Redfall on Xbox tested: a sad tale of unfulfilled potential and profound technical issues

Redfall is an open world first-person shooter that combines mechanics-driven, immersive sim-style design with optional cooperative multiplayer. It promises a vast Unreal Engine 4-powered world to explore while casting aside the shackles of the last-generation Xbox One hardware with a release exclusively targeting Xbox Series consoles and the PC. Alas, things have perhaps not gone quite as planned. The omission of a 60 frames per second performance mode turns out to be one of the lesser issues facing a release with a range of technical and content problems.

Overall, the critics have been harsh, but my own experience has been more positive - though this is far from the sublime genius of Arkane Austin's last game, the brilliant Prey. Over time, Arkane has increasingly become one of my favorite game developers in the business, specialising in immersive sim-style first-person experiences. Redfall is a little different. While solo play is possible, the game is clearly built with multiplayer in mind. Its immersive-sim roots are still evident, but Redfall delivers an experience reminiscent of Far Cry blended with a looter shooter.

With its multiplayer focus and open world design, it's clear that a change in engine was necessary to bring Redfall to life. While Arkane Lyon has focused its efforts on the suitably impressive Void Engine, Arkane Austin's previous project, Prey, was built on CryEngine. That is, until the Typhon Hunter DLC, which uses Unreal Engine 4 no doubt owing to its multiplayer and VR functionality, both of which Unreal excels in. Unfortunately, when it comes to delivering vast open world environments, Unreal Engine 4's reputation has been tarnished in recent years, with games such as Gotham Knights and Jedi Survivor exhibiting poor performance, visual inconsistencies or both at launch.

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