On May 2nd, Redfall was released to a woefully negative reception, with the launch being irrevocably tainted by a plethora of bugs, issues, and shortfalls that certainly weren’t becoming of the studio that built the game in the first place.
Sadly, the vampire-slaying epic that players had eagerly awaited for almost two years turned out to be a pale, lifeless product, and it quickly became Arkane Studios’ worst-rated game ever.
Source: Redfall
Following a few days of cacophonic uproar across social media platforms the world over, Redfall has firmly established itself as a failed title in the eyes of the masses. It may have had some bad press in the weeks leading up to the ill-fated launch date, but it’s what was uncovered from the moment the game went live that shocked players the most.
And what’s the worst takeaway from all this? Redfall, which seems to have been released a year too early, likely has no future whatsoever, based on this chaotic launch.
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How Far The Mighty Have Fallen
Arkane isn’t a poor developer by any means. In fact, the firm’s track record is remarkably strong.
From the Dishonored franchise to Deathloop, and from the Prey reboot to a one-off Wolfenstein title; Arkane’s offerings have been more or less strong and well-delivered across the board.
It’s heartbreaking to realise that Redfall has dashed the hopes of fans on a global scale, and it has already left a mark against Arkane’s record – and against Xbox’s brand in general. Unfortunately, that mark cannot be scrubbed clean by a few technical updates, and it’s so severe that it may have dashed Redfall’s hopes for any kind of future.
It’s not impossible to come back, of course. Let’s take two examples: Cyberpunk 2077 and No Man’s Sky. Both of these titles were hyped to the heavens and ultimately delivered in such a terrible state that players immediately lost faith in the projects. But, through sheer determination and great effort, they were both turned on their heels to become fantastic titles in their own right.
Source: Arkane
Is that going to be the case with Arkane’s Redfall?
It doesn’t seem like it, as Cyberpunk 2077 and No Man’s Sky were both bursting at the seams with potential. Redfall, on the other hand, has such poor world-building that it doesn’t seem worth expanding on the story that exists. There were references made before the game’s launch to future content being delivered, including more playable characters, but even that notion seems relatively pointless now.
There’s just no depth to it, no need for continuation, and owing to the monumental array of bugs and performance issues on display in Redfall, players simply don’t want to give it the time of day. It has shaken the faith of players long since loyal to the Xbox brand, with some even calling for a new CEO to be put in place to lead the company.
The CEO agrees
In an interview for the Kinda Funny Podcast, Xbox’s CEO, Phil Spencer, was brutally transparent about the Redfall project, stating that it essentially ghosted its way through Xbox’s internal review system. He explained:
“We do mock reviews for every game that we launch, and this is double digits lower than we thought we would be with this game through our mock reviews.”
It was ultimately greenlit by Xbox executives, and that’s the problem. In 2022, Redfall was slapped with a lengthy delay, with Bethesda explaining that they wanted ‘to ensure that you receive the best, most polished versions of them.’ By ‘them’, the team was talking about Starfield, which was also postponed at the time.
And by way of response to that statement, Phil Spencer gave his own two cents:
“Delivering quality and consistency is expected, we will continue to work to better meet those expectations.”
Several months later, Redfall was released, and it’s so poorly constructed and so riddled with issues that it has become a laughing stock – a new low for Xbox and for Arkane.
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Stake Through The Heart
It isn’t known at this point if any extra content was planned for Redfall, but honestly, it seems as though push came to shove and Arkane was forced to release the game early. There are new playable characters, as we’ve highlighted, but if there were going to be any story expansions or new modes, we cannot see how Arkane can invest any time or effort into making them without a serious turnaround of opinions towards Redfall.
With its open-world environment, factions, and hero-like characters, Redfall could have ultimately come to feature a battle royale or competitive multiplayer platform. It could have even fostered an ‘extraction shooter’ side mode, as popular as that genre is becoming. It’s not a huge map, so an expansion certainly could have dropped that broadened the map, pushing into the surrounding areas of Redfall.
Unfortunately, the shambolic launch has rammed a stake firmly through the heart of those hopes, as rapidly dwindling player numbers and a lack of interest or faith in the project means that future content is already marred.
Redfall will now likely fall to the sidelines, a one-and-done title that Arkane will probably want to rid itself of as quickly as possible, perhaps moving on to bigger and brighter things. There’s a chance that this could serve as a dissuasion piece towards future releases from the firm – another Dishonored title, for example.
It’s a sad truth, but gamers don’t forget a terrible launch, especially when they’ve been looking forward to something for so long.
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