Gamers will be able to explore the previously idyllic and sleepy coastal town of Redfall as one of the four playable characters, each with their own specific skillset and unique personality. The vampires – the product of a scientific experiment gone wrong – have taken over the town, and players must work together to stop their nefarious bid for power. Although there has always been an emphasis on cooperative play in Redfall’s trailers and marketing material, it is possible to experience the campaign solo. However, Arkane should really look at adding things like bots to make sure this stacks up against the game’s multiplayer.
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Redfall’s Co-op Gameplay
From every glimpse and gameplay insight players have had of Redfall so far, it’s obvious that the game is meant to be played with more than one person. Players can recruit up to three others to help them take on the town of vampires and the human antagonists, and it’s extremely clear that this is the way the game functions best. Each character has their own unique abilities, from Jacob Boyer’s undead eye and powers of temporary invisibility to Remi De La Rosa’s robotic companion Bribon. On their own, these powers and special skills are undoubtedly handy, but they will work so much better when they’re complementing the abilities of another character.
In addition to how the characters work in combat, there’s also the social aspect. In the Redfall trailer released during the Xbox and Bethesda Game Showcase, characters like Jacob, Devinder, and Layla are shown in conversation with each other. They not only make humorous asides about the situation they find themselves in, but characters like Devinder offer relevant context to things they encounter and even hypotheses about where they need to head and why. This may be manufactured dialogue for the trailer and could happen in a more organic way in the actual game through environmental hints, but it’s hard to imagine a single player having the same kind of experience without other characters around.
Downsides Of Single-Player
Not only would a single-player campaign be a much more lonely experience, but it also seems to put the player at a massive disadvantage. They won’t be able to make use of the many skills that characters have that seem to aid their companions, like Layla’s nifty ghostly elevator that gives characters a boost up to other levels or lets them perform aerial attacks. On her own, Layla will no doubt be able to make use of this, but if players decided to play as Devinder or Remi, then presumably their verticality is much more limited. Other players could also help provide distractions as the much more stealthy Jacob gets into position to best use his sniper rifle, or offer more approaches to combat in general.
Playing with other people is obviously much more fun and effective, and makes more sense for the structure of Redfall. But if some players don’t want to play with others, or can’t, they shouldn’t have a worse experience because of it. One way to combat this is to introduce bot characters. This way, players can still enjoy and benefit from the companion banter and interactions, but will also be able to use character abilities during combat. It would be vital in this case for bot characters to have sophisticated AI, but it’s undeniable that it would really elevate the single-player experience and make Redfall more accessible.
Redfall will launch in 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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