For the second of our game reviews, since returning to covering games, we decided to look at the Microsoft flagship game RedFall. If you have heard of this game, it has probably been in a negative light. Most reviews have already come in and they are not good. Everything from calling the writing and plot “Woke” to buggy graphics, enemy AI, and terrible stylized artwork. So, with this list of negatives already in place, why even bother? Well, I am a glutton for punishment, I like terrible games (at times) and it was free on Game Pass… incidentally I also thought it might be funny to see if this game was as bad as everyone said and add something to the pool of snark surrounding it. For this review we will be covering the Game Pass PC version and playing it on the Xbox One Series X.
Now for the Spoilers The game and its premise center around a young girl with “magical” blood (well maybe more than one). You learn about one from the Grave Locks and, possibly, a second as you progress through the game. Your first boss fight is with a doctor that used his daughter’s own blood to obtain a form of immortality, However, because of this evil act, he is drained of his humanity and becomes “The Hollow Man” a monstrous vampire that looks a lot like a demon. As you prep to kill the Hollow man, who lives in his own pocket dimension, you find out that he was approached by a company that was interested in what he was doing… not to stop him of course, but to use it for their own gain (there is the greed thing). This company called Avernum) has a private army at their disposal which it actively is using on the island (I am getting notes of Half Life here). The story logic in here feels broken as there are vampires, vampire gods, and other supernatural things mentioned. However, they all came from humans. These now super humans and erect pocket dimensions for regular vampires (which contain hearts that feed on regular humans) as well as for themselves. They can also send pushing vampires after you called Rooks when you do too much damage to them. If I stretch here it feels like an attempt to spin corporate greed and the omnipotent power of governments and corporations into a morality tale here. The human followers and reality altering might be a set up to show how blinding following governments or corporation corrupt otherwise good people (abuse of the masses against their fellow persons). The theft of life force from the weak (children) to grab more power is not a new concept, but it has been done by others and in a much less fragmented and better way. I do not think this concept is in any way woke, it is just a poorly executed attempt to push a morality tale into what should be a reality disconnecting game.
