Redfall - open world vampire slaying co-op FPS from Arkane Austin

[Ryzer]

We wuz Vampire hunters n' Shit niggaz the trailer.

 

[Average Manatee]

Imagine if instead of spending thousands of hours making cosmetic DLC for this game they instead spent 20 mins thinking about how to make it fun

 

[Reinhardt]

aren't most new england states 90+% white?

 

[copebot]

aren't most new england states 90+% white?

Yes. Not as much in MA and RI, but everywhere else, it is. There are certain large towns where all the diversity is stuffed that skews the stats in some places.

 

[Morgoth]

Tons of previews coming tomorrow.

 

[Tyranicon]

They should change the tagline from the cringy "bite back" to "dead on arrival" because it would be both funny and true.

 

[sosmoflux]

Tons of previews coming tomorrow.

It'll just be C-grade zoomer streamers praising whatever nonsense they can to ingratiate themselves to Bethesda & other publishers.
They have to sign contracts saying they won't disparage or critique the game lol.

 

[Morgoth]

Tons of previews coming tomorrow.

It'll just be C-grade zoomer streamers praising whatever nonsense they can to ingratiate themselves to Bethesda & other publishers.
They have to sign contracts saying they won't disparage or critique the game lol.

That would only backfire.

Doesn't being an edgy cynic get tiresome?

 

[sosmoflux]

Tons of previews coming tomorrow.

It'll just be C-grade zoomer streamers praising whatever nonsense they can to ingratiate themselves to Bethesda & other publishers.
They have to sign contracts saying they won't disparage or critique the game lol.

That would only backfire.

Doesn't being an edgy cynic get tiresome?

Tiresome? It's hilarious.

I don't think you yet understand how much is at stake financially for these large companies. Gone are the days of inviting various rags and hoping for the best. Now you only invite starry-eyed "influencers", shout them travel and accommodation, let them play an extremely controlled vertical slice, and ensure only positive things are said.

 

[Morgoth]

They opine that it is still Arkane-y despite the boring Ubisoftesque feature checklist.

 

[Don Peste]

Vampire FPS Redfall feels like a sad stumble from iconic studio Arkane​

By Robin Valentine
My 90 minute hands-on reveals limp combat and a lifeless world.

(Image credit: Arkane Studios)

Arriving to play 90 minutes of Redfall, I'm surprised to find out I won't be getting to try it out in co-op. Everything leading up to launch seems to have emphasised this as an experience to be shared, your team of four combining their vampire-hunting abilities and specialities to fight back against the forces of darkness.
Before I start, however, creative director Harvey Smith assures me that it's designed as much for solo as multiplayer—you can play it however you want. It's just a different experience, he explains: alone or as a pair, it's a little slower and more strategic, whereas with three or four it's more fast-paced and chaotic. By the end of my session, I'm left worried that that doesn't ring true. I think the unfortunate reality may be that Redfall is caught between two identities—lacking something when played alone, but not well suited for playing with friends either.


After picking one of the four playable heroes, I head straight out into the open world. Redfall's titular setting is an island town in Massachusetts, a slice of small town Americana whose picturesque looks are somewhat spoiled by an invasion of vampires and their cultist minions. Not only have they seemingly wiped out the civilian population, they're warping the world around them—the river has dried up, the sky is an unsettling colour, and weird energies shimmer in the air around their lairs.
It's a sharply rendered world, but from a studio as stylish as Arkane it does feel like it's missing something. Deathloop and particularly Dishonored are wonderfully striking to look at, with such rich environmental world-building—their settings are instantly memorable. Redfall feels mundane by comparison. Despite the vampire threat, predominantly what you're looking at is normal, present day buildings and streets, and the art-style, though colourful and pleasant, isn't distinctive enough to elevate them.
As I start to explore, that feeling is compounded by the strange lifelessness of the town. Before my session, Harvey is keen to emphasise that I don't have to follow the main plot—I can just wander and see what I discover. But when I give that a try, what I find is… not a lot. There are little groups of enemies standing around in various spots, ready to come after me if I stray too close, but there's precious little to really interact with. Almost all the buildings I poke around inside are simply bare. No items to pick up, nothing to see, no signs of life other than bloodsuckers and cultists. It's a far cry from the intricate dioramas of Dishonored.


After pretty easily blasting three or so vampires, I'm free to just stroll up to the heart, where no climactic confrontation awaits me.
Eventually I discover a Nest—a sort of pocket dimension where vampires like to chill. Just the presence of the weird doorway to this realm empowers enemies around it, making it a good idea to get rid of any you find. You do that by stepping through, blasting away the monsters inside, and destroying the giant, creepy heart at their centre.
The topsy-turvy world inside the Nest feels like a glimpse at that more creative and exuberant side of Arkane. It's a sort of twisted reflection of the town—shadowy streets and buildings crushed together into a claustrophobic tunnel to the heart. Once I reach the huge, abominable organ, I have to break its tendrils away from unfortunate victims being drained of their vital fluids, before blasting it into a cloud of red smoke. Then it's a race to hoover up loot before the dimension collapses, throwing me back out to the real world.
It's a great concept—a sort of nightmarish take on clearing out bandit camps, drawing you into a self-contained gauntlet free from the pesky constraints of the laws of physics. The visual metaphor, of defeating vampire occupation by destroying its literal heart, is delicious. But in practice these Nest excursions are lacking in excitement. After pretty easily blasting three or so vampires, I'm free to just stroll up to the heart, where no climactic confrontation awaits me—I just have to go to each tendril and press a button, then shoot the heart a couple of times, and that's it. And again, when I try exploring off the beaten track—Nests are pretty linear, but there are side rooms you can poke around in—I find nothing other than a bit of spooky set-dressing.

Suckers​

Once downed with a few shots, they flop helplessly to the ground, where you have to stake them to finish them off.
And really, this is the problem I have throughout: there's nothing here to get my adrenaline flowing. In combat, the shooting feels good, and there's a nice selection of guns to choose from (including more esoteric options like a stake launcher and a UV beam), but enemies don't put up an interesting fight, and there seems to be little strategic meat. There's stealth, and you can approach enemy encampments from different angles, but none of it really adds up to much more depth than shooting explosive barrels when cultists stand conveniently next to them.
The vampires are the worst offenders. Floating menacingly in the air and rushing at me to claw me, they at first seem thrilling—but once I pump a few shotgun blasts into them, I realise how weightless they really are. Easy to put down, feral in their behaviour, and usually found just kind of aimlessly hanging about with cultists, they have none of the grandeur or menace you want from a supernatural foe like this. They feel more like flying attack dogs. Once downed with a few shots, they flop helplessly to the ground, where you have to stake them to finish them off. It should be a cathartic moment—take that, you creature of the night!—but they're such limp enemies that it feels more like having to clean up after yourself.
The whole game really hangs on the idea that these guys are both scary and exciting to fight, and from what I play they just aren't. My last hope for an adrenaline rush is the anger of the vampire gods—as you slay bloodsuckers, the game regularly informs you that you're annoying their deities, which slowly fills up a big red bar. Take a break, and it'll drain slowly (though I have no idea what you'd spend that time doing), but keep fighting and it'll eventually summon a miniboss to put you down.

Check mate​

He's still capable of nothing more than charging at me and then floating gormlessly in front of me when he misses.
When I incur their wrath and a hulking beast called the Rook is summoned to slay me, it's at the worst possible time—I've just arrived at the mansion housing my first proper story mission, and it's already well-defended without someone else joining the mix. His arrival is heralded by arcane storms, forcing me to stay on the move.
As I sprint around the mansion's grounds, dodging lightning bolts and the attentions of other vampires while I try to get a read on the Rook, it briefly seems like I've found the real meat of the game's combat. A couple of tentative shots reveal a health bar that's certainly not going to go down as quickly as his chums, and whenever he catches up to me, his claws deal serious damage.
But the more I fight him, the more I realise that's all he's really got going for him—he's just another attack dog, only with more health and damage. He's still capable of nothing more than charging at me and then floating gormlessly in front of me when he misses. It just takes longer to chip him down, and even amidst the chaos that's not difficult. If this is the extent of the dark gods' divine judgement, then I don't think I'll be converting to the Church of Vampirology any time soon.


