Sounds like I should wait for a patch or two before starting Redfall. Nothing worse than spending a bunch of time with a buggy game and souring your impression on it.
I think it's going to need a bit more than just a single patch or two. I thought it would be just the always online that would be the problem, but boy the more I learn about it the worse it gets. It's an open world game with two distinct maps, which prevents you from traveling back from the second map to the first map so if you do it without knowing about it, that's that. You no longer can visit the first area anymore.
Just filled to the brim with incredibly disappointing, baffling and outright daft decisions.
Sounds like I should wait for a patch or two before starting Redfall. Nothing worse than spending a bunch of time with a buggy game and souring your impression on it.
I think it's going to need a bit more than just a single patch or two. I thought it would be just the always online that would be the problem, but boy the more I learn about it the worse it gets. It's an open world game with two distinct maps, which prevents you from traveling back from the second map to the first map so if you do it without knowing about it, that's that. You no longer can visit the first area anymore.
Just filled to the brim with incredibly disappointing, baffling and outright daft decisions.
That's probable. But I really wanted to get through the game before Tears of the Kingdom next Friday.
0
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
Sounds like I should wait for a patch or two before starting Redfall. Nothing worse than spending a bunch of time with a buggy game and souring your impression on it.
I think it's going to need a bit more than just a single patch or two. I thought it would be just the always online that would be the problem, but boy the more I learn about it the worse it gets. It's an open world game with two distinct maps, which prevents you from traveling back from the second map to the first map so if you do it without knowing about it, that's that. You no longer can visit the first area anymore.
Just filled to the brim with incredibly disappointing, baffling and outright daft decisions.
That's probable. But I really wanted to get through the game before Tears of the Kingdom next Friday.
Well that's doable, because it apparently only takes between 10-15 hours.
Looks fine to me. It’s mostly the old interface but squished to show more of the screen like some people wanted. The only thing I actually care about is the ability to quickly get to my pins in the next page so hopefully that has not changed.
Somehow, I missed this amid the flood of posts. You people, I demand you stop flooding this thread with your posts! ARGARGABGLE!
More to the point, I think this is Xbox kind of caving into that years-long demand, "WE WANT TO SEE MORE OF OUR WALLPAPERS." Especially after dynamic wallpapers have become a thing. Because on one hand, your console's home screen, fundamentally, serves as the access point to the game or app or social channel that is your actual destination. It's an evolution of the pre-modern home screens which were just buttons, most of which involved the game. That was an evolution of no home screen at all.
On the other hand, the desktop I'm using looks like this, at 1/4 scale.
And Cyberpunk 2077 is only there because I just installed it. So clearly I'm one of those people who wants to see his pretty pretty wallpaper.
Still wish we had some customization options as with elsewhere in the UI, but I think the design team is probably tired of dealing with user feedback as is.
I dunno I've enjoyed what I've played of redfall, at the very least they give you loot early and often, I've already found a yellow in the world, fights seem fun? I want to explore what's going on. I dunno I know I was one of the only people excited for it so its not a shock I'm enjoying it, but me and my boy devinder are going to get to the bottom of these vampires!
Also I do like how it feels the game is definitely coming at you from a non neutral political stand point based on the lore in there on who became cultists, who created the vampires, and who you fight in general. Its nice that a game didn't just pull the michael jordan right wing people buy shoes too.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
I dunno I've enjoyed what I've played of redfall, at the very least they give you loot early and often, I've already found a yellow in the world, fights seem fun? I want to explore what's going on. I dunno I know I was one of the only people excited for it so its not a shock I'm enjoying it, but me and my boy devinder are going to get to the bottom of these vampires!
Also I do like how it feels the game is definitely coming at you from a non neutral political stand point based on the lore in there on who became cultists, who created the vampires, and who you fight in general. Its nice that a game didn't just pull the michael jordan right wing people buy shoes too.
I know I've beat this drum to death, but I've never quite gotten Arkane games (Dishonored 2 was the one I played the most), so basically the moment I realized what the game actually was, a year ago, I quietly noted that even if it was GOTY material (which I doubt it is), I probably wouldn't play it immediately. At least with Hifi Rush (which is GOTY material), I didn't have previously mixed feelings about the developer.
That being said, I didn't want to rain on people's excitement about the very politically charged adventure story it was telling. So if you're enjoying it, that's a good thing.
My wife wants to play some co op with me so I'm happy to have that going on!
