Earlier this year, Arkane Austin’s redfall entered the pantheon of terrible game releases. Takes his place next to it Cyberpunk 2077, Fallout 76, no man’s heavenand more, the long-awaited Xbox exclusive struggled with performance, felt incomplete, and was full of conflicting ideas that just didn’t quite add up. The vampire shooter has lost tons of players since its Game Pass debut, but not everyone has given up on it. Behind the flaws and disappointment, some fans have found things they love, and they hope others will one day find the same.
Loving redfall in spite of everything
“I was excited redfall like most people,” said a Reddit user named eh_stev3 my city. They said they played death loopcreated by sister studio Arkane Lyon, to death and even joined other players in their quest for glitches and secrets like a vampire trinket Requires shooting clones in cutscenes to unlock. Eh_stev3 bought the $100 Bite Back Edition from redfall On release day I played it on Steam for an hour and then refunded it. It wasn’t until they came back via Game Pass a week later that it really started enjoying it.
“redfall Reminds me a lot to play New Game+, let’s say: border areas or something like that,” said eh_stev3. “You don’t care that much about the story beats, [you’re] simply there to destroy enemies, level up and unlock new gear. And in fairness it has to be said that this part of it Redfall’The loop is solid.”
Most fans are used to hearing rejection from naysayers when they talk like this, even inside themselves redfall playgroups. “It’s very mixed,” said Luke Lohr, host of the Xbox Expansion Pass podcast. “Those who have played it think it’s quite fun, there IS something about it. Aside from that, however, most are dismissive and respond with a snort or a disappointed snort. Mostly though redfall feels forgotten.”
Arkane Austin’s live-service shooter centers on a New England town isolated from the rest of the world after a scientific experiment gone awry brings vampire gangs and the armed cultists who worship them onto the streets. You play as one of a diverse group of hunters with paranormal abilities whose job is to unravel the mystery of what happened and why, while simultaneously shooting and looting a large open map with little flourishes of curated worldbuilding for the arcane got known prey and his work on the dishonored games.
Microsoft revealed redfall with great success at E3 2021 after completing the acquisition of the game’s publisher, Bethesda Software. A sleek theatrical trailer oozes style and personality, and a major pre-release marketing push promoted the Always Online multiplayer game as the first Xbox exclusive blockbuster of 2023, after few games the previous year. Instead, the game drew brutal reviews and a backlash from adoring fans. “It’s frighteningly bad,” it said a contribution with nearly 1,000 upvotes for the game’s subreddit. “redfall is not a bad game or a failure, it is an insult to the entire industry other.
“I’m really surprised by the snappy response,” said user hey_its_mojo, one of redfall‘s most loyal defender on the Arkane Discord, told my city. “There are many valid complaints about the game – many elements felt like they needed more time and attention to qualify as a polished experience – but there are far too few narrative co-op games for four players, and redfall actually does quite well against them.”
Mojo has completed the game multiple times with multiple groups of people, sometimes in search of new lore and world building, and sometimes to complete certain Xbox achievements. They point to the success “A Cry in the Dark” as a perfect example of why they keep coming back. “What’s really cool about this achievement is that it’s not a secret achievement,” they said. The clues on how to unlock it are there for anyone who wants to take a closer look. It merely encourages players to pay attention to the world and requires them to snoop around a trailer park, where they find a telescope pointed at a hilltop with a monument on it. Visit the distant location you glimpse through the telescope and uncover the backstory of an NPC that is long gone but has been instrumental in creating a certain mood and texture found in most other multiplayer games. Shooters are missing.
“You’ll find a flare gun and flares,” Mojo said. “You’ll also find a journal of lore items, which has a wonderful array of entries. [It] tells you how the trailer owner used the flare gun to summon this vampire to provide him with food, hoping to become a vampire himself. So, all the clues are there in the game for players to figure out how to get the achievement. Not enough games can do that.”
Moments like this caused some players to come back in search of more, but many fled shortly after release. While this isn’t an indication of the target audience on Xbox or PC Game Pass, it is the number of concurrent players on Steam redfall It currently averages just 70 people, down from the original all-time high of around 1,500. For comparison: Obsidian Entertainment Grounded, a single-player survival game released almost a year ago, has an average of almost 10,000 concurrent Steam users. Self death loopwhich was released back in 2021 still has over 300 every day.
“I think the conversation around me [Redfall] is very hyperbolic,” said Reddit user Illustrious_Dig_2520 my city. “It’s a simple game that I can learn and play with my wife. I also like the looter aspect of the game. At this point my wife and I have moved on Diablo IVThat’s why we don’t play that much.” They said that when they’re still playing, they mostly scroll through story stages just to scour vampire lairs for better legendary gear.
will redfall ever have one Cyberpunk 2077 Moment?
At some point in the life of every botched online multiplayer game, the question arises whether it will end prematurely or go on a quest for redemption thanks to frequent patches, seasonal content updates, and eventual expansions. Final Fantasy XIV It was so bad the first time that Square Enix shut down and restarted the game A kingdom reborn. Now fans often expect other bigger budget live service games to perform similarly. some like Fallout 76 Do. Others like anthem not.
The jury is still out on Arkane Austin, Bethesda and Microsoft doubling down redfall or move on quickly. But there has been progress. The game has received two major patches since May, fixing bugs and rebalancing encounters that players derided for being too easy. A promised 60fps performance mode for Xbox Series X/S is still MIA, however redfall has not yet been abandoned. “Overall the game feels better,” said Eh_stev3.
If it can ever come to one Good Location is a separate matter. redfall Currently only tracks story progress for the host player, a big problem for a multiplayer game. There’s also no way to travel between the two open-world maps, forcing players to start over if they want to return to explore the first location in more depth. “One real complaint I have is the pop-up you can’t turn off when you’ve completed a mission that tells you that you’ve completed it and that you can either fast travel or esc,” says Reddit -User PrincessOfCrazyPpl, who she plays with most nights, tells her partner my city. It’s really annoying when baddies keep coming at you and a pop-up appears that takes up half the screen. That’s literally the only thing that frustrates me the most.”
Microsoft didn’t mention it redfall During the big Xbox presentation in summer 2023, the game was not released at all and the game currently has no content roadmap, it is now a staple of most Always Online games. Who knows if new story missions, modes or cosmetics – the game’s main collectibles – could attract new players. But it would certainly help those who have already put dozens of hours into it redfall feel rewarded for their incredible devotion.
“I’m continuing to play the game and work on leveling up all of the characters and getting all of the single player achievements,” said Ellery Parker my city. “It gave me a deeper understanding of the lore, which was great. For example, getting all the Gravelocks one at a time really created a cohesive backstory that I missed on my first playthrough. I even bought this [$100] Bite Back Edition after playing the game for more than 30 hours. I hope Microsoft and Arkane can make one cyberpunk-like comeback because the game has a great framework to build on and improve upon. We hope for future DLCs.”
