{"id":22839,"date":"2023-05-02T04:30:53","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T04:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/65f15cff-bc23-458a-bec5-6174a3d9e6db12"},"modified":"2023-05-02T04:30:53","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T04:30:53","slug":"redfall-review-good-enough-for-game-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/redfall-review-good-enough-for-game-pass\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Redfall’ review: Good enough for Game Pass"},"content":{"rendered":"

Redfall <\/em>is not fit for public consumption. It may not give you salmonella, but Arkane Austin\u2019s vampire-infused world is unpolished, underpopulated and littered with glitches. From the jump, there are signs the game would\u2019ve benefited from another delay before launch day. That\u2019s not to say Redfall <\/em>is a bad game filled with terrible ideas, but in its current form, it\u2019s difficult to see the brilliance among the bugs.<\/p>\n

Redfall <\/em>is an open-world first-person loot shooter in the vein of Borderlands, but with a bunch of vampires and cultists instead of bandits, and set in a picturesque fictional town off the coast of Massachusetts rather than an arid wasteland. It has four playable characters, each with a magical skill set powered by pesky local pharmaceutical experiments.<\/p>\n

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\"Redfall\"
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Arkane Austin<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

The characters represent a bright spot in the game, so let\u2019s start with the good stuff. I primarily played as Layla, a student whose special abilities include a glowing purple umbrella that soaks up bullets and a psychic elevator that propels friends and foes into the sky. Her final ability summons her former boyfriend, a ghostly vampire who shows up to pull focus and deal damage (typical ex behavior). I also spent some time with Remi, a support-class character with an adorable robot dog. Each character has a skill tree with a few dozen upgrade slots, plus a backpack that can be stuffed full of firearms, and three guns equipped at any time.<\/p>\n

Running in Redfall <\/em>is incredibly satisfying, and this is crucial, considering a large portion of the game is spent exploring neighborhoods on foot. The run mechanic feels like gliding, providing a significant and immediate speed boost that never feels too slow.<\/p>\n

The actual town of Redfall is charming. The campaign is spread across two maps, a suburban center and a historic district, each with a distinct vibe. While this is definitely not Prey<\/em> or Dishonored<\/em>, Arkane\u2019s DNA runs through Redfall<\/em>, and the map contains a variety of locales sprinkled with world-building lore \u2014 abandoned churches and homes, lootable shops, spooky mansions, hiking trails, farmland, an amusement park.<\/p>\n

Missions are structured to slowly reveal new areas of the map, and along the way there are safe houses to unlock, side stories to uncover and special vampires to vanquish. A highlight is clearing vampire nests, which teleport you to twisted versions of the town, providing a welcome break from the idyllic landscapes. All told, Redfall is a neat place to explore. I just wish it didn\u2019t feel so empty.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where things start to fall apart. Redfall<\/em>\u2019s entire world feels dead, and not in the on-brand, reanimated corpse type of way. There are long stretches of road and entire neighborhoods without enemies or points of interest, and groups of cultists and vampires are often incredibly easy to spot. Combine this with shockingly dumb enemy AI and an oppressive amount of aim assist, and most basic encounters end after a smattering of bullets and little tension. There are always plenty of shinies to collect, at least.<\/p>\n

\"Redfall\"
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Arkane Austin<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

I played on an Xbox Series S and PC, and experienced numerous bugs and crashes, particularly on the Xbox version. The game is limited to 30 fps at launch on both Series S and X, and suffers immensely because of it, with heavy-handed motion blur barely smoothing out the judders. Playing with a gamepad on Xbox is especially jarring \u2014 hefty aim assist mixes with a significant dead zone to create an unpleasant, weirdly imprecise shooting experience. I was able to tweak things to make it bearable, but basic gunplay in Redfall <\/em>feels bad.<\/p>\n

