Redfall release date, trailers, gameplay, and everything we know so far

Redfall is the upcoming co-op FPS from the studio that brought us Prey and Dishonored. From what we’ve seen, each playable character has a different set of skills and specialties, which can be expanded upon while you play.

Arkane Austin’s new IP pits players against a town filled with vampires. These aren’t your standard creatures of the night however, as they’re more failed lab experiments that can evolve and possess extremely powerful abilities. 

The release date for Redfall was just revealed, and it looks as though we’ll be playing it much sooner than expected. In fact, Xbox’s lineup is looking pretty strong for the rest of 2023, with Forza Motorsport, and Starfield on the way as well.

There’s still plenty more to learn about Redfall, so hopefully Xbox reveals some more info sooner rather than later. For now, here’s everything we know about the game so far, including all of the latest news and rumors. You’ll also find every trailer released for Redfall, as well as a look at its gameplay.

Redfall: cut to the chase

• What is it? A co-op first-person shooter from Arkane Studios
• When can I play it? May 2, 2023
• What can I play it on? Xbox Series X|S and PC

Redfall release date and platforms

Redfall will release on May 2, 2023 for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC. It’ll also be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one. While Redfall will skip the last-gen Xbox One, anyone who’s yet to upgrade to Microsoft’s latest console can access it through Xbox Cloud Gaming too (providing you have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, that is).

Arkane’s co-op shooter was initially scheduled to release in “Summer 2022” but Bethesda announced in May 2022 that the co-op shooter was delayed until the “first half of 2023”.  The announcement also revealed that Starfield has been delayed. According to Bethesda, these delays were because the teams at Arkane Austin and Bethesda Game Studios have “incredible ambitions for their games, and we want to ensure that you receive the best, most polished versions of them”. A new confirmed release date of May 2 was then revealed during Xbox and Bethesda’s Developer Direct showcase on January 26.

Redfall trailers

Latest trailer

The latest trailer for Redfall, which premiered at the Xbox and Bethesda’s Developer Direct showcase in January 2023, provided us with a gameplay deep dive – and that all-important new Redfall release date.

Where previous Redfall footage has focused on moment-to-moment gameplay, how the guns work, some of the skills you can unlock, and how you can collaborate with other players to combine abilities against your vampire enemies, this most recent trailer instead saw Arkane stepping back to talk about your overarching aim in the vampire-slaying shooter. It’s pretty simple: clear Redfall‘s neighborhoods of bloodsuckers. Check it out below:

More trailers

We’ve included some key Redfall trailers throughout this article but you can find all the Redfall trailers that have been released to date on Bethesda’s official YouTube channel.

Redfall story and setting

Redfall‘s website gives us a brief synopsis of the game’s story, setting, and the larger-than-life characters that inhabit the world. 

The vampiric enemies of the game are actually science experiments gone wickedly wrong. These creatures have cut off the town of Redfall from the rest of the world by blocking out the sun. 

The vampires are joined by a human faction that worships them, as was seen in the debut trailer. As such, it looks like firefights will often have us dealing with both enemy types  – and perhaps a few more – at once.

Redfall characters

In Redfall, you pick from four playable heroes, each boasting their own unique personalities and abilities, to take on the town’s legion of blood-sucking vamps. These abilities are able to be upgraded as you progress and you’ll be able to experiment with different playstyles and loadouts, too. Here are the four characters you’ll be able to pick from – and their descriptions according to Bethesda: 

• Layla Ellison: A biomedical engineering student who interned at a research facility, where something went very wrong, leaving her with intense telekinetic abilities.
• Jacob Boyer: An ex-military sharpshooter turned private contractor. Strange happenings on Redfall have left Jacob with a mysterious vampiric eye and a spectral raven that’s never far from his side.
• Remi de la Rosa: A brilliant combat engineer who has spent her life on the frontlines. With the help of her robot cohort, Bribón, she’s determined to help rescue Redfall’s survivors.
• Devinder Crousley: A cryptozoologist and aspiring inventor. Armed with weapons of his own creation, he’s on a mission to prove himself.

