Redfall reviews have come out, and the streets run red with performance issues, but also, problems with the fundamental game itself.
Metacritic reveals that Redfall has amassed a mediocre 62 on PC, and a very close 64 on Xbox Series X. Alternately, OpenCritic has found that the game lands at a Fair OC Rating, with an overall 66 Top Critic Rating, and with 28 % of critics recommending the game.
Where did everything go wrong? While we will put our focus on two reviews in particular, there are some points that all reviewers agree on;
- Redfall has many performance issues that indicate it needed more time in development.
- Redfall’s game design has a different set of problems, stemming from Arkane’s inexperience with online multiplayer games in general.
It’s also worth noting that Redfall does have some redeeming factors, even if some critics disagree on this. In fact some reviews rate it with 8 out of 10s, indicating that Arkane was able to build an experience that will at least satisfy some fans. Even with disagreement here, there is consensus that developer Arkane was tasked with something they weren’t quite ready for. Given that Arkane Austin had already been working on Redfall for five years at this point, it’s a disappointing result indeed.
Let’s talk a bit about the now revealed story details in Redfall. As it turns out, the vampire menace is entirely the creation of one nebulous megacorporation, who created the vampires themselves while working on increasing human longevity. The four player characters also enter the town of Redfall while there is already an ongoing conflict with the vampires and other groups.
We won’t discuss the performance issues in detail here, because they clearly don’t stem from something like poor CPU utilization. Instead the signs indicate that the game just isn’t finished development, and Microsoft should have delayed it, even if Xbox fans would have been annoyed, to give the project the care and respect it needs. Performance issues do affect the game design, particularly when enemy AI is unresponsive.
Many of Arkane’s strengths still shine through in Redfall. Characters are well designed and well written, and they come alive even more if you play in a team, thanks to their interactions. Redfall’s open world are also filled with side missions, that you simply have to find for yourself by exploring. While there are some problems with map sections that can make you trapped, you can enter every house and every room and find something that made the side trip worthwhile.
Other elements of the game received a mixed reception. ACG’s review, which we will link below, points out that the open world, which is cut into two sections, isn’t dense with points of interest, so you spend too long in the game looking for things to do or just moving. There are also Borderlands style random weapon generation systems and skill trees. The skill trees were not thought though well enough, so there are a lot of redundancies, esp since unlike Borderlands, Redfall’s characters can use any weapon and item.
Subsequently, PC Gamer’s review recognizes the many influences that Redfall takes on, and it’s not just Borderlands. Left 4 Dead, Fallout, survival horror games, Redfall tries to use parts of each genre and fails to make it all come together.
Ultimately, the reviews are very disappointing, but it seems there are more than a few reviewers and previewers who claim Redfall can still be a fun game in spite of its issues. While Redfall is not coming from a place of strength, will this be enough to make Redfall a success for Xbox fans and for Microsoft? That we will have to wait a little bit longer to find out.
You can watch ACG’s review below.
