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I PLAYED XBOX'S GREATEST FAILURE TO SEE IF IT'S REALLY AS BAD AS EVERYONE SAYS
IT IS

Features
By Zachary Boddy
published November 14, 2024

I spent a few dozen hours hunting down vampires, and I had a blast despite all
the hate.

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Comments (5)

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Despite all of its flaws, Redfall had enough style and character to keep me
hooked. (Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)


There are so many elements that contribute to the success or failure of a video
game. Enough so that even the greatest games can collapse from lack of players
after release, and the worst games can secure an unlikely victory despite their
flaws. From development woes to marketing stumbles, most of the time a game
misses the mark is due to a messy amalgamation of factors that's hard to pin
down.



Sometimes, the hate a game receives at launch far outclasses what it deserves,
with two notable examples in recent memory. It took me a while, but I finally
visited what many consider to be "Xbox's greatest failure" in years: Redfall.
The unfortunately doomed final title from the legendary Arkane Austin team
suffered under the weight of endless criticisms when it dropped, eventually
culminating in the shuttering of the studio that brought it to life. Is Redfall
really the utter failure that so many claim it is?



Seeing as I put over two dozen hours into the game and 100% it... No, it isn't.
Redfall's foremost sin is being mediocre during a period when Xbox's first-party
content was under more scrutinization than ever.





A FLAWED GAME THAT STILL MANAGES TO BE FUN



Redfall never quite looks so dramatic, but its combination of stealth and action
gameplay is still fun more often than not. (Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)

My editor, Jez Corden, is the one who originally reviewed Redfall for Windows
Central, and he concluded alongside his final 3/5 review score that, "While
embers of fun do exist in Redfall, it's maddening that this is the product of
the legendary studio that gave us Prey. Arkane is very clearly out of its depth
with Redfall." I'm not one to beat around the bush, so I'll go out and say that
Jez wasn't out of line with his assessment.

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Even after a year of updates aimed at improving the game, the version of Redfall
I played and enjoyed still wouldn't deserve higher than a 3.5/5 in my eyes. At
its core, Redfall is flawed; that being said, I believe there's a tendency in
the video games community to view any game that reviews worse than an 8/10
average as hot garbage, when that's simply not the case. A solid 7/10 game can
still be a ton of fun despite its obvious flaws, and even in its damaged state,
I knew many who still enjoyed Redfall at release — it was hardly unplayable.



Multiple post-launch updates saw a wealth of bug fixes and optimizations. Arkane
Austin fixed glitches and crashes, improved NPC AI, refined movement and combat,
added new weapons and content, and increased performance (including adding a
long-awaited 60 FPS mode on Xbox Series X|S). No, Redfall's "Hero Pass" never
came to light, but in its final update the game even got an offline mode...
Which is why I was able to play it at all.



Redfall is disappointing more because of the missed potential then because it's
a truly awful game. (Image credit: Windows Central)

And, to be totally frank, I had a great time playing Redfall. As I mentioned
before, I didn't take a quick jaunt through the ill-fated towns of Redfall and
Burial Point — I completed every mission, explored every area, and found every
secret I could. I spent over 30 hours in Redfall and 100% it for all intents and
purposes. I wouldn't have bothered if I wasn't enjoying myself, as I had
absolutely zero obligation to play it at all (I didn't even know I'd write about
the game until the credits rolled, hence why there are no screenshots from my
playthrough in this article).


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I latched on to the faint tendrils of Arkane Studios' infamous magic in
Redfall's dark and blood-splattered universe, and approached something close to
falling in love with the premise of a town isolated from the world and besieged
by vampires created through greed and the misuse of knowledge. I saw hints of
wonder from the team that created Prey (2017), which remains one of my favorite
games of all time to this day. Exploring these regions, discovering its
scattered stories of strife and desperate survival, and slowly working toward a
violent resolution made it easy to play the game for hours at a time.

The Redfall of today, which you can still play on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC,
Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Game Pass, is in a much better state than at launch.
Of course, it's still not perfect — I encountered crashes during loading
screens, terrain and traversal glitches, odd behavior from enemies, and other
minor issues. Overall, though, the game honestly ran fantastic on my Xbox Series
X and felt quite stable. It's how the game should've launched, but that likely
wouldn't have totally saved the game from coming under fire.


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THE UNFORTUNATE TALE OF A GAME DOOMED TO MEDIOCRITY



I'm just imagining a Redfall that actually matches the vibes of this image, and
that could've been truly amazing. (Image credit: Bethesda)

As I hinted at before, my personal score of 3.5/5 for Redfall has little to do
with glitches, performance issues, or optimization flaws. Redfall plays
perfectly fine on Xbox Series X at this point, and even without its co-op
features (the studio shutdown also meant the end of Redfall's online servers)
you can have a lot of fun playing it. The sad reality of this game, though, is
that its struggles to find a cohesive identity likely started very early on in
development, and no amount of post-launch updates would've totally saved it from
that.

Redfall drew me in with its fascinating premise, the strong building blocks for
an excellent narrative, and the addictive loop of exploring Redfall, avoiding or
challenging vampires and their twisted cultists, rescuing survivors, and
scavenging for the gear you need to survive in this hellish isolated bubble. For
each gem you find, though, you either have to accept its lack of luster or first
peer past the layer of grime coated on top.

Redfall's premise is held back by unnecessary gameplay mechanics like tying
weapon strength to an arbitrary level progression system, or spreading the
game's arsenal of unique abilities and skills across four entirely separate
player classes (which in turn hampers Arkane's true strength, which is setting
you loose in a highly dynamic, interactive sandbox). Redfall's campaign is
crippled by awkward slideshow-esque cinematics, and a truncated mission
structure that results in narrative gaps, and doesn't give characters and story
beats time to be fleshed out or feel impactful.



I won't claim that Redfall is actually some amazing game that you need to play,
but it may be worth giving it a chance. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Even the core gameplay loop feels laden with Redfall's strange attempts to be
half-RPG-half-looter-shooter. None of these flaws would've been resolved after
the game released, no matter how many updates Arkane Austin released — they're
foundational design faults that should've been avoided early on.

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Despite all of that... I'm still distraught by the loss of Xbox studios like
Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks. I wrote about how the closure of these
studios flew in the face of Xbox's claims of being a haven for creativity, and
after playing Redfall to completion it's even sadder how a single mishap can
doom an entire storied developer. I'm far from alone in thinking that, with even
Arkane Lyon's studio director commenting on the closures.

Redfall is far from perfect, but I'd honestly recommend it to anyone intrigued
by the premise and is interested in a casual, open-world vampire slaying
adventure, especially with it being readily available through Xbox Game Pass.
It's an excellent example of a "C-tier game" in that Redfall was never going to
win any awards or shake up the industry, but it can still offer hours of fun to
those willing to overlook the flaws and simply enjoy the game for what it is.

Is Redfall secretly a hidden gem that was unfairly lambasted just for being a
high-profile first-party Xbox exclusive? Ah, no, not quite. Did Redfall deserve
the mountains of vitriol directed at it from all corners of the internet,
including from thousands who never played it themselves? Also... no. As usual,
the truth is somewhere in the middle; Redfall is an average game with just
enough charm to err on the side of good, and can genuinely offer a fun time in
spite of (or maybe because of) its unique flaws.

I'm personally glad I gave Redfall a chance, and I'm sad that we'll never see
anything else come out of Arkane Austin because of its failure. I really wanted
Prey 2.

Vampire Hunting 🦇

Redfall | $39.99 at Microsoft Store (Xbox & PC)

The final project from the ill-fated Arkane Austin struggles under its misshapen
identity, but there's still enough to love here that I wanted to finish and 100%
the game after starting it.

👉See at: Microsoft Store (Xbox & PC) or Steam (PC)


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TOPICS
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CATEGORIES
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See all comments (5)
Zachary Boddy
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Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily
focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC
games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming
and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started
out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a
full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all
things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is
an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on
Twitter @BoddyZachary.




5 Comments Comment from the forums
 * Talen5000
   RedFall was flawed when it launched.
   It should not have been released in such a state. It should have been kept on
   hold for 6 months and a better version released at Halloween.
   
   Having said that....
   
   RedFall also did not deserve the hate the media and reviewers treated it
   with. Flawed it was....but it was also fun to play and quite honestly, worse
   games have received better treatment.
   
   RedFall simply became a game which was "cool to hate"
   
   RedFall is fixed now. Arkane and RoundHouse spent a year fixing it. It looks
   better, plays better, feels better.
   
   It could still have been so much more. But today, RedFall is a good game,
   still fun, one that feels good. Its actually one of the few games where I
   actually felt an improvement when it moved to 60FPS.
   
   It is a game I'd recommend.
   
   RedFall got a metascore of 56
   
   I'd suggest a score of 64 at launch, rising to 79 today post fix.
   Reply
 * soggy poptart
   I agree 100%its nowhere near great but also nowhere near trash.Its a solid
   7/10 imo.i may just give it another playthrough while I wait for stalker2 to
   release.
   Reply
 * Zachary Boddy
   > soggy poptart said:
   > I agree 100%its nowhere near great but also nowhere near trash.Its a solid
   > 7/10 imo.i may just give it another playthrough while I wait for stalker2
   > to release.
   
   Some of my favorite movies, TV shows, video games, whatever are mediocre 7/10
   things. I put over 30 hours in Redfall and almost started a New Game+ right
   away.
   
   STALKER 2 looks so good, though. I've been meaning to check out the original
   trilogy, and it's on sale right now.
   Reply
 * Zachary Boddy
   > Talen5000 said:
   > RedFall was flawed when it launched.
   > It should not have been released in such a state. It should have been kept
   > on hold for 6 months and a better version released at Halloween.
   > 
   > Having said that....
   > 
   > RedFall also did not deserve the hate the media and reviewers treated it
   > with. Flawed it was....but it was also fun to play and quite honestly,
   > worse games have received better treatment.
   > 
   > RedFall simply became a game which was "cool to hate"
   > 
   > RedFall is fixed now. Arkane and RoundHouse spent a year fixing it. It
   > looks better, plays better, feels better.
   > 
   > It could still have been so much more. But today, RedFall is a good game,
   > still fun, one that feels good. Its actually one of the few games where I
   > actually felt an improvement when it moved to 60FPS.
   > 
   > It is a game I'd recommend.
   > 
   > RedFall got a metascore of 56
   > 
   > I'd suggest a score of 64 at launch, rising to 79 today post fix.
   
   Well said!
   Reply
 * chidoro42
   Now what it imwas like 18 months ago and you’ll have your answer.
   Not to mention it was a mandatory online game on release.
   Reply
 * View All 5 Comments

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