Redfall gameplay

Redfall is a story-driven, open-world first-person shooter that boasts Arkane’s “largest setting ever”.

According to the official website, Redfall will blend “single and multiplayer options seamlessly, allowing the player to venture into the darkness alone or squad up with up to three friends for four-player co-op”. The use of the word “seamlessly” implies that a drop-in co-op system could be implemented in Redfall, which would allow players to join someone else’s game without needing to back out to the main menu – this hasn’t been confirmed however. 

What Arkane has confirmed, though, is that, when playing co-op, players will be able to play as any character, regardless of whether a teammate has already selected them. That means you can all play as Layla, for example, if you want to. If you prefer to go solo, however, that is an option too.

The types of vampires you’ll be facing in Redfall range from lower-level minions to godlike bloodsuckers that can eclipse the sun. In between those, you’ll be facing the likes of the Angler, which uses a psychic harpoon to drag players away from their teammates, and the Watcher, a terrifying vamp that perches on vantage points to keep an eye out for intruders. It’s not just vampires you’ll need to worry about, though. These vamps have gained a small army of loyal cultists who have set up bases and patrol routes across this island.

To rid the town of these big bads, you will need to go from neighborhood to neighborhood clearing out the cultist operations and vampire nests. In each neighborhood, you’ll find a safe house in which you can set up shop – though it’s unclear exactly what you’ll be able to do there.

Each neighborhood has an underboss vampire that you’ll need to kill to claim back the area. Once you do, you will claim their skull, which acts as a kind of key. Collect enough skulls and you unlock a fight with one of the vampire gods. But the gods aren’t going to let you get to them that easily and every time you slay an abundance of vampires they’ll call upon the terrifying ‘Rook’ to punish you.

We also know that, outside of the main campaign, there will be “encounters” for you and your team to take on. You can approach these in whatever way you choose: sneaky and coordinated or all guns blazing.

Redfall news and rumors

Redfall will require an online connection, even in single player
Recently, the FAQ section of the Redfall website(opens in a new tab) was updated with a question about online connectivity requirements while playing the game (via VGC). The section states that “A persistent online connection is required for single player and co-op.”

How similar is Redfall to other Arkane games?
During the Xbox Games Extended showcase in 2022, Bethesda’s Pete Hines explained Redfall’s similarities and differences to developer Arkane’s previous work. In particular, Hines explained that, while Redfall has co-op elements, there’s still an enjoyable single-player experience to be had.

“On the surface, it’s a first-person shooter that you can play solo or with up to four players and so, you know, immediately you might say it’s not a single-player game so it must be wildly different,” Hines said. “And, don’t get me wrong, there are absolutely ways in which it is different but when folks play the game, and even when they see more of the game, I’ll think they’ll start to see all of those things about an Arkane game that they love and appreciate.”

“If you want to play a game by yourself and get a great Arkane story then you can absolutely do that in Redfall but you can also do things that you haven’t been able to do in an Arkane game, like experience it with friends and find out how the whole can become more than the sum of the parts, like playing it off of each character’s ability,” Hines continued. “I think the more that people appreciate that, you almost are going to want to try and play Redfall a couple of ways. You might want to play it by yourself a little bit, play it with others, and it’s a game that allows you to do either or both of those things, however, you see fit.” 

Comparisons to Left 4 Dead
During the Xbox Games Extended showcase, Bethesda’s Pete Hines also addressed comparisons between Redfall and co-op shooters like Left 4 Dead. 

“If you watch, just like, combat footage, you might look at Left 4 Dead or Back 4 Blood or any of these things and go ‘oh, I see multiple characters facing a bunch of enemies and so it’s the same game’,” Hines said. “But I think that would be doing a disservice, that it’s all of the things that take place between the combat as well as the combat itself, combining different skills and abilities in the way that you do…those are the kind of things that Arkane does that really bring that extra special element that makes their games so compelling.”

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