Everything is fine till the Vampires move in. That’s what happens in Arkane Studios and Bethesda’s Redfall. Players have been teased with the game for a while with some fearing it would end up in production hell as a result but here we are and Arkane and Bethesda reached out and gave me the chance to go to Redfall to fight some vampires to which I’m very grateful for the opportunity!
Redfall is about an island in Massachusetts that has become overrun with vampires and cultists that allied themselves with them. After the island is sealed off from the mainland and the sun is eclipsed, four survivors teamed up to face the horrors ahead.
Now onto the game itself! Redfall‘s controls are basic for an FPS game, so veterans of these kinds of games will have a leg up on the bloodsuckers. Headphones are a must, I know I say that a lot, but in this game there are secrets you need to keep an ear out for as well as for when a vampire is nearby being creepy…
In Redfall you can pick from four different characters to play as each has their own set of skills and perks that give them an edge over enemies and help the team out (if you play multiplayer). Right now I’m playing as Jacob, a mercenary who had an encounter with the vampires leaving him with a mysterious eye, and a raven he has a psychic connection to. Jacob can use the raven to scout ahead and mark enemies that it sees.
The other heroes are Remi, a combat engineer with a little robot that helps distract enemies, she also uses C4. Layla, a college student with psychic powers allowing her to shield herself, launch enemies in the air, and summer her Ex-boyfriend to help in combat… he’s also a vampire. And finally Devinder, a cryptozoologist inventor who can make electrified javelins, a teleportation device, and a high-powered UV light camera rig.
For gameplay, in Redfall you can go alone or team up with others to face the vampire threats, personally, I’m a lone wolf so I’m taking it easy by myself and it’s surprisingly a fun challenge. What I really LOVE about the game is that it does not punish you for playing alone like Back 4 Blood and Generation Zero. You face different types of vampires as well as human enemies, the Hallowman Cultists, people who have sided with the vampires with the hopes to appease a mysterious being who talks to you throughout the world through TVs and Radios known as the Hallow Man, and Bellwether, a mercenary group sent to Redfall, and who Jacob used to work for.
The game is open world so there are a lot of places to go, landmarks to find, fast travel points to unlock, and safehouses to open (each safehouse has its own missions). The main safehouse is the island’s firehouse where you can restock and get main story missions. I have played a couple of main missions as well as some side missions as I’m more into exploring the island and taking out vampires to start farming some XP (you earn these by killing enemies and completing missions) to upgrade my character. There are also collectibles to keep an eye out for as well as cosmetic items you can unlock.
The only real negative things I can say about Redfall is the release, in the game it’s clearly autumn and the island is set up for Halloween/harvest festivals, with that imagery I would have been OK if the game was released in October than May when everything is starting to come into bloom again, BUT THAT’S JUST ME! The other is that once you beat one part of the map and go to the second half of the map (and game) you can’t go back to the first part which to me defeats the point of an open-world game as in many others you can always go back to the first map and explore more.
Overall, I really enjoy playing Redfall. I can imagine that since it’s fun playing solo that it will be just as fun to play with friends. With great mechanics, hours of gameplay/exploration, amazing and colorful art, amazing lighting graphics, and sound design that overshadows my complaints listed above, Redfall is a 10/10 on my scale as it’s an amazing time covered in blood and ash!
Redfall will be coming out on May 2, for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
