Arkane Studios have become renowned over the past decade for their ability to make immersive, first-person shooters unlike anything else on the market. The reactivity of the worlds Arkane creates is astounding, offering players creative control over how they tackle a multitude of levels and environments. Each of Dishonored’s missions played out like an intricate puzzle box, while Prey (2017) challenged players to make the most of every facet of their surroundings.

So when Arkane Austin announced a new, cooperative shooter set in a small, vampire-infested town, fans were eager to sink their teeth in. Unfortunately, Redfall fails to live up to Arkane’s lofty standard in just about every way possible. From an oddly paced story to a static, uninspired world, Redfall is a baffling step backward from an otherwise peerless studio.

Story

Redfall might follow a band of survivors as they seek to reclaim their home island from the vampire menace, but it’s really more about the vampires themselves than anything else. Your protagonist might have a lot to say, but there’s very little substance to any of the player characters. Instead, you’re forced to piece together the larger narrative through lore dumps, scraps of paper, and hidden collectibles.

It doesn’t help that cutscenes in Redfall play out like slideshows with voiceover. A series of images featuring muddy character models and a washed-out color palette fails to evoke any sense of immersion or urgency, resulting in an odd dissonance between the high-stakes story and what you’re actually doing.

The Island of Redfall has been overtaken by vampires, and it’s up to you and a ragtag group of residents to rise up and stop them. Your goal is to take out the Vampire Gods leading the rank-and-file enemies scattered through the island, but these overarching antagonists are odd fixtures in the game. The game’s opening antagonist, the Hallow Man, is a constant presence through television screens scattered across the island, but you never actually see him until his boss fight.

This disconnect between your real goal and what you’re doing during the rest of the game leaves the story feeling almost like filler content. Instead, you fight an army of identical grunts and vampires as you slowly attempt to take back control of each neighborhood. I went hours without progressing the story whatsoever, which isn’t something I expected (or wanted) to say about an Arkane production.

It's a shame, too, because elements of the story are genuinely quite interesting. The origin of these vampires, while not wholly original, offers enough unique twists on the formula to be engaging. But the abysmal pacing and outdated narrative delivery made seeking out each new plot point feel downright laborious.

Gameplay

Arkane is known for its ability to develop intricate, dazzling, immersive games that challenge players to use their creativity to solve both puzzles and combat scenarios. Prey is an incredible feat of engineering, providing players with an array of tools, weapons, powers, and options to approach almost any section of its environment.

Redfall, on the other hand, strips all of that away in favor of loot-based gunplay and skill sets that leave a lot to be desired. I played the majority of the time as Layla, a college student who developed telekinetic abilities through experimental trials, so I was excited to spec more into ability use than gunplay and really start throwing some bad guys around.

Imagine my disappointment to find out that abilities just don’t work like that in Redfall. Instead, I had access to three abilities: Umbrella, Lift, and Vampire Ex-Boyfriend, none of which feel good to use. Umbrella is extremely passive, Lift is basically only useful for navigating the world, and Vampire Ex-Boyfriend feels like a cheat code for taking out groups of enemies without trying.

It was a letdown, to be sure, but it’s made even more frustrating by how enemies react to these abilities. Umbrella can be upgraded to deal more damage as it blocks attacks, but most enemies will simply stop attacking once it goes up. It’s hard to tell if this is an example of the AI being very smart or very dumb, but it essentially nerfs Layla’s fastest recharging ability.

Speaking of the AI, there’s something seriously wrong with the residents of Redfall. Besides the whole vampire/cultist thing. Enemies aren’t the brightest bulbs in the bunch, and they’re just as likely to attack you as they are to get stuck in the environment or simply stop reacting to anything at all. Vampires in particular are susceptible to this, as their teleport feature frequently brings them into conflict with the fabric of reality.

The guns themselves are one of the few areas where Arkane Austin’s pedigree shines through, at least in terms of creativity. There are a variety of different weapon types to choose between, and they range from standards like assault rifles to unique, vampire-slaying weapons like the stake thrower. UV beams are an ingenious inclusion useful both for quickly taking out vampires and clearing out the blood mist that blocks pathways.

This is one of Redfall’s few moments of creative level design, though. While certain buildings can be approached in a variety of ways, it all starts blending together after the third or fourth encounter. The mechanics are the same throughout, and these rare moments are cheapened by the fact that there’s no real benefit to taking a stealthy approach or finding a secret entrance.

Redfall doesn’t reward creativity in the way past Arkane games have, and drags the game down as a result. It doesn’t feel like a progressive journey through an interesting world, but rather a checklist of things to get done before moving on to the next. It evokes the tediousness of familiar open-world games without enough of that Arkane magic to truly feel unique.

It doesn’t help that the game is plagued with performance issues, most notably glitchy enemies and horrendous visual problems. Texture pop-in is rampant across every corner of the island, but it’s most evident when moving through natural environments. Grass fails to load, rocks look like featureless blobs, and I found several floating weapon caches that definitely should have been on the ground.

Interesting gun choices and passable gunplay do little to assuage the litany of issues Redfall has from a gameplay standpoint. The lack of meaningful character builds and uninspired world design make the world of Redfall feel hollow and lifeless. There’s fun to be had in there somewhere, but it never really coalesces into something truly enjoyable.

Audio and Visual

While Redfall misses the mark in a lot of places, its artistic design doesn’t disappoint. While visual performance issues hamper the experience overall, what’s actually here is quite striking. That stylized, angular quality Arkane has become known for is on full display here, and they really lean into it with some of these vampire designs.

Many areas of the island are beautiful, bringing to bear a majesty that the studio has become known for over the years. There’s clearly a lot of love poured into aspects of the design, including the characters and side content like Vampire Nests. The open-world style both hinders and bolsters this, as there are some impressive hidden spots and also a bevy of identical houses with decorative chimneys laid over shingled roofs.

The audio design is incredible, especially when you’re moving through spooky places. The music dials up into this horror score that kept me on the edge of my seat and jumping at every shadow, all while whispering voices reminded me that I was most definitely not alone. The Hallow Man’s ubiquitous presence through televisions in the first half of the game is one of the best implementations of this.

What Could Be Better

There’s a lot to be said about how Redfall could have been better. It could have been released with a 60fps mode; it could have more interesting characters and story sequences; it could have better character-building opportunities; it could not require a constant internet connection, a feature that locked me out of the game for 24 hours during the review period.

But there’s really just one element that I wish was better here. Everything else notwithstanding, I just wish this felt more like an Arkane game. I miss that immersive, detail-oriented design philosophy that makes playing their games so novel. Discovering the many creative ways to approach any scenario in Dishonored or Prey is what made those games so beloved, and Redfall just lacks that same magic.

Verdict

I can respect Arkane Austin’s desire to try something new, but Redfall is a disappointment on a colossal scale. While there are traces of what makes this studio so great, the final product is a bland, uninspired romp through a series of near-identical neighborhoods filled with bargain bin enemies. At its best, Redfall feels like a much smaller studio’s half-hearted attempt at emulating Arkane.   

Redfall is available now on Xbox Series X|S and PC.