![]() ![]() ![]() In Dishonored - and, to a lesser extent, 2021’s Deathloop - assassins fought back against a fictional status quo through game design that prioritized clever thinking and subterfuge over brute force. Unfortunately, the signs of that inspiration don’t so much rise dramatically from the ground as wiggle a finger from the dirt.Ī healthy suspicion of authority runs throughout Arkane’s past work, from the perverse spectacle of feasts laid upon gilded tables in Dishonored, to Deathloop’s filthy slums ![]() Its roots in King’s novel, Arkane’s immersive sim philosophy, and vampire fiction in general are buried beneath layers of distraction, but they do exist. The game’s narrative is unevenly delivered, presented mostly through brief, stilted, pre-mission cutscenes and bits of in-universe text that can be easily missed while chatting with a co-op partner or avoiding a cultist’s gunfire. In Redfall, players work to take back an island overrun by vampires, driving bullets and stakes through the hearts of bloodthirsty monsters and their human worshipers while trying to uncover how they rose to power in the first place. It’s a storied lineage to live up to - one whose heights Redfall consistently fails to reach. It’s also the most recent game to come from Arkane Studios, a developer whose portfolio includes the Dishonored series, Prey, and Deathloop. With the discussion having moved on, Redfall is rapidly losing players.Redfall stands in the towering, Count Orlok-shaped shadow of more than a century of popular vampire fiction - especially, because of its small-town setting, Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot and the heavily King-indebted TV series, Midnight Mass. It is also possible that the discussion and outrage around the game encouraged more users to try the title. Players can try the game on Microsoft’s subscription service without spending the full price on Steam.Ĭonsidering the game’s problems, Redfall’s decline in popularity is not surprising. The console release runs at a locked 30FPS, despite the capabilities of current-gen Xbox consoles.įurthermore, the game’s inclusion in Xbox Game Pass is likely another massive reason for the small player base on Steam. It continues the trend of stuttering in PC ports, includes broken enemy AI, and comes with a number of bugs. While new games are expected to lose players eventually, Redfall has lost them faster than most AAA titles. Moreover, Redfall previously became the 16th worst-rated game on Steam. Why it matters: Redfall was a crucial game for Microsoft and Xbox, as it was expected to deliver on the gaming giant’s promise of quality first-party releases from Xbox Game Studios. The game is now averaging daily concurrent player counts below 500 players. According to SteamDB, the game’s concurrent player counts peaked at just 376 players on May 16. However, the developer’s latest release, Redfall, breaks away from this trend, becoming their lowest-rated game of all time.įollowing criticism of the game, it has quickly begun to lose players on Steam. Arkane Studios has been known for quality games like Dishonored, Prey, and Deathloop. ![]()
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