While involved fans have readily made connections between Arkane Studios’ upcoming Redfall and the Left 4 Dead games, the developers have meanwhile revealed another game series has been a larger influence. The Far Cry games are said to be Redfall’s closest comparison, particularly Far Cry 2. With this inspiration in mind, Redfall would be wise to learn from some of the many outstanding villains throughout the Far Cry games.
In the vast majority of Far Cry games, the villains are as vital to the story as the protagonist characters. Both the setting and known enemy variants of Redfall are already shaping up to be fairly reminiscent of some of the Far Cry villains, though it could make Redfall that much richer to capitalize on some of these connections. While Redfall’s comparisons to Left 4 Dead are generally aimed towards highlighting gunplay and team-shooter shared elements, citing the Far Cry series circa 2023 comes with a set of standards for the related protagonists and story implications.
The Jackal
While it may have been speaking more to the gameplay and flow of activities, Arkane compares Redfall to Far Cry 2 above any other game from the series. Far Cry 2’s Jackal villain is known for being a nemesis turned into an ally throughout the course of the story’s events. Although this type of alliance doesn’t seem likely between vampires and vampire-hunters en masse, it does plant the seed for a potential converted vampire playable character in Redfall, somewhere down the road. On the other hand, an alliance between humans and vampires already exists via the Human Cultists who serve the vampires as one of the lesser enemy types in Redfall. The foundations of the alliance between vampires and Human Cultists could ultimately be a vital moment to include in Redfall's story.
Vaas Montenegro
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With how some of the different vampire types in Redfall can have some pretty epic visual effects and offensive abilities, the connection to one of Far Cry 3’s key villains, Vaas Montenegro, is already looking strong. A Redfall developer has even referred to some of the environments as “psychic spaces” in a recent trailer, along with showcasing some of the visual similarities firsthand. What made Vaas such a memorable and crazy boss fight was that the encounter was more like a chaotic hallucination than a run-of-the-mill shootout. Given Arkane’s history of over-the-top magic and what’s been shown so far for Redfall, the bosses are shaping up to be much more than spooky bullet sponges.
Pagan Min
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Arkane Studios has already mentioned including its signature twist on vampires, rather than relying on traditional lore. This twist could have a variety of implications that blur the stereotypical lines between good and evil. Far Cry 4’s Pagan Min is a fair example of how the main villain of a game can sometimes be a necessary evil to a story and world. Pagan Min is generally considered to be a character who makes the best of a bad situation, as opposed to the would-be rebel leaders of Kyrat, Amita and Sabal. Making Redfall’s vampires into multi-faceted characters rather than unconditional villains could be Redfall’s way of implementing a twist in the story on par with the Arkane games before Redfall, like the subplots behind some of the beloved characters from the Dishonored series, Prey, and Deathloop.
Joseph Seed
Redfall can also take from the American cult following of Far Cry 5’s Joseph Seed. From what the trailers have shown so far, this is another connection that is already looking very strong due to the North American setting and the Human Cultist enemy type. Since Redfall’s open world is based on a modern location from the real world, it could very well feature some satirical and/or macabre inspirations from various cults throughout North America’s history, such as the false prophet story that Joseph Seed realizes.
Redfall launches May 2, 2023, for PC and Xbox Series X/S.