Previews for Arkane’s upcoming vampire hunting co-operative FPS Redfall have started to drop this morning after preview sessions last week. Let’s take a look at the vibe around Australia and the world for what’s shaping up to be one of the biggest games of the year.
Editor’s note: Kotaku Australia did not receive an invitation to preview Redfall as Bethesda maintains a blanket, worldwide refusal to work with the Kotaku brand and has for many years. There are no hard feelings about this on our end — Bethesda is free to work with whoever it likes, and we understand why it doesn’t want to work with us. — David
Australian Previews
Let’s start with the Australian outlets that got a chance to check it out. Locally, it seems everyone came to similar conclusions — another interesting Arkane experiment that still has questions to answer. Some were troubled that no multiplayer was available during the preview despite the game considering it major selling point, others less so.
Press Start was impressed, but lamented not being able to play the game’s multiplayer. Notorious monster appreciator Leah Williams at GamesHub very much enjoyed the vertical slice, commenting on how complete the single-player experience already feels. Hewso over at Player 2 felt that the game played very much like an Arkane joint, “unmistakably from the studio that created Dishonored.” Friend of the site Courtney Borrett wrote Stevivor’s preview, and called it “spooky, clever, and captivating.” Well Played expressed concerns about the game’s open world and how it will operate, saying that it all felt a bit formulaic. Checkpoint Gaming came away from the preview still unconvinced, but feeling more positive about the game than when it went in.
One thing that comes up in almost all of these previews is a comment on the difficulty of combat — it’s apparently quite tough, with everyone seated for the preview taking multiple L’s while they got the hang of the game. Of course, this feels very Arkane to me. This is a developer that likes experimentation, and how better to get the player to experiment than hitting them with a big vampire shaped stick every time they get a little too bold?
Overseas Redfall Previews
Checking in with the overseas outlets now, where we find a far wider gamut of opinion. We’ll kick off with IGN, which went to pains in its preview to set expectations around the kind of game Redfall is — specifically that if you go in expecting a Dishonored-style Arkane stealth title, you won’t get far because Redfall‘s design touchstones are different. There’s been talk before the previews kicked off that Redfall had more in common with Far Cry than it does Prey, something IGN confirms. Go in understanding that, it says, and you’ll have a much better time.
Ars Technica felt the opening hours of the game were a bit on the soft side, but nevertheless appreciated it as a mashup of Dishonored, Borderlands, and Buffy. PC Gamer was far less impressed, one of the only outlets to file a negative impression. It called the vertical slice “a sad stumble,” saying that its more mundane setting bleeds into the gameplay, keeping it from making the same bold first impression found in other Arkane titles.
So, clearly, lots to consider here. What we can draw from these opinions is that Arkane is certainly trying something different here. Thought it’s still happy to give you a certain amount of control over what you do and where you go, that may be diminished somewhat by a greater foregrounding of combat over stealth, and that your enjoyment of it may be affected by that. Clearly, as IGN aptly noted, it seems setting your expectations correctly will be key here.
Are you keen for Redfall? Have the previews changed your view of it, or spiked/dented your hype? Let me know in the comments.
Redfall launches May 2, 2023 on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC. It will also be available on Game Pass on Day One.
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