Deflated, I work my way through a fairly bland story mission. It's mostly a very long hunt for a long list of items in the mansion which makes stealth or strategy irrelevant, because I end up having to clear out every room in the place. Again, there's no climactic moment—it just eventually ends when I find the last object—and even the writing feels half-hearted as it spins me a tropey yarn about a mad scientist driven to unethical experiments by his daughter's mysterious illness.
As I end my time with the game, I'm left wondering how much my adventure was hobbled by my lack of co-op buddies. With enemy numbers and difficulty scaled up, would fights feel more dangerous and exciting? Would synergy between our abilities open up more strategic options? Would multiplayer chaos fill the strange emptiness at the heart of this world?


But at the same time, I can already see the problems I'd be running into in co-op. With such a go-anywhere-do-anything structure, won't multiplayer sessions feel loose and aimless? Without properly paced encounters and climactic moments, how can co-op play settle into a satisfying rhythm? Redfall feels quiet and empty alone, but I'm not sure it's a world I'm keen to pull my friends into either—from what I've seen, it seems less like a game you can play however you want, and more the worst of both worlds.
Developed during the pandemic and other change and upheaval at the studio, and surely shaped by Arkane's struggle to find mainstream commercial success with its excellent immersive sims, Redfall seems to me to bear the scars of a troubled development. I can only hope I didn't get to see its best side, but all I can say is that after an hour and a half with its vampire enemies, not once did it get my blood pumping.
Redfall is due to launch on Steam(opens in new tab) and Xbox Game Pass(opens in new tab) on May 2 this year.

PC Gamer not gonna shill for this... Bad omen.

 

[Ryzer]

DEAD ON ARRIVAL. Move on.

 

[HoboForEternity]

After pretty easily blasting three or so vampires, I'm free to just stroll up to the heart, where no climactic confrontation awaits me.
Eventually I discover a Nest—a sort of pocket dimension where vampires like to chill. Just the presence of the weird doorway to this realm empowers enemies around it, making it a good idea to get rid of any you find. You do that by stepping through, blasting away the monsters inside, and destroying the giant, creepy heart at their centre.
The topsy-turvy world inside the Nest feels like a glimpse at that more creative and exuberant side of Arkane. It's a sort of twisted reflection of the town—shadowy streets and buildings crushed together into a claustrophobic tunnel to the heart. Once I reach the huge, abominable organ, I have to break its tendrils away from unfortunate victims being drained of their vital fluids, before blasting it into a cloud of red smoke. Then it's a race to hoover up loot before the dimension collapses, throwing me back out to the real world.

hmm
whY do I have a feeling that i've done this before?

wait . . .

waiiit . . .

WAAAIIIIIIT!!!

TOOOOOOOOOOODD!

 

[Morgoth]

 

[Morgoth]

Poor Harvey looks Bloodless.

 

[d1r]

Goodbye, Arkane Austin.

 

[Tyranicon]

I think the unfortunate reality may be that Redfall is caught between two identities—lacking something when played alone, but not well suited for playing with friends either.

This increases my suspicion that the team would have preferred to work on a single-player only game but whoever's in charge wanted to finally cash in on some multiplayer (in 2023, that's a risky proposition) or that they're simply not good at multiplayer.

And really, this is the problem I have throughout: there's nothing here to get my adrenaline flowing. In combat, the shooting feels good, and there's a nice selection of guns to choose from (including more esoteric options like a stake launcher and a UV beam), but enemies don't put up an interesting fight, and there seems to be little strategic meat.

In a PvE game?

 

[Morgoth]

Based Harvey.

 

[Elttharion]

Based Harvey.

 

[prengle]

Based Harvey.

 

[Tyranicon]

Manhatten = Human Society

Lol okay.

 

[Morgoth]

Don't Worry, Redfall Puts An Unmistakably Arkane Spin On The Looter Shooter​

The studio that made Dishonored, Prey, and Deathloop is heading into uncharted territory, but using its design principles as its guide.
By Tamoor Hussain
on March 22, 2023 at 7:00AM PDT


Arkane Studios is known for a very specific kind of game: immersive sims. The team made its mark on the industry with intricate sandboxes that feature systems and mechanics interacting with each other in fascinating ways. Games like Dishonored and Dishonored 2 are standout examples of why the developer is heralded as a master of the genre.
But, in recent years, the studio has started to reassess what it means to be an Arkane game. Prey, while still a science-fiction take on the immersive sim genre, served as the foundation for Mooncrash, a DLC that reconfigured the game into a roguelike. Deathloop leaned harder into that genre by embracing the run-based format to break down what makes an immersive sim so compelling and asking the player to examine the pieces and put them back together.


