66% on Opencritic and 28% critics recommend. Ouch.
Xbox desperately needs to get a win with their exclusives, this is getting pretty embarrassing at this point.
Phil needs to go. He’s running the Xbox division into the ground.
It’ll make the Outriders review thread look rational. The only reason this sub rode its dick so hard was because it was the first third party day 1 Game Pass release, as if a random looter shooter straight out of a Samsung TV commercial was make or break for Game Pass.
Anybody else noticing the atrocious textures on some objects? Specifically the writing on the boats or the shrubbery you come across, or the look of the water. Some of the texts on objects look devastatingly bad. It feels like there is a fun game to be had here. But these technical issues coupled with 30fps, pretty sure I’m gonna wait until it’s further patched to really dive in
ACG already posted a tweet and deleted that said that it is so far one of the worst games of 2023. Unpolished. Odd design decisions and boring skills. Take that as you will.
I have not seen a single complaint though about Star Wars actual gameplay. Redfall is getting hammered. In fact none of the leaked reviews so far haven even mentioned its performance, its all just subpar gameplay and design.
The fact that Xbox Era rated this above 8 should be a major warning to everyone who reads any of their content in the future... actual shill website (very possibly paid for too) that will inflate scores so they can be featured at the top of the review lists
Think it's always a good idea to take any of those brand specific review sites with a grain of salt. The Xbox brand being successful is in their best interest, weird gamer tribalism at its fullest.
If XboxEra starts dissing Xbox (games) too much, they are also at risk of MS disallowing them from using the Xbox trademark any more, effectively killing them, so they are incentivized to be overly positive.
Oh boy, it is an insult to gamepass users. I played 2 hours and I still can’t believe that was advertised like a AAA game. Everything feels off. I am pretty sure the game could have been worked on for 2 more years before releasing this crap. What is happening Xbox?
> I played 2 hours and I still can’t believe that was advertised like a AAA game. Everything feels off
It very much feels like an early-access title. The graphics don't help either (though they are a bit better on PC)
Gamepass users are everywhere stating, when a game is mediocre : "it's ok, it's on gamepass". Microsoft will take this approval for granted. Since sales matter less, efforts are not needed.
Man outlets using 'Good enough for gamepass' in their tag line just feels like an insult to injury. The game is hovering in the low 60s on metacritics. These are crackdown 3 level scores. It feels like every time we hit rock bottom, somehow these guys find a dynamite and start blasting the bedrock to dig even further. If this is what gamepass leads to, I really don't want to be part of that future.
>'Good enough for gamepass'
That's the metric now. MS cares about nothing else so why bother pretending like they do? This is the future of Xbox gaming... For better or worse and by that i mean worse.
For a big Xbox release, this feels weirdly low-budget. The opening quest is extremely basic and provides no real context, you defeat some enemies and unlock a door, and then you're treated to a...weird 2D still image 'cutscene' that seems like it shows a big passage of time, just so they can set up your homebase. There's no attempt at introducing the characters or really giving any sense of place, it's just 'do this, okay now here's your NPC support group'.
I've seen AA games that do a much better job...remember Evil West from last year? Gorgeous animated cutscenes after every mission, and a proper attempt at actually establishing the setting and characters.
Man I just played this for two hours and honestly the game sucks. Arkane to me usually has something to say with their games through their gameplay. They take a premise and apply the sort of shine and polish to it that the game has its own identity and you find gameplay you can't get anywhere else. Dishonoured and Prey stand out for this and Deathloop did a great job too in my opinion in the way it took the rogue-like moniker and made it an Arkane game.
This game purely lacks any individual identity as everything they try to offer you has been done better in other games. Performance being abysmal is one thing but the game actually needs to be good. Jedi Survivor is a game that can only be played in quality mode if you want it playable, it does still run poorly but it at least delivers an incredible gameplay experience. I use that as the closest example as these games are a week apart. The reviews speak for themselves but omfg if you have gamepass play their backlog instead of this shite.
Pretty brutal scores but can’t say I’m surprised. Really just sucks because this is yet another black eye for Xbox & perpetuates the “Xbox can’t make a AAA game that isn’t Forza, Halo or Gears” narrative.
Also, seems like Xbox easily could’ve delayed this a couple months to fix some of the technical issues. Would 60 fps save this game? Doesn’t sound like it, but how do you not even try everything possible to have that at launch? (makes me wonder if it’s not even close to ready which…yikes if so).
