Redfall Final Review

mmorpg.com:

After more than 20 hours with Arkane Austin's latest Redfall, I came away incredibly frustrated and disappointed. From its earliest moments, Redfall fell flat with me. From the uninspired world building to the lackluster gunplay and brain-dead enemies, almost every aspect of Redfall was a miss. 

Redfall is Arkane Austin's latest, and while it doesn't really fit neatly into one genre or the other, it really seems to want to straddle the line between immersive sims and co-op looter shooter. Taking place in the eponymous Massachusetts town, Redfall is swarming with Vampires and cultists after an experiment gone wrong literally sees the rich feed on the poor. It's a premise that feels at home in an eerie New England setting, and while initially I found the town charming, over time its cracks started to show.

Redfall's opening sets an impressive stage, despite the slideshow placeholder cutscenes, with the player waking up on a ferry that was meant to escape the new domain of the Vampire Gods. Walking off the boat and seeing the ocean parted around me in an impenetrable wall was a cool first impression, but it didn't do much from there to continue that early momentum. 

As I mentioned in my review in progress last week, I really liked the coastal Massachusetts setting, but that Salem/Blair Witch vibe doesn't hold up once I realized just how empty and bland the two settings were. From empty houses that didn't really look like much care went into creating a realistic living environment to indoor settings that felt too small for the close quarters combat Redfall was trying to sell within those walls, the town makes me wonder why anyone stayed there — human and Vampire included.

Taking the role of one of four characters, Redfall sets