Redfall

I do think that while the skill tree is a bit thinner in a single-player context than Arkane fans are used to, it’s designed to shine in co-op play. The translocator, for instance, isn’t just something you use once, but effectively creates a portal between where you threw it from and to, meaning that while it’s there your allies can use it too. Dev’s electric pulse spear, meanwhile, which zaps enemies in an area around it, can double up as a healing beacon with the right abilities. Once you start synergising those skills with other players, I imagine Redfall will create some unique tactical te...

Considering they’re a staple of horror and fantasy, vampires have been the subject of relatively few great video games. Sure, there’s Castlevania, and Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Legacy of Kain, and a few others. But compared to zombie-themed games, for example, vampires are lagging way behind. Is Redfall a chance to sink your pointy teeth into something great, or should you seek a fun transfusion elsewhere?

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

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

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.

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.

Redfall feels like a cluttered and unfocused experience that doesn't compare to the studio's previous endeavors. Arkane's feeble attempt at fusing two genres robs Redfall of everything that made its previous games special. There's no saving Redfall from its bloody fate.

A lifeless multiplayer FPS that lacks any of Arkane's usual brilliance.

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

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.

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. Though pockets of the developer's signature traits remain when it comes to exploration, level design and reading up on the world of this fictional small-town settlement, it's as far as the game goes in injecting a sense of care or thought to what it's offering and asking of its player. Shamelessly limping from one half-hearted implementation and excuse to pad out its run-time to the next. The killing blow undoubtedly coming...

Redfall is an unfinished mess of a game, full of half-baked systems and terrible AI, only partially redeemed by its well-designed world.