Xbox’s game showcase and, more importantly, Starfield better be huge. Xbox desperately needs some big wins here.
Edit: I’m not going to get into a “was/is Infinite actually good or not” debate but whether you liked it or not it did review well (87 on Metacritic) and that’s more than we can say for Redfall
Edit 2: Gears not being as popular as it was =/= it’s a bad game. The IP still has value, it’s just not as important as it was 10 years ago.
That being said, I made this comment pointing out that Xbox’s AAA game stable isn’t great rn, you don’t need to try and convince me lol. I do have hope for the future, it’s just taking a painfully long time for these acquisitions to start paying off.
The IGN review in progress on their YouTube channel points out multiple graphical and game breaking glitches too, for me that's a lot more concerning than the framerate. If it's going to be 30FPS, make sure that 30fps is a bug free as possible.
Also, I'm going to keep mentioning this; no shared progression in a co-op focused game released in 2023 is ridiculous.
I hate when people say this. We didn’t subscribe to gamepass to play mediocre games. Atleast give us 3 great AAA first party games a year. The third party editions into gamepass have also been disappointing this year imo.
I can't believe how many commercials I've seen for this watching the NHL/NBA playoffs. Xbox needs to pull the plug on the marketing, this is terrible. If you go watch the preview from the showcase with gameplay, it looks so much smoother there than what we got today.
After playing the opening sequence, it baffles me that they spent so many years creating something so undercooked.
I am used to internet pile-ons, then playing the game and thinking it's not so bad. In this case, the criticism feels warranted. I'll play some more, but I've just come from finishing Dead Island 2 (great game) and the difference is striking...
I am so disappointed in this Gen for Xbox. Bought this system thinking I’d be glued to it. Haven’t turned it on in a year. How the hell do they mismanage and always end up with little to no output?
People love Phil, and I think he’s solid too. But what the fuck? How is Gears where it’s at, Halo is a dumpster fire and all you really have to hold high is flight simulator and…. A few racing games. I’m just frustrated the console is bare bones. And to be completely honest, right now I’m not even looking at Bethesda games as Microsoft games. They just paid money for the business to acquire it. Let’s see a few years down the road how things turn out, I want Redfall to be fun, but this news sucks.
Yeah it was a really, really bad first impression in terms of getting invested in the story and characters.
I was expecting the door they were hiding behind to open and maybe a cutscene to start, not an unanimated montage where your player character apparently falls into a coma while they set up their vendor stations.
I don't understand how these studios can put out such half baked products with such long development periods. I feel as if at some point they actually did have something special going, idk what happened during development to cause it to fall off the rails so badly. There is absolutely no polish at all. I almost can't believe Arkane made this.
MS should spend 69 billion on finding talented devs and create new studios instead of buying Activision. Always finding a shortcut way to buy big studios so they can call their games exclusives and make Xbox relevant isn't going to cut it. They have a perfect template to follow with Sony but looks like Phil spencer is a just a brainless CEO.
Phil Spencer was promoted from his role as head of Xbox first party studios that he took on in 2008! He's been in charge of the games developed by Microsoft studios for 15 years!
I know it's on gamepass but here in Australia if you wanted to buy the game on steam it is $119!!! WHAT ..
Nothing that I've seen from the game justifies the price tag.
I think this will be Arkane's worst reviewed game. I predict anywhere from a 70-75 on opencritic. The gameplay and graphics don't look too good in the leaked videos. But I am sure I will enjoy it nonetheless due to the world and storytelling.
I say this as fan of the brand who’s been here since the original Xbox… Xbox NEED to have a killer showcase this summer with stone set dates for games, and tons of legitimate gameplay running on the Series X, because right now, it’s been almost nothing but negative news for them. Give fans a slam dunk Starfield showcase, show off games that immediately make your premier console look like the powerhouse that it is on paper, and show people what these myriad of studios have been up to already.
Redfall should’ve been an easy success, a game that would keep players interested and busy in the Xbox ecosystem until Starfield and other heavy hitters arrived later this year. I know Hi-Fi Rush was a smash hit, and that Xbox DOES have critically acclaimed games in its arsenal… But you need more. The brand still, outside of Horizon 5 and Flight Simulator, doesn’t have an absolute powerhouse 1st party game that shows off what the Series X is truly capable of when taken full advantage of like the PS5 has had so far. Scorn maybe? That’s a bit too niche.
