Max it out and you'll be visited by the Rook, a sort of vamp enforcer that pops up as a boss fight if you've been causing too much trouble (and reminded me a little of Prey's Nightmare as a recurring bogeyman thrown into the mix). This is where a lot of that Far Cry feel comes in as you take on things like this, or other objectives like claiming safehouses (by driving out cultists and getting the power back on) to gradually reclaim control of the map, and get advantages like fast travel points.Īll this fighting back comes at a cost, though – as you explore and do various things, a meter slowly fills up showing how much attention the vampires are paying you. If you can fight your way to the center of one of these nests and destroy the heart, you'll clear it out, get some loot and weaken the local undead influence. They're all floaty, disjointed levels filled with versions of things you've seen in town, like the cinema or fairground, twisted in dreamlike ways. This strangeness also continues into things like the Vampire nests you can clear out around the town, which take place in a sort of ethereal otherworld. Parts of the house are just… gone – a huge sphere like hollow, scooped out of the middle by some psychic event that wiped the memory. The geometry of the building warps and twists in dreamlike ways. There's a lot of spooky weirdness in Redfall's misty streets and this dollhouse is just the pinnacle of that. That ultimately leads me to a doll house that, once I find three missing dolls, I'm able to psychically enter and uncover the memories of the little girl that owned it to find out more. Things feel far more focused and crafted inside, as slamming doors and spooky crashing from other rooms draws me through the building. The setup of Redfall sees the vampires that have taken over rise up as part of a shady biotech firm's investigations into immortality, and I'm here to investigate one of the company's founders. Once inside it's classic haunted house territory as I explore and piece together the story here. I find a rear window and choose that, because you never use the front door in games like this. First I have to scout the grounds to find a way in, avoiding Watcher vamps that act like security cameras from high up roosts. Having zigged zagged between all sorts of interesting distractions to get here, my destination immediately has a big set piece vibe. However, the Arkane feeling really comes to the fore when I finally reach the house I'm meant to investigate to find out more about the vampires' origins. We sit down with Harvey Smith and Ricardo Bare to learn more about Arkane's attempt to put a unique spin on Far Cry. The cadence and tone of the voice that speaks is 100% channeling the Heart from Dishonored. There are also some moments that are so Arkane it almost feels like an Easter egg – like Grave Keys that open special loot chests and recount sad little tales when you collect them. It just plays like an Arkane game that has those elements included. There are crates and bags full of green, blue and purple weapon variants for example, but it doesn't feel too in your face – there are just some better guns around if you stop to look. What I find interesting, as I shoot and scout my way to a mission marker, is just how much this feels like an Arkane game while still being an open world looter shooter. One of the key weapons for me against the undead is a UV cannon that lets me hose them down with light and smash them to dust the second they turn to stone. There's a great cadence to battling them as a result, as you weaken, incapacitate or delay them via various means always looking to make room to stab the glowing heart that's exposed when the time is right. They can't die unless you stake them while downed, or smash them while they're petrified by UV light. While shooting cultists generally takes care of that problem, fighting vampires is more reliant on tech and gadgets.
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