Arkane’s co-op vampire hunter Redfall has received a new trailer ahead of its May release date, showing off its twisted open-world and magic-infused shooting. It looks like a bloody visual feast, but the bigger news is how Redfall’s open-world multiplayer is untethered, meaning a four-player squad can separate and fight bloodsuckers in different parts of the coastal town.
In an interview with IGN, Redfall’s production director Ben Horne said that “when you’re playing with friends, you can actually go to the four corners of the map, we don’t tether people.” Horne also elaborated on the trust system which “gives you kind of a buff for staying together and helps you fight the vampires,” although the buff wears off if you wander away from your mates.
Horne says the untethered co-op gives players freedom in how they approach objectives, while the trust system is there to “encourage people to come together.” Either way, untethered co-op will come in handy for in-game matches of hide and seek.
It seems like squads have a pretty big surface area to cover, as Horne calls the town the “biggest, most ambitious” setting in any Arkane game. I’m never too excited when I hear promises of games going “bigger,” because it usually means the same thing as bloat. But Horne elaborated on the similarities between Redfall and Arkane’s other gems, pointing to combat that rewards experimentation and physics that players can exploit, which makes me slightly more comfortable. Oh, and we got a fresh look at the brilliantly named stake-launcher.
As Redfall stalks closer to release, we’ve been learning more about the undead shooter. A few weeks ago we discovered Redfall was an always online game, even in single-player, making fans raise an eyebrow. Before that, the devs had spoken on how Redfall has more in common with other open-worlds like Far-Cry, rather than the run n’ gun mayhem of Left 4 Dead.
There are plenty of unanswered questions about Arkane’s vampire infestation, but we don’t need to wait much longer to find answers. Redfall releases on May 2nd for Xbox consoles and PC via Steam. It’ll also be included in PC Game Pass on day one.