Now Playing: Redfall Isn't What We Expected | Hands-On Preview

Redfall continues this process of reflection and reinvention, and it's perhaps the biggest departure from what we expect an Arkane game to be. But after getting some hands-on time with the game, it quickly became apparent that underneath the open-world, first-person shooting, and loot, there are systems, mechanics, and gameplay opportunities that are unmistakably Arkane.

Like Prey: Mooncrash and Deathloop, Redfall is aiming to take the fundamentals of Arkane's tried-and-true formula and build anew on top of them. This, according to creative director Ricardo Bare, was how it ended up with an open-world, cooperative shooter that has multiple characters with unique playstyles.

"If you look at our catalog of games, we always try to do something a little bit different," said Bare. "Dishonored is very stealth-oriented and it's got a mission structure that's more classic: You do a mission, you travel there, you go back, you do a mission, travel--they're not connected together like an open world. But then if you look at Prey, [it] has stealth and it's one big level--a big-ass space station. You can go anywhere, so the mission structure's far more open. That's a baby open world.

"I think you can look at those two games and go, 'Arkane made both of those,' but they're very different from each other. They have a common creative core; for Mooncrash you can see there's lots of procedurally generated content in there and you can play four different characters. So every time, we stretch ourselves a little bit and we add some different elements into the mix. We wanted to go open world for a long time, and so we've been stretching towards that, and we wanted to do something with multiple characters. But then some of us just personally love playing co-op games together--we play D&D together, we play Borderlands together, we play Diablo together--and we were like, 'Can we do one of our kind of games but with co-op?' So that was some of the drive behind Redfall."

Bare's cited influences are readily apparent in Redfall. Although I was only able to play the game solo--which, for the record, seems completely viable even though you don't have AI teammates--the building blocks for a fun co-op multiplayer experience are there. Not just that, but it looks to be set up in a way that will still encourage the kind of creativity and expression that people want out of Arkane's games. Key to this are four characters, each of whom has their own distinct personality--kind of like Borderlands.

Jacob Boyer is your classic ex-soldier, Remi De Larosa is the engineer of the group, Layla Ellison specializes in biomedicine, and Devinder is a cryptozoologist and inventor. However, these archetypes are given some extra flair both narratively and mechanically. Jacob, for example, has a vampiric eye and a spectral raven, the former of which allows him to summon a powerful sniper rifle and deliver devastatingly accurate headshots to take out groups of cultists in an instant. The latter, meanwhile, is extremely vital for scouting and marking enemies without giving away your position. Jacob can also cloak himself to sneak through enemy territory or get into a more advantageous spot before unleashing chaos.

Remi, meanwhile, has a great degree of combat experience and has a robotic pal named Bribon that she can use to pull agro and distract enemies--think Claptrap, but not annoying. She can also lob sticky explosives and do area-of-effect healing. Mysterious circumstances have bestowed Layla with telekinetic powers, which she can use to place a shield ahead of her and then use a shockwave emitted by the ability to push her away, or to summon a spectral elevator that launches her and her companions into the air. Most interestingly, however, she can also call upon a friendly vampire--her ex-boyfriend--who will go around and take out enemies for a short duration. Finally, Devinder has clearly spent way too much time online and has theories about what's going on, but more importantly, he's got a device that shocks cultists and immobilizes them for a short time, another that sends out a wave of ultraviolet light that instantly turns vampires into stone, making them breakable, and can throw a teleporter to get to hard-to-reach places.

On their own, each of these characters introduces a variety of strategic considerations and creates opportunities to get imaginative with how to approach a roving group of cultists, or a vampire that may be patrolling an area. And as you work your way through the skill tree, these abilities develop to unlock more potential. However, what will be interesting to see is how these characters synergize with each other in multiplayer. Since I didn't get any co-op experience, much of that has been left to the imagination for now, but as I played, I definitely had moments where I thought the ability of one of the other characters would have come in handy, so it's clear that Arkane has crafted scenarios where some characters excel over others to encourage comradery and coordination.

