Redfall feels like the most progressive and considerate person you know making a holocaust joke, for not only is it horribly offensive, but also profoundly out of character. Arkane are one of the finest triple A studios in history putting out some of the best games that I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing, as you have heard by now this is not one of them. A comment made by one Yahtzee Croshaw comically speculated that Redfall was "an act of passive aggression" by Arkane to the publishers, holding a tendency of a "resentful spouse" towards them in response to the demand for something so cynical, what makes this so funny is that, as Schreier unveiled in his exposé, this was entirely true. Nobody wanted to make this game, a quality very apparent well before we were properly informed outside the experience, which is why I pity Redfall rather than be disgusted by it. Yet again, an oafish publisher gets a studio with the skill set to make single player projects and rips them to shreds in the name of making something with broader appeal and easily monetised multiplayer, yet again, another sickened example of what industrialisation does to art. A moderately interesting plot drowned out by repetitive missions and poor presentation, an utterly meaningless loot system which serves only to remind us that still nobody has grasped why Destiny ever worked, and an endless tyranny from technical problems. I can not in good conscience give this a positive score even if I had fun with it for most of the time I spent. You read that right, there is fun to be had here, the shooting does feel good even if the AI prevents the combat from engaging much beyond a surface level, but that is really all Redfall can offer. Shallow fun, so tragically shallow. The first hour will be the last you see of any elements of emergent gameplay, expect none of the immersive sim philosophy which has defined Arkane games for so long, in its place stands only a hollow co-op looter plagued by crashes. My friend and I tried so hard to meet this game half way, but in the end we were left exhausted before even getting to the end. I pity Arkane, and I want to waste no more time regurgitating everything other people have already said. If only Prey (2017) sold better we wouldn't be here, but unfortunately, gamers are mostly stupid creatures who don't engage with experiences like that, and so games of that sophistication will never emerge from the triple A sector again! The agony of Redfall is just eating what we ordered.