Redfall’s greatest failure wasn’t its rough launch, its empty open world, or its tacked-on loot/progression system – although those things certainly didn’t help – Redfall’s greatest failure was a failure of imagination. On a conceptual level, a mechanical level and a visual level, this is a game built piecemeal from borrowed materials, a hastily-assembled Jenga tower of tired FPS formulas poised to collapse at any moment. Contrary to what some reviewers have said, Redfall, even at launch, is a functional co-op shooter, but that’s all it is – functional. Its systems do not produce dynamic play, its characters do not produce dynamic drama, its location does not produce dynamic set pieces. It is the back-of-the-box bullet-list from a Far Cry game remodeled as The Next Arkane Experience; it’s the video game equivalent of Studio Ghibli making a sequel to Pixar’s Cars 3.

What makes it all so heartbreaking is that Redfall isn’t a terrible game; it’s a mess of systems failing to interact with one another. But outside of the loot system, every other design element has something there, something worth the effort. The combat, weapon design, enemy design and level design are vibrating with unfulfilled potential, begging to be expanded upon or placed in a different, better game. You can feel that while Redfall might lack imagination, it’s not because of a lack of talent on the developer’s part. Rather, you can viscerally feel the suppression of the developers’ talents and instincts, quest lines that, had the characters been granted the opportunity to grow and change in the way characters in Prey were able to grow and change, would’ve made an impact.

The good stuff is there, buried deep beneath the FPS market trends that dominate the game. Just look at the Redfall’s cast of playable characters and you’ll see what I mean. We’ve got three misses and one hit. In the misses category: a Call of Duty soldier with a knockoff R2-D2, a grimdark PMC sniper with a pet raven, a stereotypical engineer character – boring, boring, boring. But then, there’s Layla, the telekinetic wunderkind who can summon her vampiric ex-boyfriend in battle, and whose student loan woes simply do not stop, even during the vampire apocalypse.

You play as Layla and you think, ‘oh – here's what Redfall was supposed to be. There’s the Arkane magic.’ In another world, this whole game would’ve been Redfall: The Adventures of Layla. It would’ve been single-player, its narrative could unfold under the auspices of narrative structure rather than in fits and spurts following repeatable in-game junk missions, its world could’ve accommodated these things called ‘subtlety’ and ‘good pacing.’ And it would’ve kicked ass. Redfall isn’t that game, but like Layla, bits of that game shine through now and again.

The graphics were a notch above the classic Arkane style; I found them quite impressive. The daytime graphics felt like old-gen, while the nighttime graphics could be considered next-gen. The sound design was excellent, with satisfying ambient and weapon sounds. In terms of atmosphere, I believe it deserves awards. Although games like this usually come from Remedy, their work often feels somewhat amateurish. However, Arkane has taken the supernatural level design to new heights.

Regarding animations, the game felt a bit lacking, likely due to its arcade-style gameplay. The weapon animations were decent, and features like ‘no hand reload’ added an original touch. The weapons in the game are designed as modified versions of real-life guns, similar to what we saw in ‘Far Cry New Dawn,’ but there could have been more variety.

The storytelling relies on environmental cues, a style I’m not a huge fan of. However, the game’s design shines when bosses appear due to actions taken in the open world. It increases the gameplay tension. The enemies in the game become overwhelming when they notice the player, forcing you to either flee or fight to survive. While it starts casually, the game becomes more challenging toward the end of the first map.

I genuinely liked the strategic vampire concept over mindless zombies. It keeps the game dynamic. Performance patches and content updates are essential for the game, especially when playing co-op. I recommend experiencing the game firsthand rather than relying solely on reviews to fully appreciate this kind of experience