Redfall preview: Stealth RPG takes a bite out of Dishonored
Bethesda / Arkane AustinRecently, Dexerto sat down with the upcoming vampire-slaying open-world RPG Redfall, so here’s what we thought of the upcoming title.
Redfall is Bethesda and Xbox’s next huge release, and with it being an Xbox exclusive, many are looking to see what the developers can accomplish from what is already an exciting baseline. At its core, Redfall looks like a cooperative point-and-shooter, featuring dangerous vampires and some exciting powers.
However, after sitting down with the dark and twisted title, we were able to truly sink our teeth into the fantastical cartoon style of Redfall and fully envelop ourselves in the unsettling atmosphere surrounding this infested town. The playthrough left us feeling undeniably excited for what’s to come and the game may just be what Xbox fans have been waiting for.
A bloodsucking storyline
With Redfall primarily posing as a co-op experience, we initially assumed that the storyline wouldn’t be the most prominent aspect. After all, many similar titles prioritize combat over telling any particularly emotional tale.
However, laced within Redfall’s veins is a rich blood of emotion, pain, power, and betrayal, all discovered as you explore and take on some deadly, and rather challenging vampires.
Whether you’re playing co-op or single-player, you’ll be following a subtle yet touching storyline, telling the tale of how Redfall came to be in this state and the powerful humans who turned themselves into even more powerful undead creatures.
Naturally, as it typically is with an open-world stealth game, the story does often take the backseat when players explore or take out cultists to their heart’s content. However, it’s always there and continues to be laced around everything you fight and every building you explore.
A collaborative experience perfectly played alone
It’s worth noting that we primarily explored Redfall as a single player. However, unlike many other cooperative titles, we still found the game to thrive when only hosting one player.
Redfall keeps the battles complex yet not impossible and allows you to carefully plan each battle, weapon strategy, and route through the town. This ensures you have the best tactics for safe passage or the chance to take down some pesky vampires and their cultist pets.
Such single-player gameplay felt similar to the styles of Dishonored, which Arkane Austin also developed. However, it also has touches of familiar RPGs, allowing players to gain an understanding of their environment through lost battles and misplaced judgment, meaning every attack and fight is learned from, allowing the player the chance to truly evolve into a legendary staking machine.
However, while we didn’t get the chance to enjoy the game’s co-op, we were told about the variety of skill points present within each character, and the nature of trust through the team. Essentially, the more you play with certain characters, the more your chosen character trusts them, which inherently increases their power.
Such ideas have already encouraged us to look forward to the co-op experience and will keep what could be rather repetitive content fresh and unique every time.
Combat you can truly sink your teeth into
Combat is really where Redfall thrives. After all, there’s no point in playing a vampire-hunting game if the act of vampire-hunting isn’t enjoyable!
Thankfully, Arkane Austin has clearly put a lot of time and care into their combat, introducing some fantastic weapons from typical Assault Rifles with stakes on the end or a deadly stake launcher, capable of taking down vampires and humans alike.
On top of this, the game remains a tense and stealth-based experience, with players learning very quickly that engaging in every fight is a surefire way back to your original base. However, that doesn’t make the combat any less rewarding. In fact, we found ourselves quickly learning different techniques as well as which weapon works best for our chosen character.
To help complement the intense gunfights are the fantastically immersive audio and visuals, allowing you to easily pick out weaker targets or points to allow you the chance to sneak around more powerful enemies. Then there’s the climbing aspect. Using your character’s powers, or just a handy ladder, you can change the levels of your engagements, gaining the high ground on some unsuspecting creatures.
Vampires, vampires, and more vampires
Many fans of Redfall are already aware of the variety of enemies inside this plagued town. However, the true extent present within the town’s monstrous population is quite frankly immense.
We found ourselves taking on a cultist only to find a deadly vampire appearing, along with some bosses, elemental vamps, and so much more. Such combat became a challenge but also enabled us to explore the use of different weapons, techniques, and powers.
The pure variety of combat present within Redfall is truly its beacon of non-UV light and introduces a fantastic variety of required skills, which in turn lets each player specialize in their own elements. Whether it’s taking down spotters with a sharpshooting sniper or unleashing hell with stake launchers, there are plenty of playstyles on offer.
Ultimately, through our playthrough of Redfall, it’s clear this experience brings all the bite and undead many are expecting to see. It’s thrilling, tense, and just chaotic enough to feel like every battle is worth it, just tread carefully with your battles, you never know who may show up…