I will say for anyone sleeping on my boy the cryptid hunter his first unlocked skill can kill vampires outright without having to stake the bastards, which helped with what felt like a bugged encounter against a metric dick ton of vampires this morning.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
Also Davinder can teleport and his Teleport can heal himself and anyone who takes it. And he's british so he's already adept at upsetting people and getting away from places...
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
I dunno I've enjoyed what I've played of redfall, at the very least they give you loot early and often, I've already found a yellow in the world, fights seem fun? I want to explore what's going on. I dunno I know I was one of the only people excited for it so its not a shock I'm enjoying it, but me and my boy devinder are going to get to the bottom of these vampires!
Also I do like how it feels the game is definitely coming at you from a non neutral political stand point based on the lore in there on who became cultists, who created the vampires, and who you fight in general. Its nice that a game didn't just pull the michael jordan right wing people buy shoes too.
I know I've beat this drum to death, but I've never quite gotten Arkane games (Dishonored 2 was the one I played the most), so basically the moment I realized what the game actually was, a year ago, I quietly noted that even if it was GOTY material (which I doubt it is), I probably wouldn't play it immediately. At least with Hifi Rush (which is GOTY material), I didn't have previously mixed feelings about the developer.
That being said, I didn't want to rain on people's excitement about the very politically charged adventure story it was telling. So if you're enjoying it, that's a good thing.
For better or worse - arguably worse - it's easily the least Arkane game they have ever released. So it might very well not have the issues you might have with their previous stuff.
Is it politically charged? I did not get that impression at all, so far
It has quite a diverse group of characters and there are some definite political undertones to the story, which are emphasized strongly later on.
One thing to note is that the braindead types who scream "go woke go broke" etc are all over this at the moment as well and being reprehensible as always. They apparently think that's the real reason the game failed and are trying to claim that the games poor quality is based on diversity hiring etc. It's just really gross.
Looks fine to me. It’s mostly the old interface but squished to show more of the screen like some people wanted. The only thing I actually care about is the ability to quickly get to my pins in the next page so hopefully that has not changed.
Somehow, I missed this amid the flood of posts. You people, I demand you stop flooding this thread with your posts! ARGARGABGLE!
More to the point, I think this is Xbox kind of caving into that years-long demand, "WE WANT TO SEE MORE OF OUR WALLPAPERS." Especially after dynamic wallpapers have become a thing. Because on one hand, your console's home screen, fundamentally, serves as the access point to the game or app or social channel that is your actual destination. It's an evolution of the pre-modern home screens which were just buttons, most of which involved the game. That was an evolution of no home screen at all.
On the other hand, the desktop I'm using looks like this, at 1/4 scale.
And Cyberpunk 2077 is only there because I just installed it. So clearly I'm one of those people who wants to see his pretty pretty wallpaper.
Still wish we had some customization options as with elsewhere in the UI, but I think the design team is probably tired of dealing with user feedback as is.
I like seeing my PC desktop wallpaper, too. So I keep ot as clutter-free as I can. But for the X1, I can barely muster any concern beyond 'do not like non-game images'. The default system images for whatever bug me.
But even then, I don't spend much time on the Home screen. I start the game or go to check for updates, so ultimately the image doesn't matter since I spend so little* of my console experience there.
*Unless it's idling because I'm on a different input for TV or PC things.
Is it politically charged? I did not get that impression at all, so far
It has quite a diverse group of characters and there are some definite political undertones to the story, which are emphasized strongly later on.
One thing to note is that the braindead types who scream "go woke go broke" etc are all over this at the moment as well and being reprehensible as always. They apparently think that's the real reason the game failed and are trying to claim that the games poor quality is based on diversity hiring etc. It's just really gross.
Hm okay. Internet shitheads being at it again aside - I feel like Deathloop was way more overt about billionaire assholes, which worked with the outlandish, humorous tone it had. But idk if that even counts as "politically charged". Corporations / 1%ers or whatever fucking everything up has been a staple narrative since before I was born, and I'm certainly older than the majority of the "lol woke" crowd
Is it politically charged? I did not get that impression at all, so far
I'll spoil this from what I've found so far that definitely feels politics.
The town's issue was caused by a greedy corporation exploiting someone after lying about helping others. A majority of at least the early on cultists are police officers, and one of the early cut scenes shows a cop turning over someone to a vampire bound and gagged. There's also an early exploration that shows like 5 cop cars surrounding a station wagon that was blown to shit and back implying at least to me super excessive force.
