Deathloop and Dishonoured developer Arkane has found itself in deep debate between Redfall and Starfield fans, following the recent Redfall launch on Xbox and PC platforms. After months of anticipation, the vampiric looter shooter is the subject of a myriad of criticism, citing Redfall’s initial state as a concern for major Xbox game releases going forward.
Sparking a wave of discussion on Twitter, IGN’s Destin Legarie offers their straightforward thoughts on Redfall since it hit Xbox Game Pass: “Honestly… with the state Redfall is in, I’m very worried about Starfield.” While The Loadout’s Redfall review-in-progress does pick out some of the game’s strengths, like many players digging into it, there are many pratfalls presented by the game. “It’s not really fair to Todd Howard and the Bethesda Game Studios team, but EVERYTHING is riding on that game [Starfield] at this point,” says IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey.
Others like Twitter user ‘MageBorn23‘ aren’t so sure that Starfield will meet its lofty expectations: “You expect it to be polished? Looking back on their history? Have they ever released a fully polished game? No and that was when they knew the engine, this engine is new. It’s going to be a mess.” It is likely that the commenter is referencing the launches of games such as Fallout 76, Fallout 4, and Skyrim respectively. The aforementioned Fallout titles received flack for graphical complications and performance issues, whereas Skyrim’s PlayStation 3 was cited at the time for drastic memory problems.
“I don’t know about ‘very’ worried but it’s hard to ignore the pattern of subpar first-party Xbox games. Maybe Starfield breaks the pattern,” posits ‘IanDobbins’.
Though Redfall and Starfield are from separate studios with significantly different production scales, some fans like ‘BarthaAtilla’ believe Starfield could have an advantage by using familiar Bethesda traits: “Arkane tried something new, and it didn’t work. With Starfield, BGS is playing to their biggest strengths after the fumble of Fallout 76.”
We’ve already endured a long path to the Starfield release date, with our next glimpse of the space RPG coming to us via the upcoming Starfield Direct showcase. After delaying the original Starfield release window, it is possible that these extra months of development will afford it a more polished launch state. Our compiled history of the Starfield release date itself can attest to that, but the jury is still out on that one.
However, if you are curious about Redfall’s vampire antics, then you don’t have to start the game without a trick or two to fall back on. Be sure to check out what the best Redfall characters are to utilise as you explore Arkane’s latest world.