some momentum to the proceedings, it may be easier to overlook the game’s weaker aspects and appreciate it as a compelling narrative work. At this point, though, the town of Redfall is sucked too dry of liveliness for players to be invested in whether its vampires triumph or not.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Unscored

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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.

Skill Up - Unscored

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Video Review - Quote not available

Slant Magazine - Unscored

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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.

TheSixthAxis - Unscored

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The combination of open-world and supernatural foes has become increasingly wearisome in the last few years, and immediately after playing through Dead Island 2 I wasn’t particularly looking forward to Redfall. However, Arkane Austin should never be underestimated for putting their own spin on a genre, with Redfall offering enough surprises and memorable moments so far to set it apart from the open-world crowd.

gameranx - Unscored

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Video Review - Quote not available

 

 

 

 

[Bacon]

To be fair to Redfall, I love ELEX which sits at a solid 61 on Open Critic. Trash can be good.

[Brian]

I’ll check this out in 6-12 months

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Just now, Bacon said:

To be fair to Redfall, I love ELEX which sits at a solid 61 on Open Critic. Trash can be good.

 

From what I gather, the difference is that ELEX has "heart" which can somewhat mitigate its other shortcomings for players like yourself.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

IGN's review is in-progress, but they're not especially keen either.

 

Redfall Review in Progress - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

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Vanilla missions, vapid enemies, and a lengthy list of other issues is making it hard to sink our teeth into Redfall.

 

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It’d be easier to look past the plain combat had the rest of Redfall been able to get its fangs into me, but it still hasn’t and I’m sceptical it will. The story itself seems to be unfolding in lightly animated paintings or static, in-engine dioramas. They all look like placeholders for cutscenes that aren’t coming, and I have to say fighting my way to a film projector to run what’s essentially a slideshow certainly gives Redfall a cheapness that’s hard to shake.

 

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During one side mission I died trying to kill a vampire, but when I came back to finish the job he was just a non-interactive blue ghost, rotating to face me but otherwise rooted in place. When I came back again his energy shield was there, but the vampire… wasn’t in it. During a co-op session I found myself (more than once) fruitlessly attacking an enemy who was standing right in front of me but my friends saw as a dead body. At one stage, while playing solo, my crouch and start buttons broke. They just made clunking sounds. My inability to crouch persisted after death, but returned when I fast travelled to a safehouse.

 

[Bacon]

Dare I say

SOULLESS

[Bacon]

6 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

IGN's review is in-progress, but they're not especially keen either.

 

Redfall Review in Progress - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

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Vanilla missions, vapid enemies, and a lengthy list of other issues is making it hard to sink our teeth into Redfall.

 

 

 

I've seen IGN take a big ol dump on a game and still give it an 8/10.

[JPDunks4]

Played like an hour or so.  Biggest issue that stands out to me is the AI.  I'd say the scores are pretty accurate so far, as I'd probably be around a 6-7 right now as well.

 

I've only played Dishonored so far from Arkane, and the AI wasn't very good in that either, but if you played a mostly stealthy style of agmeplay, it may not have stood out that much.  It stands out really badly here when you're shooting at enemies that are just standing there not really doing anything.  Not shooting back, not getting into cover, just standing around.  The Vampires so far seem to have maybe 1 move set, just a lunging forward attack which can be sidestepped pretty easily.  Just really really bare bones AI that doesn't make the combat encounters very interesting.  

 

I am playing on the Harder difficulty, and only at the very beginning so I'm sure Vampires probably get more abilities as you go on, but just not a great first impression in terms of enemy AI.

 

I will say though, if you go into this game to play it like a Far Cry or a more action oriented game, it's going to be very disappointing.  If you go into it looking for an Arkane game, with more of a focus on exploration and taking the world in, I think one will enjoy it more.  I have found the exploration to be fun enough so far, especially with the more open world approach and larger areas to scavenge.

 

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

20 minutes ago, JPDunks4 said:

I will say though, if you go into this game to play it like a Far Cry or a more action oriented game, it's going to be very disappointing.  If you go into it looking for an Arkane game, with more of a focus on exploration and taking the world in, I think one will enjoy it more.  I have found the exploration to be fun enough so far, especially with the more open world approach and larger areas to scavenge.

 

"Far Cry with Vampires" is exactly how Arkane itself wanted to characterize this game:

 

Redfall is more like Far Cry than Left 4 Dead, says Arkane

WWW.ROCKPAPERSHOTGUN.COM

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Arkane's co-op vampire shooter might have a bit of Left 4 Dead about it, but its open world means it's more like Far Cry, say its developers.

 

Furthermore, people going into this game looking for an "Arkane game" are going to be severely disappointed as well as the systems-driven, immersive sim/clockwork mechanics approach that characterized Dishonored, Prey, and to a lesser extent Deathloop simply don't appear to be present in Redfall at all.

 

Put simply, this title genuinely doesn't appear to have a core audience that it would even come remotely close to satisfying.