One of the early notes you find is about a dude who was a member of a gun club who had fellow gun club members steal all his guns and try and turn him over to the vampires.
That's just what I've seen from the early sections.
I will say for anyone who's starting out DONT shard your first uv gun, you'll need it for stuff... I do wish there was a fast weapon swap so I can like pick my number 2 gun when I'm on number 3. But maybe I just don't know how to do it.
I also have had like a tutorial message pop up when I'm reading a lore item and I have to say I've read the tutorial when I missed it to clear the screen.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
FWIW I have next to no first-hand experience with previous Arkane games so I went into Redfall with very few expectations. Maybe it's different for fans who expected the same level of detail/complexity, so where I see "ordinary" and "average" they see "diminished" or "worse". Certainly a lot of reviewers talking about how this doesn't compare to their previous work.
Also Davinder can teleport and his Teleport can heal himself and anyone who takes it. And he's british so he's already adept at upsetting people and getting away from places...
I picked Davinder on a whim and his kit overall is a big bag of fun, especially for solo play against mobs. His literal Unreal-Tournament-style translocator makes navigation a breeze and his standard ability is excellent crowd control (and vampire finisher)
The breezy personality is also a plus when there aren't companions to bounce dialogue off.
FWIW I have next to no first-hand experience with previous Arkane games so I went into Redfall with very few expectations. Maybe it's different for fans who expected the same level of detail/complexity, so where I see "ordinary" and "average" they see "diminished" or "worse". Certainly a lot of reviewers talking about how this doesn't compare to their previous work.
Also Davinder can teleport and his Teleport can heal himself and anyone who takes it. And he's british so he's already adept at upsetting people and getting away from places...
I picked Davinder on a whim and his kit overall is a big bag of fun, especially for solo play against mobs. His literal Unreal-Tournament-style translocator makes navigation a breeze and his standard ability is excellent crowd control (and vampire finisher)
The breezy personality is also a plus when there aren't companions to bounce dialogue off.
I look forward to playing with my wife playing the silent sniper to have my cheerful Davinder blundering into everything.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
FWIW I have next to no first-hand experience with previous Arkane games so I went into Redfall with very few expectations. Maybe it's different for fans who expected the same level of detail/complexity, so where I see "ordinary" and "average" they see "diminished" or "worse". Certainly a lot of reviewers talking about how this doesn't compare to their previous work.
That is 100% the case for me. And I acknowledge that. I'm just not sure the trade-off from immersive sim to average (I guess?) looter shooter was worth it. I'd love to hear how people enjoy it in coop!
Is it politically charged? I did not get that impression at all, so far
It has quite a diverse group of characters and there are some definite political undertones to the story, which are emphasized strongly later on.
One thing to note is that the braindead types who scream "go woke go broke" etc are all over this at the moment as well and being reprehensible as always. They apparently think that's the real reason the game failed and are trying to claim that the games poor quality is based on diversity hiring etc. It's just really gross.
Imagine getting your panties in a twist about diversity hiring. How pathetic are these fucking losers?
As someone who bounced off of previous arkane offerings, this one feels more into what I like as far as shooters go. Also first neighborhood cleared and I've already got the best outfit in the game for Davinder so I'm the winner its me.
As a follow up on loot, I dunno if the yellows are the only uniques in the game or if there's a step above them, but I will say their base stats (damage, fire rate etc) seem static to your level but their lower perks can be random, I got two of the same AR and both had different stats.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
Is it politically charged? I did not get that impression at all, so far
It has quite a diverse group of characters and there are some definite political undertones to the story, which are emphasized strongly later on.
One thing to note is that the braindead types who scream "go woke go broke" etc are all over this at the moment as well and being reprehensible as always. They apparently think that's the real reason the game failed and are trying to claim that the games poor quality is based on diversity hiring etc. It's just really gross.
Imagine getting your panties in a twist about diversity hiring. How pathetic are these fucking losers?
If you're not catering to me, then you're catering to them!
People have different tolerance levels for jank. Mine is extremely low. Nothing pulls me out of immersion and distracts me faster than even a little bit of jank.
I read that Eurogamer article. It's not actually that positive. It sounds as if there's a ton of jank. Yes, they do say the game has some good bones. But it also sounds like those bones are buried deeply and can't support the weight of the technical issues and bland mission structure.
