Today's the day for Bethesda's Redfall, as the first selection of hands-on previews have just gone live! Various outlets have been getting to play the game recently, and the first impressions seem to be largely positive, albeit with plenty of question marks still surrounding various aspects of how the full version will turn out.
In fact, the folks over at God is a Geek have even teased it as a "serious GOTY contender". Let's hope so!
Below, we've rounded up some of the early previews so far. Don't forget that Redfall launches day one with Xbox Game Pass on May 2nd, 2023, so you'll be able to play it at no extra charge if you're a subscriber to the service.
Here are a few impressions from across the web:
IGN
"Before my demo began, co-director Harvey Smith namechecked Far Cry 2 and STALKER as influences; two shooters from an experimental period years before the likes of Gearbox and Ubisoft established the largely unwavering open-world FPS formula."
"If Arkane Austin can bring its own version of the kind of innovation those games did back in the late 2000s, then Redfall could well inject a static genre with some long-overdue excitement."
VGC
"While hardcore fans may be a little disappointed at its less system-driven approach, Redfall is shaping up to be the studio’s strongest shooter to date. Melding the studio’s attention to detail with guns that pack a punch feels like a recipe for the cult curio developer to have a long-awaited commercial success."
God Is A Geek
"There are so many questions I have about Redfall after playing it. I didn’t get a sense of scale for how big or long the game might be, I didn’t get chance to try co-op and see how well everything links up, and I only managed to try out Layla (and Jacob really does look awesome).
But now I can firmly say I know what kind of game it is, and Arkane continues to be one of the developers in the industry that have my trust, and I’d be stunned if it didn’t end up being a serious game of the year contender. Is it May yet?"
TheGamer
"Redfall may not immediately appeal to Arkane’s biggest fans, but my main takeaway from the play session was how much it still feels like an Arkane game. The thoughtful level design, the variety of exploration options, the deep world building, and the inventive powers are all present in Redfall, even if the packaging is different from what we’re used to."
Polygon
"Overall, the gameplay loop for the slice of Redfall I got to play felt pretty standard for an open-world shooter, but it was still interesting to see Arkane’s take on the genre by combining imm-sim elements with an asymmetric, complementary class system."
Game Rant
"There are obviously some questions hanging over Redfall like how fun its co-op will be, how the leveling and loot impact the experience, and how compelling the full world will be. But based on this short slice, players should be in for a bloody good time."