It’s over and done with. With the closure of Arkane Austin, Redfall is no longer going ahead and the planned DLC will not be released. But at least there is apparently money back.
It’s so bitter. Not only did Redfall have a really bad start and fell far short of expectations for an Arkane title, the studio no longer exists either. Arkane Austin was shut down as part of Microsoft’s cost-cutting measures. Only a final patch, including an offline mode, was released.
However, this also means that the planned Hero Pass, which was also part of the Bite Back Edition, will never be released. Among other things, the Hero Pass was supposed to bring two more playable heroes and other additions to the game. After all, Microsoft had promised to provide appropriate compensation and now the time has apparently come.
As some players are reporting, Microsoft has apparently started to independently pay out refunds in the full amount of the DLC price, even if they were not requested. Apparently this affects both buyers of the digital Bite Back Edition and buyers of the separate Hero Pass DLC.
It is currently unclear how buyers of the physical Bite Back Edition will get their money back. For now, it is recommended to contact the Bethesda-Support until further information is available.
Redfall was released in May 2023, but failed to impress players, as there was little evidence of the qualities of previous titles such as Prey. According to reports, the attempt to create a live service game was implemented rather reluctantly by the studio and with many internal difficulties. While Arkane Austin was closed, Arkane Lyon is continuing its work. Marvel’s Blade is currently being developed there.
Redfall has already had a few stumbling blocks, starting with the false assumption that it was “Left 4 Dead with vampires”. Numerous delays were also not positive, as was the announcement that the 60 fps mode on the Xbox Series X would only be delivered after the release via a patch. Now the game is finally here and despite all the problems beforehand, we were excited to see whether Arkane Austin could build on old strokes of genius like Dishonored or Prey. Spoiler: No! Not at all.