Here's a few choice quotes from the Eurogamer article:
Textures sometimes pop in late or not at all
my wife came into the room when I was playing, looked at the screen in horror and said, "Jesus! What happened to Fortnite?"
Once or twice I have died and reloaded without crucial parts of the UI present
Enemy AI seems a bit clumsy, too *snip* What do I mean by clumsy and dumb? They can get stuck in doorways if there is more than two of them, each one eager to go first. They are slow to react when being fired upon. *snip* snipers came up very close to blast at me, while shotgunners hung back and effectively gently misted me with buckshot
The tech seems to be creaking and some of the ideas - the loot and other assorted Destinyisms - might possibly have been imposed from above.
I really wanted this game to be good too. The concept at a high level really called to me. A mix of L4D + Farcry in a vampire apocalypse sounds right up my alley. And maybe after a year or so of patches and post-launch support, this game will be. But right now it sounds like a hot mess.
Looks fine to me. It’s mostly the old interface but squished to show more of the screen like some people wanted. The only thing I actually care about is the ability to quickly get to my pins in the next page so hopefully that has not changed.
Somehow, I missed this amid the flood of posts. You people, I demand you stop flooding this thread with your posts! ARGARGABGLE!
More to the point, I think this is Xbox kind of caving into that years-long demand, "WE WANT TO SEE MORE OF OUR WALLPAPERS." Especially after dynamic wallpapers have become a thing. Because on one hand, your console's home screen, fundamentally, serves as the access point to the game or app or social channel that is your actual destination. It's an evolution of the pre-modern home screens which were just buttons, most of which involved the game. That was an evolution of no home screen at all.
On the other hand, the desktop I'm using looks like this, at 1/4 scale.
And Cyberpunk 2077 is only there because I just installed it. So clearly I'm one of those people who wants to see his pretty pretty wallpaper.
Still wish we had some customization options as with elsewhere in the UI, but I think the design team is probably tired of dealing with user feedback as is.
As a counterpoint, my desktop is utterly invisible behind the... 5 open application windows (at all times, those are baseline) and forest of "things I dragged over to the desktop to save and then haven't sorted away". And I'm using a stock system wallpaper.
You should see my work machine's desktop. Hell, I should; haven't been able to see wallpaper on that thing in years...
Made it further past the opening section difficulty jumps up with loads of vampires and varities coming at you. I have had some bugged vampires who just creepily stand there unable to hit you or be hit.
Love that again the game isn't stingy about loot, I've had multiple uniques I've found and I'm already up to level 7 on davinder just by exploring and murdering things. Its janky, but its my kind of janky I guess? At least its less buggy than Atomic Heart even if the main character of Atomic Heart is a perfect angel who I will hear nothing bad about!
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
Also for anyone brain addled like me they gave out an avatar redfall tshirt and looks like an animated background, dunno if thats gamepas only or not, animated background was cool.
So for the uniques I've found so far I'll spoil what I've seen.
An AR that gives you health on staking a vamp which seems super useful, and a shotgun that gets extra damage with every enemy you defeat.
Also Dev's teleport is a cheat code for getting around locations, there was a quest to find two towers that expected you to like traverse around to get up to them. Or I can throw my little beacon and be right there.
Preacher on
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
FWIW I have next to no first-hand experience with previous Arkane games so I went into Redfall with very few expectations. Maybe it's different for fans who expected the same level of detail/complexity, so where I see "ordinary" and "average" they see "diminished" or "worse".
The biggest problem with the game - for ARKANE fans I guess - is that they promoted this as continuing the ARKANE tradition of immersive gameplay, just within an open world. Now I'm not sure if they EVER said immersive and REDFALL in the same sentence, but it was obviously implied. So far I've seen none of that. Yes you can interact with the environment, but through ways far less innovating and puzzley than what you got in something like PREY or DH1/2 or even DL honestly. Right now all I've seen is environmental interaction on a level that isn't much more than FAR CRY. . .why folks were hoping was the baseline. Right now it just feels like a very okay first person shooter you wont remember in a year.
. . .which sucks because you KNOW this studio has it in them to deliver on what is clearly underneath the surface of the game.
