Latest Redfall Trailer Looks Like A Spooky Far Cry You’d Actually Want To Play

The latest Redfall trailer kind of turned my perception of the whole game around.

A little while back, I heard Arkane clarify to a journalist that it felt its upcoming vampire-centric team shooter Redfall had more in common with Far Cry than it did a game like Left 4 Dead. At the time, I thought that was an interesting way to look at the game it was working on, but I hadn’t seen enough of it to make a judgement call one way or the other.

L4D was the obvious comparison when the game’s 4vE trailer dropped at E3 a year ago. Urban and forest environments, with undead evil lurking around every corner. Enemies that come in clearly defined roles, like runners and beefy boys and ones that can drag you away. You could have been forgiven for thinking it looked like Arkane’s take on L4D.

Today’s gameplay deep dive, which appeared during the Xbox Developer Direct showcase, finally gives us a proper look at moment-to-moment gameplay. It wasn’t until this trailer that I got a clearer picture of what Arkane meant when it compared its vision to Far Cry. There’s still elements of the L4D comparison that make sense, but they’ve been clarified somewhat.

This feels like a Far Cry game that I actually want to play. More than just creeping through standardised levels with randomly generated enemy clusters, Redfall appears to be a more curated experience that is typical of Arkane. You can see their usual handiwork everywhere — the way the light looks, the way the weapons feel, and even Arkane’s signature flair for interior design all give its involvement away. The trailer features setpiece fights in wide open outdoor areas, as well as players creeping through suburban houses and neighbourhoods in the dead of night to clear them out. It’s about survival through creative combat. Surveying the landscape, identifying strongholds. Knowing when to engage, when to hold back, when to go in hot, and when to solve the problem quietly. Not to be a Far Cry 2 Guy on main, but it reminds me of the good old days. That game made me fight for my life. Good times.

Watch today’s trailer, all 12 minutes of it. You’ll start to see what I mean. There’s Far Cry DNA absolutely everywhere.

Not like that, don’t be gross.

This trailer has actually made me a bit sad that Bethesda won’t work with Kotaku Australia because I’d quite like to talk to the developers about it. Bethesda ANZ, if you read this, call me.

Redfall launches on May 2, 2023 for Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC.