Redfall Preview: Arkane made me feel silly

It’d be fair to say the messaging around Redfall has been a little convoluted since its reveal. Arkane is known for single-player immersive sims, but for the most part, Redfall plays like a vampire-slaying shooter. As a longtime fan of the studio’s prior work, notably the Dishonored franchise, I’ll admit to a degree of scepticism. For a dev that’s been revered for its critical successes, would this be a misstep?

I’m very pleased to say that I was wrong, and after spending some time hands-on ahead of its full release on May 2, I’m now much more excited about the game than I ever thought I would be.

Gets its fangs in

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Redfall takes place almost entirely within the titular town, where vampires have stepped out of myth and legend thanks to some nefarious goings-on within Aevum Therapeutics and their dodgy experiments.

This has led to not just a wave of garlic-hating undead, but a legion of cultish followers, too. It’s not often we get a vampire-slaying title, and Arkane’s distinct character design really sells both their majesty and their sickness; all claws, teeth, and gaunt faces.

Working to stem the tide of this invasion are a group of survivors, and while players will be able to pick from four meatbags to take into battle, I spent my time with Layla Ellison, a telekinetic student.

In our short slice of gameplay, Layla can buy weapons and supplies from a Fire Station that’s doubling as a refuge for those not keen on joining the vampire order, and within seconds this feels like an Arkane title – you’ll glean just as much from the scattered notes and environmental storytelling as you will from chats with NPCs.

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Redfall (the location, and by extension, the game) is absolutely brimming with details. As part of my gameplay session, I was tasked with investigating a creepy mansion up on a hill overlooking the town but was constantly dragged from the beaten path by my own curiosity, which is a great problem to have in an open world filled with secrets and a new IP that needs to get its hooks (or fangs) into new players.

That mansion features spooky interiors, vampire sentries, and an area that’s been blown apart yet frozen in time. It all leads to an impressive set piece that I won’t spoil here, but that feels like Arkane at its best.

It also hit right in the feels on a level Deathloop and even Dishonored never quite did, which is impressive given the range of quips and wisecracks Layla throws around during moment-to-moment gameplay.

Breaks the loop

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If there’s one thing I’d been worried about with Redfall, it was combat. Arkane relishes in giving players plenty of tools to deal with situations as they see fit, but I worried giving every character an automatic weapon would feel a little like replacing a sculptor’s chisel with a large, noisy hammer.

Gunplay, in my mind, was one of Deathloop’s weaker aspects, but Redfall strikes a perfect balance between the pop-and-shoot mechanics of a more traditional shooter and the developer’s history of flexible power usage.

As a result, Layla is able to use any weapon she finds around (and there are a lot of weapons), but she’s also able to create telekinetic elevators so she and her team can reach higher vantage points.

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Gunplay is snappy, and character builds are flexible enough to swap skills for different situations. Playing solo, I was able to summon Layla’s ex-boyfriend to fight alongside her (he just happens to be a friendly vampire) and gain a damage boost whenever Layla was in the air, making placing her elevators important both in combat and traversal.

There’s also an impressive array of loot to collect, with variants of the game’s weapons coming in loot rarity tiers. It’s not quite Destiny, naturally, but it’s still great fun to swap between tools of the trade.

Speaking of which, vampires need to be finished with a stake to the heart to ensure they don’t heal up and come at you again, and the frantic dance of getting in close, dodging their companions' attacks, and getting the finisher in is a heart-pumping one.

For those that prefer to do things from a distance, the stake launcher may end up being your best friend - it’s slower to fire and reload than any other weapon, but it feels incredibly satisfying to use.

Alien structure

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If there’s any question mark still hanging over Redfall after my play session it’s just how all of its structural parts will hold up across a longer campaign.

There’s a wealth of things to do within the town, with safehouses to unlock that double as fast-travel points, impressively challenging events that require taking out a boss or protecting a point, and secrets to sniff out. Players can even visit alternate dimensions to tear through vampire nests.

Doing any of the above will ensure the vampire higher-ups have their creepy eye on you, but you’ll need to clear a certain number of Underboss enemies to be able to take on the vampire gods. As fun as Redfall’s gameplay is, I worry it’ll become a little arduous to tick off a list of objectives, kill the Underboss, and rinse and repeat.

The trump card, naturally, is multiplayer. With other playable characters able to summon powerful sniper rifles, scout using a raven, send out an explosive robot or teleport, it feels like Redfall is going to be even better with friends.

Final Thoughts

Thankfully, we don’t have long to find out - Redfall will launch on May 2, meaning Xbox and PC players will be able to take on the vampiric hordes in just a few weeks.

As for this early slice, it’s left me feeling rather silly that I ever doubted Arkane at all, and I can’t wait to play more with friends in tow.