The upcoming Xbox exclusive from Arkane Studios, Redfall, is one of 2023's most anticipated games and looks to be the first major release of the year for publisher Bethesda Softworks. Arkane is responsible for some of the most well-regarded immersive shooters and action games of the last decade, including Dishonored, Prey, and Deathloop. With impressive titles like these under its belt, Arkane has a certain pedigree regarding providing players with unique abilities to experiment within a complex environment.
Redfall represents a significant departure from Arkane's past releases, as this is the studio's first open world game and co-op game. Upon its reveal, Redfall was initially compared to games like Left 4 Dead or Back 4 Blood, but the developer has since clarified that the game will be more like Far Cry. With the studio's largest world yet and expanded gameplay possibilities through drop-in/drop-out co-op, Redfall needs to nail its open world and the activities within it to deliver a worthwhile experience.
How Redfall Can Deliver on Its Open World
Comparing a game to Far Cry comes with its own positive and negative connotations in 2023. Similarly to other Ubisoft open world titles like Assassin's Creed, the Far Cry series has been criticized for its seeming reliance on quantity over quality. Considering the expansive nature of its open world, it's hard to say whether the quality of Arkane's level design can be carried over into Redfall. Still, some of the abilities shown so far seem to encourage vertical play, and progressing through different skill trees could enhance traversal even further.
Set on a vampire-filled island off the coast of Massachusetts, players will explore a massive open world, using various weapons, gadgets, and supernatural abilities to hunt vampires and human cultists. Arkane's games are known to provide players with a toolset and level design that encourage creativity, and Redfall looks to be no different. However, other immersive games have typically benefited from their small, yet intricate levels. With Redfall's open world, there are a few key ways Arkane can maintain that same level of creativity and complexity as players explore the world.
If Redfall can encourage freedom, exploration, and different play styles, then the environments themselves don't necessarily need to be all that complex. As long as there are enough ways to traverse the world and approach enemy encounters, then players just need to be rewarded for their exploration. One common mistake of open world games is having a large world, but no incentive to explore. In Prey's Talos 1, players are rewarded for discovering hidden pathways or completing puzzles that open secret areas, so Redfall needs to deliver in this aspect as well.
Arkane has made it clear that Redfall will not feature any vehicles, so although the world is large, it will be packed tightly with things to do. To start off, there will be a home base where players can accept side quests or story missions. Players can also choose to ignore quests entirely to simply explore the world, completing different activities and enemy encounters within it. While players can expect plenty of cannon-fodder enemies in the human cultists and various types of vampires, there have also been hints at Redfall's bosses, called vampire gods.
Vampire gods are Redfall's toughest enemies, and they appear to hold progress between chapters. These bosses can't just be bullet sponges; they should have different attacks, stages, and methods to take them down. Although Arkane has expressed Redfall can be equally enjoyed as a solo experience, there are four playable characters and the game offers four-player co-op. Each character offers unique skill trees and play styles that partner with different weapons, abilities, and traits. With this level of customization and the potential of different character builds working together, co-op could be a defining feature of Redfall and turn boss battles into a true test of teamwork.
The Xbox and Bethesda Developer Direct is scheduled for January 25, 2023, and has been hinted to include a fairly hefty deep dive into Redfall, along with a release date. Rumors have placed its release in May, as Starfield is expected to release after Redfall, but within the first half of 2023.
Redfall releases in 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.