Redfall Review: Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Speedrunning Tips

Redfall from developer Arkane Austin always looked like one of the year's more unique, promising releases.

The teams behind Prey and Dishonored expanding some of those elements, especially from the latter, into an open-world co-op first-person shooter with the same narrative attention to detail screamed hit from the moment it was announced back in 2021.

Joining up to three other players in a mad attempt at surviving a town held hostage by vampires and dipping heavily into the supernatural as much as gunplay, the more players learned about Redfall, the better.

But like with any hyped release, Redfall's sustained success will hinge on execution and whether it gives players enough reason to keep coming back in a saturated market where being unique only goes so far.

Graphics and Gameplay

The town of Redfall, Massachusetts, is certainly one of the more atmospheric environments on the market today. It's got that style, attitude and look of Dishonored and the sheer density of that series' city of Dunwall in a way that makes exploration absolutely captivating.

As expected it follows the Arkane style, going for that almost cartoony look to character proportions and details throughout detailed places. It's colorful, expressive and varied in a way that makes it memorable on the same scale as Dunwall.

It flexes as if it knows all this, too, via smooth presentation. The game starts with a banger of a setpiece on the shore and absolutely nails its step out moment. Creative little cutscenes that have hand-drawn energy greet the player after accomplishments and flesh out the world.

Perhaps the best outright strength of the game is the sound design, with characters voice-acted brilliantly and the background music both fitting and very good at ratcheting up the tension in the right moments.

By far the most interesting mechanic of actually exploring the beautiful world are nests, which spawn randomly on the map and bloom in size until tackled by players. Most missions within the world are expertly designed too, with players having multiple points of entry and options in order to attack it.

But that's getting ahead of things—just searching high and low for collectibles that do heavy world-building and listening to conversations from friendlies or banter between enemies is a guilty pleasure. Areas are impressively dense and packed with things to uncover, which makes for a high mark of the experience.

Players will encounter Bellwether security forces and, of course, vampires out in the town. The latter are former experiments bestowed things like psychic abilities and quite a bit more.

Some, like the aptly-named Siphon, drain a player's health from range. Shrouds reduce the player's vision. A bloodbag erupts when killed, damaging the player.

Overcoming special vampires angers their gods, inciting a Rook storm that summons a Rook, a super-strong boss that is tough to take down but oh-so-worth-it based on the rewards it drops.

Those vampires also have followers, misguided human enemies who make up the fodder who act as unfortunate punching bags for the player's vast array of skills and weapons.

Tops here is the aptly-named Stake Launcher, which players use to harpoon sharp objects through hearts. The UV Beam and Flare Gun can stun enemies too, while a battery of normal firearms, of which players can carry three at a time, also make the cut as part of the arsenal. What's nice there is characters aren't limited to specific weapons. Also nice is most every weapon has a stake attached to it, for obvious vampire-finishing reasons.

While exploring Redfall and getting into scraps, players can also utilize environmental hazards, an important thing considering ammo is notably scarce in spots. Time passes throughout, with enemies becoming stronger at night, in what feels like a mandatory feature for this type of game.

Players will pick one of four characters, each with unique skills and roles. For example, Devinder has an electrical staff, teleport ability and an ult that creates an area of effect attack. Layla can block projectiles for teammates and throw them up to high ground.

This means interesting combinations for varied situations. Jacob, for example, can use an invisibility cloak to help his teammates past enemies, or combine it with Devinder's teleport.

The problem for Redfall is that while it all sounds great, an array of glitches, visual or otherwise, harm the initial launch experience. Even visually, engaging with the world results in some weird things, like the strange climbing, especially on ladders.

Enemy A.I. is lackluster too, as most have a hard time detecting stealth and many sort of just line up to participate in a firing squad. Speaking of stealth, while it was a huge, fun part of the Dishonored series, there doesn't appear to be a dedicated stealth takedown mechanic in the game.

Gunplay, at least, feels fine, if not a little too sticky and generous at times. Some weapons could use a bigger punch, but it's not a deal-breaker. But the combat can be a struggle when groups of vampires get together, as an inability to quickly get over and stake one while it's down means it comes back for more. This is probably why death in Redfall is only a simple matter of lost funds and the damage a player inflicted remains when they come back.

Story and More

Redfall's theme of working with the survivors within the community is one of the game's most gripping points. Players who free certain areas, for example, will see little scenes of community members rebuilding a base or something similar, producing meaningful change through player effort.