"Get the hell out of me" - [ex]girlfriend
0
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited May 2
My original thought about Redfall was it was a game that started life as a Live Service game, those games started to widely fall apart and so that aspect was gutted/compromised with the result being this at some point. It would explain a lot of the bizarre choices with Redfall. The constant marketing trying to convince people this is a game you can play single player despite literally everything being about coop for months. The fact that the game is always online when it 100% doesn't have to be in any way. The fact the game feels so incredibly unpolished and rushed sounds like lots of compromises were made instead of a good solid initial vision. Like Borderlands was a game you 100% wanted to play coop, but perfectly and completely functionally worked playing by yourself.
I think a lot of compromised decisions were made around this game and it really shows. Another recent example, but with a much better outcome, was Gotham Knights. I had a very similar feeling there with that game as well.
Edit: Also, I would not want to be Microsoft and see "Play it on gamepass" being used in the context for this game that it is.
It. . .really doesn't. There is a lot wrong with this game, but the art style is pure ARKANE.
Now that I've seen a lot of the game, I disagree. It's more flat and lifeless than Dishonored, is a step back technically from Prey and doesn't have the absolute gonzo feel of Deathloop. A good amount of the early game is functional and looks nice, but the game gets more sparse, empty and plain bad looking as you go along. A lot of work IMO was put into some of the early parts of the game and then it drops off considerably later. The fact I'm unsure if some things in the second map are just unfinished or a technical issue is not a stellar commendation of the games overall look. It doesn't stand out for me except for the main characters, who are great.
Thanks to a Game Pass quest I've tried Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. That game sure is pretty but I'm terrible at it and not having a good time at all. Cassette Beasts, on the other hand, looks to be precisely my jam.
People have different tolerance levels for jank. Mine is extremely low. Nothing pulls me out of immersion and distracts me faster than even a little bit of jank.
I read that Eurogamer article. It's not actually that positive. It sounds as if there's a ton of jank. Yes, they do say the game has some good bones. But it also sounds like those bones are buried deeply and can't support the weight of the technical issues and bland mission structure.
Here's a few choice quotes from the Eurogamer article:
Textures sometimes pop in late or not at all
my wife came into the room when I was playing, looked at the screen in horror and said, "Jesus! What happened to Fortnite?"
Once or twice I have died and reloaded without crucial parts of the UI present
Enemy AI seems a bit clumsy, too *snip* What do I mean by clumsy and dumb? They can get stuck in doorways if there is more than two of them, each one eager to go first. They are slow to react when being fired upon. *snip* snipers came up very close to blast at me, while shotgunners hung back and effectively gently misted me with buckshot
The tech seems to be creaking and some of the ideas - the loot and other assorted Destinyisms - might possibly have been imposed from above.
I really wanted this game to be good too. The concept at a high level really called to me. A mix of L4D + Farcry in a vampire apocalypse sounds right up my alley. And maybe after a year or so of patches and post-launch support, this game will be. But right now it sounds like a hot mess.
You left out the most important one after all that:
All of this sounds bad, or at least nitpicky. But here's the thing: I don't want to pick nits at all here. One of the reasons why I'm still so early on in Redfall is because I've been playing it very slowly, savouring the flow of missions, the scraps of notes to read, the lovely atmospheric storytelling that goes beyond the timely satire to deliver a place that feels not just generously imagined but generously observed, that feels like someone loved it and studied something intently in order to make it. I love the fact that my base of operations is a fire house, and I love that an early side mission had me restoring its popcorn machine for morale purposes. I'm not bothered by loot, but I love a stake gun I just found - my third or fourth of this strain of weapon, but the first to really kick - that finishes vampires off in one blast.
I mean the headline is:
A third of the way in, Redfall is characterful and fun and currently a little bit janky
There is definitely some kind of weird loading going on with Redfall. I assume it is the Unreal Engine. It has these weird loading delays were is loads up the lower poly version of stuff first and then pops to the high poly stuff.
I have seen that happen in other games.
If you are going to do that, just black out the screen until everything loads. They are trying to load stuff on the fly.
Posts
I have Wierd West installed on my Xbox now and it's tagged Game Pass
Edit: looks like it's Weird West: Definitive Edition that's coming May 8th.
Steam ID: Good Life
Yeah there was another Wild West game that came out around the same time and I also get them confused.
(Not quite, at least these games have a much different time frame.)
I think it's going to need a bit more than just a single patch or two. I thought it would be just the always online that would be the problem, but boy the more I learn about it the worse it gets. It's an open world game with two distinct maps, which prevents you from traveling back from the second map to the first map so if you do it without knowing about it, that's that. You no longer can visit the first area anymore.