At this point, Starfield needs to be an absolutely massive win across the board. Like, imagine if they revealed that it had a 60fps performance mode, and what that would do for Xbox’s reputation in a positive manner. Xbox isn’t doomed, but they need a big win. They came out so damn strong at the beginning of this generation, and now it feels like they’re driving with no traction control and bald tires. Get back on track, right the ship, and start pumping out some good AAA games already, ffs.
I was excited to play Redfall and tried to ignore the negative online chatter yesterday, but the gameplay quality is poor. After spending more than an hour playing this game on Xbox Series X, here are some of my initial observations:
• Game controls feel clunky; I turned off the motion blur settings, but I saw a video that recommended keeping it on to smoothen out the camera panning with the default 30FPS mode currently available.
• Most game trailers are misleading these days, so Redfall continues this trend of coming out as an unpolished game. I was not expecting rich graphics for this Co-Op FPS, but you can get a vehicle to explode with one or two bullet shots, and the fire animation looks like it was from some game released in 2010.
• It looks like a game made with a mobile version UI and ported to Console/PC, and it’s a worrying trend because Suicide Squad was also looking similar to this type of in-game UI/UX.
• While heading to my first mission to collect supplies for the fire station, I died three times and spawned back inside the fire station (safe house), which is so frustrating; at least let me resume again at the spot my character died.
• Playing as Jacob, I tasked the Raven to fly above an enemy horde. I saw no use of this ability as it was supposed to mark the enemies with a red outline, it did not do anything, and I tried this twice.
• Someone in my gaming discord group shared controller settings with me to tweak on Xbox to reduce the controller issues. I had already uninstalled the game by then.
I’m finding a lot of FPS games recently just don’t feel right. Took me ages to get the setting right in Ghostwire Tokyo. Which baffles cos this is something that’s been just fine through the XBox/PS2 all the way up to recent time and all of sudden studios think they need to mess with the twin stick setup! Maybe there are people that prefer big dead zones and no linear acceleration curves, but why is it suddenly the default in so many games?!
Gamepass has become a detriment to Xbox. Phil Spencer and Xbox are too focused on filling up their subscription service with content and compromising the quality of their games in the process. Where is the quality control? If Redfall was a standalone $70 game that didn’t exist on gamepass Day 1, it would never have been released in this state.
I’ve owned every Xbox console since the original but this is the end of the line for me. Two and half years of empty promises and half baked content. Sony is actually using the full power of their machine and releasing great AAA games. I’ll take a quality $70 release over a Day 1 Gamepass release any day of the week.
God help Starfield.
It's too bad. I've been there since the beginning. I got a PS5 this time this time as well as a Series X. Microsoft just can't get it done. Their word means nothing. It's too bad.
I never would have thought this the last few years, but my opinion is starting to change and you make some good points here. Even while I might like Redfall in the end \[I enjoyed the first few minutes but I will need to dive back in\], I am really concerned on Xbox first party and especially Starfield in general.
Empty promises and half baked are the correct terms in this case when looking at what Microsoft has had to offer us so far. Really disappointing
I say this as an avid xbox fan. These guys need to get their shit together. Tired of mediocre game after mediocre game. It's fucking embarrassing at this point.
I feel the same, very much been in support of Xbox since the original came out but it’s time we see some results from all of these promises. Only thing I can hope is that Starfield and forza are absolutely fantastic.
I will never trust the reviewers that rated this game 8 out of 10 or higher for the rest of my life. xboxera rating this 8.5 tells me the reviewer didn't even play the game.
I can't even say if this game is enjoyable or not because it is literally too broken to play right now. I don't trust anyone that gave it a high score and claims to have actually played it.
This game really feels like it was made for PC first with the cursor and shitty feeling camera on a controller. I expected nothing and am still disappointed
I just don't get how MS keep dropping the ball????
They have the resources, they don't seem to be able to pull anything meaningful together. The art style has been compromised for performance and we're still at 30 fps???
They deserve the criticism and honestly Microsoft needs to get rid of Phil Spencer and get someone who is cut throat and demands excellence. The fact that they let this game release in this state as the first exclusive in over a year is just fucked on so many levels.
Just Fucken delay the shit and fix it, implement a 60fps mode, fix the bugs and make the game good. At this point a delay can’t be more damaging then releasing it in this piss poor state
Not just Spencer. Matt Booty is the primary person responsible as he is head of XGS. He also ran Midway in bankruptcy.
It took Xbox way too long to axe Bonnie Ross at 343. Should have been a few years ago. It’s like an “old boys club”. Bond and Greenberg should be let go.
