Arkane Studios has made a name for itself in recent years with the popular Dishonored series, among other notable titles, and has become one of the developers to watch in an incredibly competitive industry. Arkane's 2021 release Deathloop showed the developer's talent for creating unique games with stylish aesthetics, and the title received a slew of award nominations and wins. After Deathloop, players were looking forward to seeing what the studio was working on next, so Redfall's announcement was met with much excitement.
Redfall may have some similarities to Arkane's previous games, but it's also a brand-new IP that has its very own take on one of the most popular fictional creatures to ever exist – vampires. The upcoming FPS will let players choose between four different playable characters as they work to rid the titular island town of Redfall of its vampiric menace after a scientific experiment goes awry. Anticipation is high for Redfall, but the game has to be careful after the release of the similarly eagerly-awaited game Saints Row was plagued with problems. However, there are definitely some lessons that Arkane can learn from Volition's ill-fated title.
Saints Row's Woes
The Saints Row franchise has had its ups and downs, but it remains a popular series among fans. Things slowed down a bit for the series in recent years, but the announcement that a reboot was in the works was the injection of life that the franchise needed. Saints Row fans were excited to see where Volition and Deep Silver would take the next installment, and the promise of a new setting, new characters, and all the current-gen goodness that could be thrown at the game led many to believe that it could be the best entry yet.
With plenty of marketing, exposure, and other hype-building tactics used before Saints Row's release, it was fair to say that anticipation was building month on month for the title. The customization options shown in the Boss Factory Demo took players' breaths away and pointed at a highly creative and unique gameplay experience. However, after Saints Row was delayed from its original February release to August, fans started to get a little worried. It turns out their anxiety was justified, at least in part. Instead of launching in a polished and finished state, Saints Row's release was mired by bugs and technical issues that truly soured the release and annoyed fans.
The Pitfalls Facing Redfall
Although it might not have been released just yet, Redfall is in a similar position to Saints Row. It's also an eagerly anticipated game where players are excited to get to grips with a new world in an action-packed story. Like Saints Row, Redfall has faced its own delays, with the intermittent release of new details and silence from the studio while fans wait for the game to launch. Both titles are ambitious games, and players have already seen Saints Row stumble and fall under the pressure of delivering on the hype its pre-release tactics have garnered.
Redfall has been featured at a number of industry events now, and before it was delayed it was considered to be one of the most anticipated titles of 2022. Now it's been pushed back into next year, and fans are already worried that this is a sign the game isn't going to be done in time. There's always a lot of pressure on game releases, and more and more players are seeing titles launch that are far from finished. Games only get one chance at a launch, and if they ship in an incomplete or buggy state, they risk squandering all the carefully generate excitement and player goodwill they've built up.
Saints Row was hugely anticipated, but thanks to its less-than-ideal release it's basically dropped off the map already, and it at least had a series to help prop it up and establish a bit of a legacy. Redfall is a new IP without any previous entries or existing fans to rely on, so its position is even more precarious. It needs to nail its launch and make sure it comes out with a bang, or risk being forgotten in the ever-changing video game landscape.
Redfall will launch in 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.