Character-Full: Why Your Choice of Redfall Hero Will Make All the Difference

Arkane is a studio that values player choice. Dishonored You have many options for how you approach your helpless targets Deathloop, created by Arkane Austin’s sister studio in Lyon, lets you tackle its story in a close-to-infinite number of ways. Prey offers you tools to uncover the mystery hidden at its core, but doesn’t stand in the way of you using them however you’d like. It stands to reason that Arkane Austin’s newest project, RedfallIt would follow the same code. The problem is that Way it’s approaching that player choice is strikingly new – your approach to taking back a vampire-strewn Massachusetts island will be defined as much by the character you choose to play, as it is your actual interactions.

Redfall’s cast of four playable heroes is the largest an Arkane game has offered. After playing through a 90-minute demo twice, using two different solo characters, it becomes abundantly clear what the team is aiming for here – Redfall is a game that opens up in very different directions based on who you play as – in mechanics, in combat, in exploration, and even in the way it tells its story.

My story mission was very simple. Get to a mansion on the edge of town, enter a scientist’s lab, and discover his connection to the vampire plague that’s seen you trapped on the island. It’s the harder part. I chose to make a beeline through the heart of Redfall, passing through Vampire Nests and violent cultist territory, and eventually into the mansion grounds – patrolled, as you’d expect, by a large number of enemies. You will find that your route is largely urbanized. This means there are tight streets, tall walls and little room to maneuver.

As I found out, each character is equipped with an array of upgradeable skills which make the experience so much more enjoyable. I played this same mission with two characters – Devinder Crousley and Remi de la Rosa – and found that the Way This choice had a profound impact on the playthrough. Here’s how those playthroughs went:

Remi: Playing with Remi

Remi is an elite Navy rescue team member. She’s the typical action star. Having spent her life on combat frontlines, she’s equipped to take on Redfall’s many monstrosities with brute force. But she’s also an engineer, and has brought along a robot buddy, Bribón to help her do so with more finesse than simply “stake anything that moves”.

As you might expect, Remi’s toolkit is designed to let her take down groups of enemies from close range (and she has passive upgrade that allow her to increase close range damage, pushing you further down that path), and to keep her alive while she does so. A sticky C4 charger, her most dangerous ability, can be used remotely to cause damage to multiple enemies, as well as set traps and guide other enemies into your path. To help you with the latter, Remi can also use Bribón (who is a separate AI character, with its own healthbar and attacks) to set off a siren, letting you alert multiple enemies and draw them to you.

Combining these two abilities became key to how I got through Redfall’s streets smoothly. After spotting enemies, I’d throw down a C4 charge and set off Bribón’s siren – a group would charge the robot, while I snuck around cover and flanked them. Having upgraded my siren ability to let me do more damage to enemies that had been attracted by it, I’d then finish off the group with a shotgun, using its attached stake to take down any vampires I put into a vulnerable state.

As a single character, Remi can be played with Redfall Enable you to experience an adrenaline-pumping adventure that requires you constantly balance risk with reward.

If things got too hairy, I could turn to Remi’s ultimate ability, Mobilize, creating a rally point that healed me while I was inside its radius. This was my classic tank role, taking a lot of damage, but also dealing more. Most vampires can’t be killed with bullets alone, so in battle with multiple monsters, I’d switch out my shotgun-and-stake for a weapon that fired a UV beam – useless against human enemies, but able to turn vampires to stone in short order, letting me shatter them with a simple melee attack.

Vampire nests are psychological spaces offering big rewards for undertaking their challenges. I also unlocked safehouses that provide safe harbor, fast travel points, extra missions, and additional reward opportunities. But attracting so much attention on the streets also increased the attention of the island’s Vampire Gods. As I approached the mansion, a lightning storm erupted around me, and saw the appearance of the Rook – a brutal, melee-focused mini-boss sent to kill me for doing so much damage along the way. It’s a lovely, emergent touch, and an extra trial designed to test you after you’ve begun to master combat.

With the experience I earned from taking down the Rook, I also upgraded my C4 charge to let me ‘boom jump’, taking no area of effect damage and eliminating fall damage, but I used this mainly as another means to get behind enemies while they were distracted – and once I entered the mansion grounds, I combined my abilities to clear out as many enemies as possible in its gardens because of how much aggression I could absorb, before entering its winding corridors with a stake launcher (able to one-shot most vampires) to take down any stragglers.

It’s easy to see how playing solo with Remi can be a challenge. Redfall It’s an exciting adventure that requires you to constantly balance risk with reward. Devinder, however, offered an entirely different feeling while still pursuing the same mission.