Special abilities aside, I was surprised by how solid the first-person shooting felt. Although Arkane's previous games are built around first-person shooter dynamics, in terms of pace and intensity, these games have always been atypical, especially in comparison to the likes of Call of Duty or Destiny. But Redfall's shooting feels like it's in a good place, with weapons that provide satisfying feedback and have a heft to them. Pistols range from quick and snappy for when I was trying to stay on the move, to punchy when I needed to clear out a room; sniper rifles were precise and took a decent chunk off health bars when aiming for the head; and assault rifles felt suited to crowd control and getting into the thick of the battle. Coupled with the various abilities characters have, there was a good back-and-forth dynamic between guns and powers that kept me engaged.

Underneath the open-world, first-person shooting, and loot there are systems, mechanics, and gameplay opportunities that are unmistakably Arkane
I was worried that the looter shooter design trope of whittling away at health bars endlessly would become tiresome, but enemies didn't feel like bullet sponges, and there was also an execution mechanic where, after a certain amount of damage, I could get in close and stab vampires through the heart to deliver a finishing blow using the stakes attached to weapons. Doing this is key, as otherwise vampires will heal and get back into the fight. Along with the other two pillars of combat, I found myself staying engaged throughout my time. Naturally, that time was very limited, so it remains to be seen if this can be sustained through multiple hours, but thus far I am encouraged by it.

For me, though, one of my favorite parts of Arkane's games is the stories they tell, whether that's the overarching plot or the smaller tales within it. Redfall's take on vampire fiction is intriguing, as it infuses classic gothic creatures of the night mythos with a healthy amount of science gone wrong and a corporation that's up to no good.

"We think vampires are just cool right up from the get-go. But if you look at them historically, they never really go away--they're perennially popular. It's just that each generation or each group of creatives reinterpret them and put their own spin on them. The reason they work is because they serve as a metaphor for something, whatever's on people's minds at the time.

"The thing that I think that makes them interesting is, in our case, it's not a disease. It's not an accident that happened in a lab. It was deliberate. It's not like, 'Oh no, I got bit by a vampire, I'm going to turn, let's find the cure.' There is no cure, just like there's no cure for a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. They wanted to become the butterfly. You can't reverse that because it's not like a cold; it's a metamorphosis. They became on the outside what they already were on the inside, and that's why the cultists worship them. They're like, 'Please make me a vampire too,' but it has to happen deliberately because the vampire has to want to turn you. It's not like, 'I got some vampire spit on me and now it's inevitable.'"

The setup for my play session involved the Hollow Man, a vampire god who is worshipped by cultists. Before his transformation, he was a blood researcher, but the circumstances of his ascension are unclear, and the details are essential to bringing him down. So, off we went to his very well-guarded mansion to figure it all out.

Despite my objective being clear, I was immediately distracted by side quests and other activities. The group of survivors I was running with had made a fire station their base and, unfortunately, a popcorn machine in the building was busted, so I decided that fixing it could help boost morale. This tangent took me to the Overton, a classic theater with a spacious atrium, balconies overlooking the seating, and plenty of side corridors and rooms to explore. Once that was done, I was alerted to the fact that there were safehouses nearby that could be secured by completing a series of smaller quests and then taking out the underboss that held dominion over the area. Along the way, I rifled through dilapidated buildings to find resources and read notes to find out more about how the vampires took over and how the people were affected.

The challenge with Redfall, however, is balancing this kind of storytelling within a multiplayer experience where the focus is on the people you're playing with. Bare indicated that the focus for storytelling is on the town and your efforts to liberate it, as opposed to you as a character. As a result, the team has put effort into ensuring that the fictional town of Redfall and its vampires are memorable.

"Typically we make a game with just one protagonist and so the story's about them, it's the story about Morgan, it's about Corvo," he explained. "And so we couldn't really do that this time, at least not without multiplying our team's size by four. Because we have four heroes, the story can't be just about [one] hero. So I think our approach this time is the story is about Redfall and the experience of fighting the vampires."

Redfall, Massachusetts is a virtual playground much larger than anything in Dishonored, Prey or Deathloop; the closest thing to a bona fide open world that Arkane has made. The town has been besieged by vampires that have blotted out the sun and severed connections to the outside world. That leaves it up to the player to clear up the infestation, as well as liberate the town and its people.