It's seriously endearing to help the innocents while being one of only four people who have strange powers and items capable of fighting back. Part of it is the stunning presentation of those scenes, though some of it is just the fact it comes across as heartfelt and genuine.

The story itself isn't anything to write home about. Island town isolated by a horde of vampires, go out and take it back, pretty much right out of a checklist. Same vibes for the four playable characters. Jacob's early in-game-explained motivation for actually helping people is, well, he doesn't really say.

Devinder, only in town to promote his latest book, is happy for the behind-the-scenes exclusives. Layla is a former student-turned-something more. Remi is a support character with a smooth hand for the robotic, while Jacob is a former special ops soldier who had been captured in Redfall and given strange powers.

But this is where Redfall encounters some identity problems.

Some of the weight and pacing of the story gets lost when a third or fourth player joins the fray. That's not necessarily a bad thing—hectic chaos amid some of the wild possibilities is always fun in its own right. But there's a very narrative-based Dishonored vibe and the world is packed with stuff to find and listen to—but good luck finding a party of four to play at that pace.

Character abilities suffer the same issue. Jacob's Raven that he can send out to effectively give the player wall-hacks on enemies would be awesome solo. With two or more players, though, not so much.

The game uses skill trees for progression in an expected way that doesn't feel too grindy. But there doesn't appear to be a way to respec a character to try different builds, which is a major drawback. Some of the skills on rather big trees are just mundane things like the ability to carry more ammo.

As a shooter/looter, Redfall has the expected rarity system to weapons and endless smaller items to collect and give to the innocent citizens of the town. A nice twist, though, is pickups being transformed into food or money instantly.

Players will also encounter side missions to address for meaningful awards, though these aren't as narratively tight as the main story. There are also Grave Locks to uncover, which are hidden items that add context to the world in meaningful ways.

One fun note about multiplayer—Trust Score. This gives players a reason to be good teammates so they can hear unique character chatter and buffs such as downed time, revive time and more. It's a nice way to encourage friendly play and the bonuses for just being a nice LFG'er certainly seem worth it.

One bad note about multiplayer, at least for some segment of players—it only records progress for the host. So friends linking up to play the story together will see only the host actually progress their save file. Gear and experience say, mission completion progress does not.

And about those Nests—entering an alternate reality to fight through procedurally generated challenges with interesting environmental shifts and modifiers is a blast, especially when the loot is so good at the end.

Redfall does seem to run well most of the time, though the fact it checks in at 30 frames per second (FPS) at launch on consoles is a little underwhelming.

Tucked into the game's extensive menus and alongside a broad range of accessibility options is the Archive menu. It's a real treat to the story-based player, as it houses key information, such as the ability to review tutorials.

Player agency is a theme throughout the menus, with the game launching with four difficulties called Daylight, Dusk, Midnight and Eclipse (easy, standard, hard, extra hard, respectively).

Given the identity clashes found throughout, it's tough to say Redfall will have serious legs. It's fun to pick up and play, but limited characters, meh-worthy character skill trees and what feels like it wants to be a story-based game, blended with a hero-based shooter almost slammed into a live-service game makes it a bizarre overall experience, albeit one players have been through plenty of times.

Speedrunning Tips

Run-and-gun is going to be the name of the game for Redfall speedruns, likely even on the harder difficulties.

Jacob might be the best pick for solo runs, given his ability to have wallhacks and a supernatural sniper rifle that makes planning out and executing routes from afar a possibility. Picking the healer seems like a very unappealing idea for a solo run, speedrunning or not.

Either way, players will want to keep eyes out for safehouses and discoverable historical markers, which are fast travel points.

Leaning hard into that in order to get around as a key part of the route is a must, as are the standard tips like skip scenes and dialogue. Skill should trump most battle encounters regardless of weapon grind, so many of the side items while attempting a run should qualify as skippable.

Conclusion

On paper, Redfall is a near-perfect idea—take the immersive worldbuilding and epic array of singleplayer abilities found in Dishonored's vast sandboxes and expand upon those in an open-world with friends.

Unfortunately, Redfall's best moments are few and far between due to a serious identity crisis. It doesn't help that Dishonored and even Deathloop fans will see remnants of what could have been another classic sandbox-type singleplayer game throughout lost in what feels like a checklist-completing looter-shooter/live-service package.

Even so, there is big fun to be had with friends in Redfall. It's always admirable when a new effort emerges in a sea of sequels and remakes. It's not bad, but it does feel a little premature and rudderless.