Home Xbox Game Pass exclusive Redfall gets one last patch on its way out the door

Xbox Game Pass exclusive Redfall gets one last patch on its way out the door

tl;dr

  • Redfall receives final patch amid studio closure, adding offline mode and new features.
  • Offline mode allows solo play and prevents disruption if servers shut down.
  • Despite efforts, Redfall's repetitive gameplay and incomplete story lead to critical failure and studio closure.

Redfall, the ambitious, supernatural, and critically panned co-operative shooter from doomed studio Arkane Austin, got one last patch before Bethesda Softworks and Microsoft sends its developers to the bread line.

The game’s fourth title update most notably includes an offline mode, which allows players to play offline, even if they are in a session and suddenly are disconnected. The inclusion is seen as a means of keeping the game playable should Microsoft/Bethesda Softworks unexpectedly close down Redfall’s servers the same way it closed down Arkane Austin earlier this month. The single-player offline mode means solo players can now pause the game to take a leak, make a sandwich, or whatever.

Additional features introduced with the final patch include a new type of vampire nest to burn out, as well as a “Community Standing” feature that works within Redfall’s network of safehouses. That opens up a new skill tree for the player character, most of which is unlocked by opening Safehouses, completing the missions associated with them, saving civilians, and killing an Underboss. Community Standing has six ranks and 39 different rewards in all for those who are committed to the public service of exterminating the undead.

That’s the assumption, anyway. Arkane Austin said “there will be no full patch notes for this update,” so players are left to figure out the rest for themselves.

Why did Redfall fail?

Redfall launched May 2, 2023 for Windows PC and Xbox Series X. The game pits the player, as a heavily armed paranormal investigator, against a vampire incursion into a New England seaside town. Redfall was supposed to be one of the titles that drove players to Xbox Game Pass, where it launched day one, but it never caught on.

Critics waved off the repetitive nature of Redfall’s single-player campaign, and its gameplay, and torched the incomplete feeling of its story and aesthetics, especially coming from Arkane, the studio behind Dishonored. Phil Spencer, the chief executive for Microsoft’s Xbox division, would later apologize for Redfall, saying even a delay wouldn’t have helped it make a stronger appeal to Xbox players.

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Owen Good
Gaming Editor (US)

Owen Good is a 15-year veteran of video games writing, also covering pop culture and entertainment subjects for the likes of Kotaku and Polygon. He is a Gaming Editor for ReadWrite working from his home in North Carolina, the United States, joining this publication in April, 2024. Good is a 1995 graduate of North Carolina State University and a 2000 graduate of The Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University, in New York. A second-generation newspaperman, Good's career before covering video games included daily newspaper stints in North Carolina; in upstate New York; in Washington, D.C., with the Associated Press; and…

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