When it comes to finding examples of that Arkane magic in this game, based on what I saw thus far, the world itself is a pretty good indicator. Like Dunwall, Karnaca, Talos I, and Blackreef before it, Redfall has a distinct sense of place that merges the mundane with the monstrous to create a setting that feels grounded but also fantastical. At first blush, there's a beauty to Redfall that is inviting. It has a rustic autumnal vibe that is almost picturesque, but then you look a little closer and notice how it has been corrupted; perpetual darkness that is only alleviated by the faint light emanating from a oppressed sun; people who have thrown away their humanity in hopes that they'll be selected to ascend to vampiredom; powerful vampires menacingly gliding around and occasional unexpectedly teleporting.

As with all open worlds, one of the challenges is making the spaces in between the key landmarks and destinations interesting, or at the very least giving players a way to engage with the world that keeps them invested. For Breath of the Wild, the ability to climb anything meant everything felt like an opportunity; Elden Ring streamlined traversal by giving players Torrent, a spectral steed; and Assassin's Creed relies on its parkour (most of the time) to ensure the player stays involved in moving around. Redfall doesn't have any of these, at least in the time I played, and instead looks to be relying on giving players as many combat opportunities as possible. These situations are made more interesting by inviting players to make the most of the combat's depth, and also use the openness of the environment. Cultists serve as fodder to quickly pick off, while the vampires present more of a challenge. There's also a threat level that slowly rises as you clean the area up, and if you attract the attention of a district's vampire ruler, it sends in a character called The Rook.

This character functions a lot like the Nightmare from Prey. It appears in a dramatic lightning storm and is a hulking, bullet sponge of a vampire that feels impossible to kill and, worse still, attracts other vampires to your location. This dynamic means that you need to be careful about how you approach certain areas and manage how much heat you’re drawing. In my playtime, I found myself being judicious about which fights I took on, occasionally choosing to use Devinder’s teleportation ability to get onto rooftops to skirt around gangs of cultists, or stealthing my way through vampire infested territory. Again, it remains to be seen whether this push-and-pull power struggle is enough to keep tedium at bay. The area I played was quite large, but was only the tutorial area--akin to Breath of the Wild's Great Plateau--so some visual variety is likely as more of the map opens up.



"Once you beat the Hollow Man, you move to a second district," Bare said. "That's even bigger than this one, and it's got three Vampire Gods that are fighting over the territory. We care about environmental storytelling deeply and so for us it was [about] picking and choosing our battles. It's finding spots [to] just pour the density in and then leaving breathing room around it. So the big open cornfield outside the farm, that doesn't need to have environmental storytelling details every 10 feet because it's a big cornfield that you're creeping through at night. It's moody ambience. But then when you get to the farm, the farm is just chock-full of stuff for you to soak up."

My main concern going into Redfall was that it'd be another looter shooter in the mold of what everyone thinks is popular, and in the process, lose what makes Arkane's games special. My time with the game brought some much needed clarity to what Redfall actually is, and it is a looter shooter in the mold of popular titles like Borderlands. But, most importantly, at its core are design ideas that have enabled memorable exploration and narrative, as well as satisfying gameplay, in Arkane's previous games. But just because it's there doesn't mean it'll work, and moving into the open-world looter shooter genre is a big pivot for the studio. As a fan of Arkane's work, I am more intrigued by it now and, regardless of how it comes together, it'll be an interesting and distinct take on the genre at the very least.

 

[Morgoth]

God thanks I never got the Far Cry fatique, since I never bothered with the series beyond FC2.

Looks like Redfall will be a fun game.

 

[Child of Malkav]

They're not in charge of what they're making anymore. It's over. It's been over since Prey. That's why Raph left. He noticed the things to come. Arkane in dead. RIP.

 

[Morgoth]

They're not in charge of what they're making anymore. It's over. It's been over since Prey. That's why Raph left. He noticed the things to come. Arkane in dead. RIP.

You're reading too much between the lines. Raph left because he needed a... break?

Arkane is very much in control of their own games. Ostensibly even more so under MS, since Phil couldn't be bothered about micro-managing every studio.