The launch of Arkane Studios’ Redfall has not gone according to plan, to say the least. The game received negative reviews from both critics and players alike. Redfall is riddled with bugs and repetitive gameplay and is largely considered Arkane’s worst game thus far. As a result, Redfall is now one of the lowest-rated games on Steam, with the worst reviews, occupying the 14th spot from the bottom on Steam 250’s “Hall of Shame.”
Steam 250’s tracks the best games on Steam, considering both the average review scores and the number of reviews. However, the same algorithm can also be applied to negative reviews, which has nestled Redfall perfectly in the middle of Gasp and Umbrella Corps.
The bugs in Redfall are all over the place and often comical, and the graphics and open world feel empty, while the enemies are nothing short of brain-dead. Additionally, the game lacks matchmaking in a co-op setting, and the AI lacks the intelligence part, making it unable to figure out how to attack players who use the secret technique of standing behind a car.
Redfall Is One of Steam’s Top 15 Worst-Reviewed Games
The combination of these issues makes it apparent that the game was released prematurely and maybe even had lacking creative direction. It’s almost like Arkane purposefully released Redfall during a lull in the gaming industry to ensure it isn’t competing with anything else.
Redfall’s failure has Xbox chief Phil Spencer apologizing to fans and admitting that even internally, no one expected Redfall to bomb as badly as it did, which is a shocking statement since developers always understand the state of their game. Spencer has promised that the game will receive support in the form of patches, comparing it to other games such as Grounded and Sea of Thieves. But promises post-launch don’t really mean much unless the game in question gets constant support for years like No Man’s Sky.
Redfall was supposed to be one of Microsoft’s major first-party releases this year, leading fans to worry about the upcoming epic space RPG by Bethesda, Starfield.