Just filled to the brim with incredibly disappointing, baffling and outright daft decisions.
That's probable. But I really wanted to get through the game before Tears of the Kingdom next Friday.
Well that's doable, because it apparently only takes between 10-15 hours.
Somehow, I missed this amid the flood of posts. You people, I demand you stop flooding this thread with your posts! ARGARGABGLE!
More to the point, I think this is Xbox kind of caving into that years-long demand, "WE WANT TO SEE MORE OF OUR WALLPAPERS." Especially after dynamic wallpapers have become a thing. Because on one hand, your console's home screen, fundamentally, serves as the access point to the game or app or social channel that is your actual destination. It's an evolution of the pre-modern home screens which were just buttons, most of which involved the game. That was an evolution of no home screen at all.
On the other hand, the desktop I'm using looks like this, at 1/4 scale.
And Cyberpunk 2077 is only there because I just installed it. So clearly I'm one of those people who wants to see his pretty pretty wallpaper.
Still wish we had some customization options as with elsewhere in the UI, but I think the design team is probably tired of dealing with user feedback as is.
Also I do like how it feels the game is definitely coming at you from a non neutral political stand point based on the lore in there on who became cultists, who created the vampires, and who you fight in general. Its nice that a game didn't just pull the michael jordan right wing people buy shoes too.
pleasepaypreacher.net
I know I've beat this drum to death, but I've never quite gotten Arkane games (Dishonored 2 was the one I played the most), so basically the moment I realized what the game actually was, a year ago, I quietly noted that even if it was GOTY material (which I doubt it is), I probably wouldn't play it immediately. At least with Hifi Rush (which is GOTY material), I didn't have previously mixed feelings about the developer.
That being said, I didn't want to rain on people's excitement about the very politically charged adventure story it was telling. So if you're enjoying it, that's a good thing.
I will say for anyone sleeping on my boy the cryptid hunter his first unlocked skill can kill vampires outright without having to stake the bastards, which helped with what felt like a bugged encounter against a metric dick ton of vampires this morning.
pleasepaypreacher.net
pleasepaypreacher.net
For better or worse - arguably worse - it's easily the least Arkane game they have ever released. So it might very well not have the issues you might have with their previous stuff.
It has quite a diverse group of characters and there are some definite political undertones to the story, which are emphasized strongly later on.
One thing to note is that the braindead types who scream "go woke go broke" etc are all over this at the moment as well and being reprehensible as always. They apparently think that's the real reason the game failed and are trying to claim that the games poor quality is based on diversity hiring etc. It's just really gross.
I like seeing my PC desktop wallpaper, too. So I keep ot as clutter-free as I can. But for the X1, I can barely muster any concern beyond 'do not like non-game images'. The default system images for whatever bug me.
But even then, I don't spend much time on the Home screen. I start the game or go to check for updates, so ultimately the image doesn't matter since I spend so little* of my console experience there.
*Unless it's idling because I'm on a different input for TV or PC things.
Hm okay. Internet shitheads being at it again aside - I feel like Deathloop was way more overt about billionaire assholes, which worked with the outlandish, humorous tone it had. But idk if that even counts as "politically charged". Corporations / 1%ers or whatever fucking everything up has been a staple narrative since before I was born, and I'm certainly older than the majority of the "lol woke" crowd
I'll spoil this from what I've found so far that definitely feels politics.
The town's issue was caused by a greedy corporation exploiting someone after lying about helping others. A majority of at least the early on cultists are police officers, and one of the early cut scenes shows a cop turning over someone to a vampire bound and gagged. There's also an early exploration that shows like 5 cop cars surrounding a station wagon that was blown to shit and back implying at least to me super excessive force.
One of the early notes you find is about a dude who was a member of a gun club who had fellow gun club members steal all his guns and try and turn him over to the vampires.
That's just what I've seen from the early sections.
I will say for anyone who's starting out DONT shard your first uv gun, you'll need it for stuff... I do wish there was a fast weapon swap so I can like pick my number 2 gun when I'm on number 3. But maybe I just don't know how to do it.
I also have had like a tutorial message pop up when I'm reading a lore item and I have to say I've read the tutorial when I missed it to clear the screen.
pleasepaypreacher.net
I picked Davinder on a whim and his kit overall is a big bag of fun, especially for solo play against mobs. His literal Unreal-Tournament-style translocator makes navigation a breeze and his standard ability is excellent crowd control (and vampire finisher)
The breezy personality is also a plus when there aren't companions to bounce dialogue off.
