Redfall is out in the wild, and is the latest game from Arkane Studios - responsible for games like Deathloop, Prey, and Dishonored.
Redfall sees you team up with friends (or going it alone) to clear out a vampire infestation from the titular town of Redfall, Massachusetts. You'll build an arsenal of wild vampire hunting weapons, gain control over some spectacular supernatural powers, and then work to shoot and stab your way through a world populated by vampires and cultists.
Release Date
The Redfall release date was May 2, 2023.
Redfall was originally supposed to release in Summer 2022, although a delay pushed the game into the new year as co-creative director Harvey Smith said that "the team needs more time to bring the game to life."
Platforms
Redfall is available on Xbox Series X and PC, via Steam and the Epic Games Store. It's worth noting that Redfall is not free to play, but was added to the Game Pass list from day one. While Xbox One isn't listed as an official platform, Redfall is also be playable via Xbox Cloud Gaming, which allows owners of the last-gen system to access the game via the Azure Cloud streaming network, should your internet be high-speed enough to support it.
Install Size
The Redfall install sizes for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC are as follows:
- Redfall Xbox Series X install size: 77.3 GB
- Redfall Xbox Series S install size: 40.3 GB
- Redfall PC install size: 94.3 GB
Multiplayer
Is Redfall multiplayer? The answer is yes, with support for up to four players enjoying the game in co-op.
Redfall also has crossplay support across all platforms (Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and
PC). While you enjoy the co-op shooter as a single-player experience, if you want to team up with your friends you'll be able to do so without restriction. Redfall crossplay will work regardless of whether you and your buddies are playing on Xbox, PC, or Epic Games Store.
Performance
Redfall won't run at 60fps on Xbox Series X at launch. The studio says that "Redfall is launching on Xbox consoles with Quality mode only", which means that Xbox Series X players will be able to run the game at 4K, 30 frames-per second; Xbox Series S players will be able to play Redfall at 1440p at 30fps. Arkane says that "60 FPS Performance mode will be added via game update at a later date."
Setting
The Redfall setting takes us to Massachusetts
Arkane has picked the fictional island of Redfall as the setting of its latest game, a small picturesque town off the coast of Massachusetts. While Redfall isn't the first open world game created by Arkane, it is its biggest. "I think the Talos I station in Prey was five football fields, and the size of Redfall is kinda 'hold my beer,'" said art director Karen Segars. "We definitely challenged the whole team with making something this big."
Characters and Vampires
Redfall vampires and cultists
Redfall's primary enemies are vampires, and not the sort of glitzy blood-suckers that you traditionally see in the movies. Arkane studio head Harvey Smith says that the Redfall vampires "are not some aspirational fantasy" but "predatory monsters who feed on the vulnerable to make themselves more powerful." That scale of power is something you'll have to contend with all throughout Redfall, with the vampiric food chain creating a scale between cannon-fodder minions to highly-specialized enemies who can wield powerful abilities.
Vampires aren't the only threat you'll need to contend with while exploring The Island. Arkane says that Redfall's vampires were created by science, as part of a longevity experiment that went horribly wrong. As a result, the vampires have a particular outlook on life and understanding of human nature. That's something they put to good use, manipulating many of Redfall's citizens into becoming subservient cultists who patrol areas of the island and hunt down any survivors who haven't yet gotten on board with the whole 'let's block out the sun' program.
Redfall characters explained
Redfall features four playable characters: A college student, a cryptozoologist, a combat engineer, and a mercenary. Each hero comes equipped with their own character-specific abilities, which you'll be able to deploy alone or in co-op as you begin to clean a town infested with vampires.
Devinder Crousley – "The verified cryptid hunter"
Dev is a cryptozoologist, aspiring inventor, and an internet influencer who gets stranded in Redfall while on a book tour. His experience as a cryptid-hunter allows him to craft intuitive anti-vampire weaponry, which present new offensive capabilities and utility support for others in co-op.
Layla Ellison – "The telekinetic threat in student debt"
Layla Ellison is a biomedical engineering student, enrolled at Redfall Technical University. After struggling with student debt, Ellison volunteered for a medical trial at Aevum Therapeutics. After the trial goes horribly wrong, Ellison ends up with a suite of superpowers that can be used for offense, defense, and to help her new friends experiment with verticality.
Jacob Boyer – "The deadeye with an undead eye"
Jacob Boyer was once a part of a covert Special Forces unit in the US military, before joining up with a PMC called Bellweather. Boyer was assigned a mysterious contract on Redfall island, one which called for his expertise as a marksman. Once there, however, he ultimately gained a vampiric eye and can now command a psychic, spectral raven.
Remi De La Rosa – "The Ingenious Ingeniera"
Remi De La Rosa is a member of the Coast Guard and a robotics engineer, who built a robot cohort, Bribón, to function as a decoy, cover, and attack drone to aid her on the frontlines of disaster response. De La Rosa was sent to Redfall to train the local Coast Guard contingent in search-and-rescue techniques, only to be stranded fighting vampires with Bribón.
Gameplay
You may well start looking for a few hints and tips while you're playing Redfall, as some of the elements are a little more obtuse and unexplained than others. Here are our top tips for problem-solving in Redfall.
