As much as I want Arkane Studios to come back with the Dishonored series, this talented developer constantly shows that maybe it’s better to explore new projects. Prey and Deathloop back up this theory with great success, and the studio’s next test, Redfall, looks promising as well.
I recently sat down with Arkane Austin studio director Harvey Smith and co-creative director, Ricardo Bare, to find out what players can expect from this vampire-slaying experience.
“We were facing a huge creative challenge,” says Smith. “We wanted to stay true to Arkane’s core creative values while engaging in an open world game. It will still have the rich narrative design that goes with every square inch as we do. ”
The strong narrative focus was evident in the first image I saw of Redfall, Massachusetts. The seabed around the island is drying up, with fishing boats strewn across the arid sands leading to colonial-style buildings. All give the illusion of a prosperous society. An eclipsed sun hovered over the city, the result of dark magic cast by vampires so that they could freely roam the streets and hunt the living.
Before investigating Redfall, you choose your character. Each has unique stories to tell and a different approach to killing vampires. Layla Ellison is a biomedical engineer who volunteered for an experiment and awakened to remote powers. Jacob Boyer is a former military sniper who loves to hunt from the dark. He can summon a spectral crow. Remi de la Rosa takes on the role of combat engineer and is never alone, thanks to her robotic friend Bribón. The strangest character is Devinder Crousley, an internet celebrity who has come to Redfall to prove vampires are real. He brought a Tesla-like weapon of his own design into battle.
These characters level up, gain new skills, and hunt for better weapons. As with all Arkane games, Redfall offers a single-player experience, but for the first time for Arkane, also supports four-player cooperative play. You and your friends can put all four characters into the same battle if that’s how you want to play.
“Imagine you and I pick Devinder characters, and we team up to play together,” says Bare. “By the time we started the 10 hour game, my Devinder might be different from yours. I spent my skill points on different things and dressed as a firefighter.”
Along with completing quests to continue the story, the player must take back the city from the vampires. Redfall consists of two large counties, each with multiple neighborhoods and a single player base.
Smith adds: “We deliberately chose community homes. “The first one is a firehouse.”
A special quest allows you to free up a community, making that area a little safer to navigate. Conquering territories also brings ramifications, but Smith and Bare won’t reveal what they are.
In various gameplay clips set throughout the city’s streets and buildings, I see the abilities of all four characters and how Redfall’s conflicts encourage different approaches, such as Sniper stealthily from rooftops or warn enemies to create a cluster for an electric blast. Vampires are not the kind of romance found in most novels but are instead a product of science. They float, quickly dashing your way or out of a hailstorm, and use their claws to slash at you. In one clip, I see a pink rifle tricked into connecting with a ghoul, sparks flying out of its body before exploding in a storm of fire and ash. In another, one cautiously calls out a “blood bag,” which is a vampire with giant, pulsating blood bags on his back. The sacks exploded, and the smell of blood immediately attracted a horde of vampires.
The visual design of the characters and environments is similar to Dishonored’s subtle but realistic cartoon aesthetic. The theme is dark, but the world is colorful, even at night. All characters can run, jump, sneak, and climb, but each character also has unique mobility powers. Layla can create an old fashioned lift to reach higher ground. She can also bring up a teammate. Devinder has a displacement power.
Arkane has a knack for highlighting genres and delivering creative experiences. Redfall’s run and shoot gameplay looks at first glance but quickly takes on a different vibe as the characters give us a taste of their wild abilities.
Redfall is no longer active in 2022. Arkane is currently aiming for the first half of next year. Despite the uncertainty of the date, Smith makes it look like the team is getting closer to the finish line. “Obviously we’re past our debut date,” he says with a laugh. “I don’t know what we can say on this, but we’re moving towards content locking. And then it’s just months and months of polishing. “