I look forward to playing with my wife playing the silent sniper to have my cheerful Davinder blundering into everything.
pleasepaypreacher.net
That is 100% the case for me. And I acknowledge that. I'm just not sure the trade-off from immersive sim to average (I guess?) looter shooter was worth it. I'd love to hear how people enjoy it in coop!
Imagine getting your panties in a twist about diversity hiring. How pathetic are these fucking losers?
As a follow up on loot, I dunno if the yellows are the only uniques in the game or if there's a step above them, but I will say their base stats (damage, fire rate etc) seem static to your level but their lower perks can be random, I got two of the same AR and both had different stats.
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If you're not catering to me, then you're catering to them!
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Come to the land of tea and crumpets and badly designed governmental systems
It is amusing that I thought Davinder would be the least played, but really his kit seems the strongest by far.
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On Redfall, Eurogamer seems to be the first outlet I've seen that likes it. Trying it tonight.
Now that I got the cloak the raven guy is a lot better
You cant respec for some reason so I might restart just to never dump points into the raven
I read that Eurogamer article. It's not actually that positive. It sounds as if there's a ton of jank. Yes, they do say the game has some good bones. But it also sounds like those bones are buried deeply and can't support the weight of the technical issues and bland mission structure.
Here's a few choice quotes from the Eurogamer article:
I really wanted this game to be good too. The concept at a high level really called to me. A mix of L4D + Farcry in a vampire apocalypse sounds right up my alley. And maybe after a year or so of patches and post-launch support, this game will be. But right now it sounds like a hot mess.
As a counterpoint, my desktop is utterly invisible behind the... 5 open application windows (at all times, those are baseline) and forest of "things I dragged over to the desktop to save and then haven't sorted away". And I'm using a stock system wallpaper.
You should see my work machine's desktop. Hell, I should; haven't been able to see wallpaper on that thing in years...
Love that again the game isn't stingy about loot, I've had multiple uniques I've found and I'm already up to level 7 on davinder just by exploring and murdering things. Its janky, but its my kind of janky I guess? At least its less buggy than Atomic Heart even if the main character of Atomic Heart is a perfect angel who I will hear nothing bad about!
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So for the uniques I've found so far I'll spoil what I've seen.
An AR that gives you health on staking a vamp which seems super useful, and a shotgun that gets extra damage with every enemy you defeat.
Also Dev's teleport is a cheat code for getting around locations, there was a quest to find two towers that expected you to like traverse around to get up to them. Or I can throw my little beacon and be right there.
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It. . .really doesn't. There is a lot wrong with this game, but the art style is pure ARKANE.
The biggest problem with the game - for ARKANE fans I guess - is that they promoted this as continuing the ARKANE tradition of immersive gameplay, just within an open world. Now I'm not sure if they EVER said immersive and REDFALL in the same sentence, but it was obviously implied. So far I've seen none of that. Yes you can interact with the environment, but through ways far less innovating and puzzley than what you got in something like PREY or DH1/2 or even DL honestly. Right now all I've seen is environmental interaction on a level that isn't much more than FAR CRY. . .why folks were hoping was the baseline. Right now it just feels like a very okay first person shooter you wont remember in a year.
. . .which sucks because you KNOW this studio has it in them to deliver on what is clearly underneath the surface of the game.
I think a lot of compromised decisions were made around this game and it really shows. Another recent example, but with a much better outcome, was Gotham Knights. I had a very similar feeling there with that game as well.
Edit: Also, I would not want to be Microsoft and see "Play it on gamepass" being used in the context for this game that it is.
Now that I've seen a lot of the game, I disagree. It's more flat and lifeless than Dishonored, is a step back technically from Prey and doesn't have the absolute gonzo feel of Deathloop. A good amount of the early game is functional and looks nice, but the game gets more sparse, empty and plain bad looking as you go along. A lot of work IMO was put into some of the early parts of the game and then it drops off considerably later. The fact I'm unsure if some things in the second map are just unfinished or a technical issue is not a stellar commendation of the games overall look. It doesn't stand out for me except for the main characters, who are great.
You left out the most important one after all that:
I mean the headline is:
I have seen that happen in other games.
If you are going to do that, just black out the screen until everything loads. They are trying to load stuff on the fly.