Redfall, the highly anticipated first person shooter from Arkane Austin, finally released on May 2, and, er, it’s safe to say the reception for the shooter has not been great. It currently sits on a Mostly Negative review score on Steam, while the Metacritic score for the Xbox Series X version of the game sits at 60%. Even more damningly, the Metacritic user score for the game sits at a paltry 2.6 out of 10.
That user score in particular reflects the many, many issues with the game, with most of the reviews diving headlong into the game’s disappointing storyline and mechanics, but mostly pointing out that such a buggy and glitchy game should never have made it out as a full release. It’s a serious disappointment for publisher Bethesda Studios, as well as Bethesda’s parent company Microsoft.
Thankfully, higher-ups at Microsoft have noticed the issues and are making moves to address the problems. Speaking to Kinda Funny, Xbox head honcho Phil Spencer has made clear his disappointment with the game, but has also made clear that the vampire hunting FPS won’t be left out to fend for itself, and that fixes are coming.
"I'm disappointed. I'm upset with myself," Spencer said. "I kind of revisit our process—I think back to the announcement of 60 frames per second, and then we weren't shipping 60 frames per second."
However, he also mentioned that there are clearly issues that go beyond simple bug-hunting, and may rest in a failure to realise the creative ambition of the game.
"That doesn't feel like a, 'Hey, just delay it'. That feels like the game had a goal to do one thing, and when players are actually playing they're not feeling that thing, they're not feeling the creative execution of the team." Spencer said.
There is still hope for Redfall, of course. Despite his doom-laden words, Spencer seems optimistic that there is a future for the new first person shooter. After all, as Spencer points out, both Sea of Thieves and Grounded had rocky beginnings before growing into successes. Granted, this was much later on from launch, but it does mean there’s a glimmer of hope for fans.