Devinder – Playing

Think of Devinder as, essentially, all four Ghostbusters rolled into one – he has the scientific expertise of Spengler, the wonder of Stantz, the cool demeanour of Zeddemore, and the wit of Venkman. A filmmaker and author with an audience interested in the paranormal, his kit revolves around inventions he’s created to find and document supernatural entities – but he’s now had to upgrade it to kill them off as well.

Devinder’s kit is Very different to Remi’s. The mid-range attack of his Arc Javelin acts as both a stake-and-area-of-effect attack. It sends electricity out to incapacitate enemy (and even kill vampires). His ultimate, Blacklight, is a super-powered UV beam weapon, which can transform an entire area of vampires into stone near-instantly – very useful for getting out of a tight spot.

And this is the interesting thing about playing as Devinder – the final piece of his toolset is as much about avoiding attention as it is dealing with it. Translocator Redfall’s closest analogue to Dishonored’s Blink, a throwable device that lets you instantly transport to where it lands. So instead of jumping into action on streets, I spent the majority of my trip getting up onto rooftops and quietly taking out Watchers (Vampire forms that act as roving security cameras), while sneaking past bigger groups.

Devinder can be described as essentially all the Ghostbusters combined into one.

Like with Remi, I took out a Vampire Nest on my way – but instead of running in guns blazing, I carefully scaled a church roof, entering a belltower and creeping into the encounter instead of taking down the guards around it. And without attracting so much ire, I also didn’t have to take on the Rook, who would have been a sterner challenge with a set of weapons built more for long-range combat.

Devinder was able to make the most of even more well-maintained mansion grounds. My translocator allowed me to enter the back yard instead of the front doors. This avoided the deadly Blood Mist areas that Remi had to go through. I felt as though I was playing a completely different game, made by different developers with different ideas about how to challenge me, and adding another layer of puzzles on top of the meaty gunplay.

But perhaps my favorite part of playing with Devinder wasn’t mechanical at all – it was how he told the story along the way. As a para-scientist, Devinder’s interactions with all of this weren’t defined by anger, fear, or triumph as much as they were by fascination. Every new type of vampire I met was greeted by Devinder talking about their physiology or behavior, ending with him giving them a name – a Watcher, a Shroud, and so on (clearly, Devinder is the member of the group creating the vampire taxonomy that the rest of the team use). It’s a lovely choice, making playing with Devinder as much of a documentary about the vampire plague as it is an action story.

Mixing It Up

Layla, Jacob and the other characters would certainly have improved this experience. And this is just in solo play – every character also comes with abilities designed for co-op play (which also increases the number of enemies you need to fight as you go). Remi can upgrade Bribón to heal the whole team is they stay close by, while Devinder can up allies’ damage through ‘Color Commentary’. I’m just as fascinated to see how these disparate toolsets work when combined as I am to try them all solo.

Even at this early stage, this spin on Arkane’s traditional openness to player expression is intoxicating, enlivening both solo and co-op play. I’m very excited to try out those other characters and delve deeper into how Redfall We can experiment with the tools.

Redfall Bite Back edition

Bethesda Softworks

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

$99.99

Arkane Austin’s award-winning Arkane Austin team has created Redfall, an open-world single-player and co-op FPS. Continuing Arkane’s legacy of carefully crafted worlds and immersive sims, Redfall brings the studio’s signature gameplay to this story-driven action shooter.

For close-range combat, dig your teeth in the Bite Back Edition to receive the Redfall Hero Pass and Throwback Outfit Pack. Redfall Hero Pass grants you access to future heroes who have unique abilities and gameplay. For each of the four bases heroes, the Throwback Outfit Pack contains a backpack and unique outfit inspired by their lives prior to Redfall.

INCLUDES:
– Redfall Base Game
– Redfall Hero Pass with Two Future Heroes
– Laser Beam Multi-Weapon Skin
– Tactical Knife Stake Weapon Attachment
– Northern Expedition Devinder Outfit
– Eyes in the Dark Jacob Outfit
– War Clothes Layla Outfit
– Engineer Volunteer Remi Outfit

To receive your Vampire Hunter Pack (including:
– Level 2 Unrivaled Grim Tide Shotgun
– Polar Vortex Multi-Weapon Skin
– Blood Ravager Stake weapon attachment

FEATURES:

Redfall is your opportunity to uncover the truth
Redfall is an island community in Massachusetts under attack by a group of vampires. They have cut off the sunlight and blocked the view of the people. Explore the open world and immerse yourself in a deep story campaign as you unravel the mystery behind the vampires’ appearance. You will need to team up with some survivors in order to defeat the vampires that threaten the city.

You can either go it alone or team up
Redfall seamlessly blends multiplayer and single-player options. Redfall allows players to go into darkness solo or with a team of up to four others. Your team can experiment with different loadouts of heroes, and work together to solve the problem. Your character will be equipped with a variety of weaponry, customized to your preferences, and given unique abilities and upgrades that can make it more effective in stealth or guns-blazing combat.

