Redfall's Environmental Storytelling Taps Into the Corruption of Safe Havens | IGN First

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So far, Arkane Studios' game playgrounds have been set in fantastical, odd futures or deteriorating steampunk cities. With Redfall, the team at Arkane Austin opted to take its immersive sim mechanics to something closer to a familiar but twisted reality. In an interview with Arkane Austin Art Director Karen Segars, IGN learned more about the inspirations for Redfall's scenic island town setting, design challenges and solutions for the co-op mechanics, and telling Redfall's story through its art.

Segars said their journey in designing Redfall began with a trip to New England that started in Bangor, Maine, and concluded a few days later in Boston, Massachusetts. It was October, making it the perfect time to collect close-ups of fall foliage and the general vibe of Redfall's Halloween setting. Redfall is not based on a particular location in New England but Segars said it's instead more of an amalgamation of locations including Camden, Bar Harbor, Old Orchard Beach, and Acadia National Park.

Segars said the district landmark locations were important considerations, not only aesthetically, but for Redfall's gameplay design. Redfall marks two major development milestones for Arkane: not only is it the studio's first major open-world game, but it's also its first optional co-op campaign.

"One of the challenges is helping the players know where they are. [We] wanted to have various points of interest around the map so that they can orient themselves from wherever they are." Segars said. "Also just setting up all of the level streaming and how everything streams around the player was a technical challenge we took on, right? Our tech team actually built our streaming system. We built our time of day system. Those were some of the