Redfall review: a great setting let down by boring FPS mechanics

Stephen King’s Salem’s LotThe book begins with chapters that describe the cast and town of Maine. King takes a long time to describe the culture and history of his town before it is clear that the vampire will be moving in. It’s an approach taken in plenty of monster stories: Give the audience a reason to care about a bunch of people before they’re preyed upon by bloodsucking ghouls.

RedfallArkane’s latest, which reverses the setup and introduces the player to the fictional Massachusetts Island after the vampires have already drained the life out of it, is a game that struggles to keep players interested in the fate of its fallen town. The result — roughly halfway through the story (our impressions are based on about 10 hours in a solo excursion) — is a game that struggles to warrant interest in the fate of its fallen town, and one that has a hard time finding fresh blood in overly familiar trends in the apocalypse genre.

In the role of one of four characters – each with a supernaturally themed backstory and special ability – the player must investigate the cause of the vampire infestation, save a group fellow humans, and escape the island. The beginning isn’t very inspiring stuff. Redfall kicks off with the player establishing a safe base of operations — in this case, at a fire station — and helping a group of survivors settle into their new home. There’s a stern priest, a gentle doctor, and a grease-stained gun vendor, each with their own storefronts, and an attendant flock of other shallow NPCs. No member of this cast is particularly memorable, and it’s hard to drum up interest in their fates, mortal or not.

Image: Arkane Austin/Bethesda Softworks

Redfall as a town makes an impression. The town is characterized by a colonial-style downtown, with a museum and lighthouse, which mark its past as a whaler’s center. The town is situated under a canopy of orange, yellow, and red leaves, with many storefronts decorated in pumpkins.

These locations, along with others— a dried-out, fish-strewn lake bed or a shadowy, abandoned hospital, to name a couple more — create a stylish sense of menace enhanced by splashes of bold red ’80s paperback font across menus and area names. Arkane’s studio is well known for the elaborate setting it uses to create an immersive experience. These interiors, too, are full of everyday items, including scraps of writing and discarded paper. These details inform the nature of the characters who once lived there, hinting at the dark secrets underlying the vampires’ takeover.

It’s a relief when the shooting-gallery targets reveal that they are not the vicious human cultists or ruthless military agents, as the game portrays them, but the numb, brainless enemies. The first round of gunfire causes a well-trained soldier to run headlong towards the cinema, waiting for the rifle shots to strike him. In order to launch a demon attack, the creature of night will float in a line straight at the player. It then uses teleportation to get away from bullets and return for another attempt. While the enemies occasionally demonstrate a bit more creativity — vampires sometimes zigzag around the screen to dodge gunshots, and some humans set up automated gun turrets — they’re largely brain-dead, presenting a real threat only when they swarm the player and obscure one’s vision.

Image: Arkane Austin/Bethesda Softworks

It’s worth noting that the aiming is floaty enough on Xbox Series X that the best battlefield tactic is usually to strafe from side to side with a shotgun, blasting at cultists and vampires when they maneuver their way into the crosshairs. Switching to Windows PC helped with this sluggish movement — and the camera’s general choppiness — but the gunplay is still unexceptional. It’s a big problem given the amount of shooting required to get through. Redfall’s masses of cultists, soldiers, and vampires in any given mission.

Layla Ellison’s ability to telekinesis is a unique twist on the usual shooter. But her suite of special powers doesn’t do much to mix up combat that’s largely dependent on mowing down waves of goons with whatever gun has the highest damage number listed in its description. Layla’s powers include a large purple psychic shield that can be used as a weapon, or she can call on her ex-boyfriend vampire to attack enemies from the air. The gunfights are dull and boring despite Layla’s abilities to use a retro-style elevator to shoot her up in the air or to send other players into it.

Story that is fleshed out Redfall’A great sense of location could be enough to overcome the game’s lackluster battles. So far, the story hasn’t provided much impetus to press forward through mission after mission of decent exploration and drab gunplay. The incidental writing — found in places like old notes or flashback scenes captured in spectral dioramas — is evocative enough to color in the broad strokes of the plot with an eeriness and human drama it otherwise lacks.

If this tone takes center stage in the back half of the story, combined with plot developments that add some momentum to the proceedings, it may be easier to overlook the game’s weaker aspects and appreciate it as a compelling narrative work. The town of Redfall has been drained of its lifeliness, and players are not interested in the outcome of this story.

Redfall The game will be available on May 2, both for Windows PCs and Xbox Series X. Bethesda Softworks provided a code for a prerelease download to review the game on Xbox One and PC. Vox Media is affiliated with other companies. Vox Media can earn affiliate commissions, but this does not affect editorial content. This is where you can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.