Xbox Game Pass Biggest Game of 2023 So Far Is Also One of the Biggest Flops
Xbox's biggest and most anticipated release so far this year, a major new addition for Xbox Game Pass, looks like it's going to a complete flop. Arkane Studios, Bethesda, and Xbox released Redfall today on Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC. When you hear the name Arkane Studios, you think of high-quality games and series like Dishonored, Prey, and Deathloop. In the modern era, they haven't had a miss, minus their work on Wolfenstein: Youngblood, which they were co-developers on. And it seems they tapped into this game with Redfall because it's apparently not very good at all.
Right now, at the moment of writing, the PC version of the game has a 60 on Metacritic. The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S versions aren't doing much better sitting at 63. According to early reviews of the game, it has severe performance issues, terrible AI, shoddy gunplay, shallow characters and story, and overall feels very generic and flat.
Critically the game has already flopped, and we don't suspect the game to light the world on fire commercially as Arkane games never do. In fact, if the game wasn't included with Xbox Game Pass, it'd be dead on arrival. However, Game Pass could keep it alive long enough for Arkane Studios to fix the game and potentially salvage it. Right now though it's looking like a flop across the board.
Redfall is available via Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC. What it's not available on is Xbox One, which is likely for the better if Xbox Series X is having trouble running the game. If you want to play it, despite the bad reviews, you can do so via Xbox Game Pass or by forking over $69.99 to buy the game.
"Redfall is an open-world, single player and co-op FPS from Arkane Austin, the award-winning team behind Prey and Dishonored. Continuing Arkane's legacy of carefully crafted worlds and immersive sims, Redfall brings the studio's signature gameplay to this story-driven action shooter," reads an official blurb about the game. "The island town of Redfall, Massachusetts, is under siege by a legion of vampires who have blocked out the sun and cut the citizens off from the outside world. Explore the open world and immerse yourself in a deep story campaign as you unravel the mystery behind the vampires' appearance. Ally with a handful of survivors against the creatures threatening to bleed the town dry."