Unconventional Heroes Vs. The Night
Created by science experiments gone wrong and gifted with psychic abilities, Redfall’s vampires will challenge you and your squad to get creative. You will choose from a team of diverse heroes – each with their own character-specific abilities – to overcome the vampire legion and their brood of maniacal followers.
– DEVINDER CROUSLEY – The Verified Cryptid Hunter: A cryptozoologist and aspiring inventor. Armed with weapons of his own creation, he’s on a mission to prove himself.
– LAYLA ELLISON – The Telekinetic Threat: A biomedical engineering student who volunteered for a medical trial where something went very wrong, leaving her with intense telekinetic abilities.
– REMI DE LA ROSA – The Ingenious Ingeniera: A brilliant combat engineer who has spent her life on the frontlines. With the help of her robot cohort, Bribón, she’s determined to help rescue Redfall’s survivors.
– JACOB BOYER – The Deadeye with an Undead Eye: An ex-military sharpshooter turned private contractor. Strange happenings on Redfall have left Jacob with a mysterious vampiric eye and a spectral raven that’s never far from his side.

Redfall: The Open World of Redfall
Redfall offers Arkane’s true Arkane experience in an open world. It blends both the ordinary and the familiar. Redfall’s open world is handcrafted by the master level designers behind Prey’s Talos I space station and Dishonored’s Dunwall. From the town’s once-bustling downtown and the haunted forest to the decimated seaside boardwalk and beyond, you will fight through cultist outposts and supernatural psychic spaces as you piece together Redfall’s many mysteries.

Redfall

Bethesda Softworks

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

$69.99

Arkane Austin has developed Redfall, an open world, co-op, single player FPS. This game is part of their award-winning Arkane Austin series, which also includes Dishonored and Prey. Continuing Arkane’s legacy of carefully crafted worlds and immersive sims, Redfall brings the studio’s signature gameplay to this story-driven action shooter.

To receive your Vampire Hunter Pack including:
– Level 2 Unrivaled Grim Tide Shotgun
– Polar Vortex Multi-Weapon Skin
– Blood Ravager Stake Weapon Attachment

To receive the Bite Back Edition, upgrade to:
– Redfall Base Game
– Redfall Hero Pass with Two Future Heroes
– Laser Beam Multi-Weapon Skin
– Tactical Knife Stake Weapon Attachment
– Throwback Outfit Pack (Unique Outfit for Each Hero)

FEATURES:

Redfall is your opportunity to uncover the truth
Redfall is an island community in Massachusetts under attack by a group of vampires. They have cut off the sunlight and blocked the view of the people. Explore the open world and immerse yourself in a deep story campaign as you unravel the mystery behind the vampires’ appearance. You will need to team up with some survivors in order to defeat the vampires that threaten the city.

You can either go it alone or team up
Redfall seamlessly blends multiplayer and single-player options. Redfall allows players to go into darkness solo or with a team of up to four others. Your team can experiment with different loadouts of heroes, and work together to solve the problem. Your character will be equipped with a variety of weaponry, customized to your preferences, and given unique abilities and upgrades that can make it more effective in stealth or guns-blazing combat.

Unconventional Heroes Vs. The Night
Created by science experiments gone wrong and gifted with psychic abilities, Redfall’s vampires will challenge you and your squad to get creative. You will choose from a team of diverse heroes – each with their own character-specific abilities – to overcome the vampire legion and their brood of maniacal followers.
– DEVINDER CROUSLEY – The Verified Cryptid Hunter: A cryptozoologist and aspiring inventor. Armed with weapons of his own creation, he’s on a mission to prove himself.
– LAYLA ELLISON – The Telekinetic Threat: A biomedical engineering student who volunteered for a medical trial where something went very wrong, leaving her with intense telekinetic abilities.
– REMI DE LA ROSA – The Ingenious Ingeniera: A brilliant combat engineer who has spent her life on the frontlines. With the help of her robot cohort, Bribón, she’s determined to help rescue Redfall’s survivors.
– JACOB BOYER – The Deadeye with an Undead Eye: An ex-military sharpshooter turned private contractor. Strange happenings on Redfall have left Jacob with a mysterious vampiric eye and a spectral raven that’s never far from his side.

Redfall: The Open World of Redfall
Redfall offers Arkane’s true Arkane experience in an open world. It blends both the ordinary and the familiar. Redfall’s open world is handcrafted by the master level designers behind Prey’s Talos I space station and Dishonored’s Dunwall. From the town’s once-bustling downtown and the haunted forest to the decimated seaside boardwalk and beyond, you will fight through cultist outposts and supernatural psychic spaces as you piece together Redfall’s many mysteries.