And then there are the bugs. Prompts to talk to people or read notes often fail; environments pop in with half-loaded textures; framerate drops result in stop-motion animations; sniper rifle scopes break completely; the game fully crashes. In 15 hours with Redfall<\/em>, my game crashed three times. Arkane says it\u2019s addressing a handful of known crash areas with the game\u2019s day 0 patch, so hopefully these are cleared up for prime time.<\/p>\n

While you can technically tackle Redfall<\/em> solo, the game was clearly designed to be played with a team. Characters\u2019 abilities dovetail cleanly, and wandering the town is way more fun with a teammate. Once I started playing with a friend, the game made more sense, with strategy talk and shared curiosity filling those long, empty stretches of road, adding intrigue to easy shots. However, co-op also introduced fresh glitches, including floating character models and choppy collision physics.<\/p>\n

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As a feature-complete AAA experience with a price tag of $70, Redfall <\/em>is a massive disappointment. However, that\u2019s not how most people are going to play \u2014 Arkane is a subsidiary of Xbox Game Studios, and Redfall <\/em>will be available to Game Pass subscribers on PC and console, day-one and at no extra charge. The barrier to entering Redfall <\/em>is low and this might be its saving grace, allowing developers to continually update the game while thousands of playtesters provide live feedback. Hell, that might even be the plan.<\/p>\n

Right now, Redfall <\/em>makes sense as an early access game. It\u2019s a mess, but it\u2019s still largely playable; Redfall<\/em>\u2019s core loop is actually thrilling when all the mechanics line up correctly, but the details need attention. The early access process is a crucial tool for developers, especially when it comes to online experiences, and there are pipelines for works in progress on every major platform, including Xbox. Redfall <\/em>feels like a work-in-progress.<\/p>\n

But in reality, Arkane and Xbox aren\u2019t pitching Redfall <\/em>as an early access game. They\u2019re calling it a finished product and they\u2019re charging $70 \u2014 or at least one month of Game Pass, set to automatically renew \u2014 for the privilege of playing its glitchy, imprecise missions.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all reminiscent of Sea of Thieves<\/em>, the original \u201cday one on Game Pass\u201d title. When it came out in 2018, Sea of Thieves <\/em>was roundly criticized for feeling unfinished, lacking direction and being light on actual content. With years of updates and a consistent presence on Game Pass, Sea of Thieves<\/em> stabilized, nurtured its player base, and eventually picked up a BAFTA award in the evolving game category in 2021. Its ninth season rolled out in March.<\/p>\n

\"Redfall\"
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Arkane Austin<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Redfall <\/em>could easily follow a similar path. The game has good bones, and it could evolve into an engaging co-op shooter with plenty of room for replayability and expansions \u2014 Left 4 Dead for the Twilight generation; Borderlands meets What We Do in the Shadows<\/em>; small-scale Destiny with a Stranger Things<\/em> typeface. There\u2019s room for Redfall<\/em>, but only if Microsoft gives Arkane the runway to save it.<\/p>\n

Redfall <\/em>is less ambitious than Sea of Thieves<\/em>, and it really shouldn\u2019t be in this poor shape: Arkane Austin has plenty of experience crafting AAA first-person shooters, and Redfall <\/em>is a traditional loot shooter with online play. Nothing in this game falls outside of Arkane\u2019s or Xbox\u2019s capabilities, and personally, I\u2019m interested to see how it shapes up over time.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t make Redfall<\/em>‘s launch state feel any less shady. If Xbox plans to use Game Pass as an early access hub, then the terms need to be clear. And if Xbox wants to release games that aren’t ready for retail, then potential players deserve to know when they’re spending $70 on potential, and potential alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Redfall is not fit for public consumption. It may not give you salmonella, but Arkane Austin\u2019s vampire-infused world is unpolished, underpopulated and littered with glitches. From the jump, there are signs the game would\u2019ve benefited from another delay before launch day. That\u2019s not to say Redfall is a bad game filled with terrible ideas, but …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"hashtags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22839"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22839"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=22839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}