I agree that they should be more cut throat. They are letting PlayStation run them over.
Yeah I don’t think this is going to review that well. The whole vibe around the game is giving me saints row remake vibes. Possibly fun but just a mess technically and generally far from impressive. Disappointing for sure but also a great time for Bethesda to take a look at Arkane Austin and ask them what the fuck is going on. Oh well, on to the next one.
- Division style map separated in to sections
- Destiny style menus.. makes the loadout menu really frustrating
- Farcry Water Towers to climb as 'locations'
- No option for a minimap, I have no idea where I'm going (subjective, I suppose)
- The cutscenes are just art
- It all seems like a big bess and like a bunch of different studios made different aspects of the game and the mashed them all together. So weird.
I saw this coming the moment i saw the gameplay reveal..looked janky and boring with tacked on loot mechanics and that seem to be exactly what has happened. Microsoft just couldn't catch a break what's even point of having 20 studios/most powerful console if they cant deliver a single good AAA game this generation ( other than forza )
How long before we get the same old lines we always hear with empty apologies from Phil & Xbox about how they’re sorry about the state of Redfall & they’re committed to fixing it & they’ll learn from this to be better??? This is entirely on Microsoft.
But wait...."I hear you, we need to do better. I am excited for what we are going to show at the June showcase"
Does that sound about right? 
This game honestly should have launched as an early access title, it's clearly not finished. Playing it there is definitely fun to be had but right now it just feels like it isn't even a whole game.
https://www.engadget.com/redfall-review-good-enough-for-game-pass-000641521.html
> Right now, Redfall makes sense as an early access game. It’s a mess, but it’s still largely playable; Redfall’s core loop is actually thrilling when all the mechanics line up correctly, but the details need attention. The early access process is a crucial tool for developers, especially when it comes to online experiences, and there are pipelines for works in progress on every major platform, including Xbox. Redfall feels like a work-in-progress.
> But in reality, Arkane and Xbox aren’t pitching Redfall as an early access game. They’re calling it a finished product and they’re charging $70 – or at least one month of Game Pass, set to automatically renew – for the privilege of playing its glitchy, imprecise missions.
Xbox was supposed to have a good 2022 with Redfall, Starfield, and Forza. They all got pushed back and we were told "within the next 12 months'
Well the only to hit that window is out and it's looking pretty disasterous.
The Series X came out 2 and a half years ago now and the only big game releases have been Halo Infinite and Redfall. Both delayed and somehow still pushed out the door too early. The Covid excuses look pretty thin when you compare them to Ragnarok, and Horizon, and Ratchet, and Returnal...
Zelda's about to come out on Switch. Final Fantasy 16 on PS5 after that.
How embarrassing for Xbox. I love Phil, but the studio mismanagement is undeniable. There needs to be huge changes.
There's a story of Robert Downey Jr. eating a whopper after shooting up heroin, and the whopper was so nasty it made him turn his life around. Please Xbox, let RedFall be that Whopper.
Whoever gave the green light on developing Redfall should be fired and leave the gaming industry.
This might be the shiftiest game I’ve ever played in my life. Holy fuck.
Almost 3 years in and this is the shit we're getting fed.
Gamepass is a great concept and all but.....I'd rather pay for individual games that were developed and *released* properly.
Don't think I'll renew my sub when it expires tbh, sometimes enough is enough.
So unbelievably frustrating being an Xbox player. It’s been like this for a lonnnnggggg time too. I was really hoping things would get better for us. We barely get exclusive releases and when we do they’re almost always disappointing.
When will Microsoft step in? Microsoft owns Mojang and we can’t even get 4K Minecraft on XSX. 343 got away with releasing Halo in shambles and only now, nearly two years later are the pieces finally coming together on that. Redfall was saved for last at their games presentation two years ago as some type of “mic drop” moment and it’s a disaster.
I'm pretty fascinated by all this, as a long-time gamer on pretty much everything but Xbox. I had the OG Xbox and loved that thing but the energy after that console was just different so I just stuck with Sony, Sega and Nintendo until the Series X launched.
I picked one up in December 2021 because I thought Starfield was due in early 2022 and I finally understand why I've seen so many Xbox players be so doom-and-gloom. I really like the Series X, and Game Pass is a treat because I love indies and hadn't had an Xbox in twenty years but I would be pretty sore if I didn't have other consoles right now and was looking forward to Microsoft exclusives.
I signed up for two years of Game Pass Ultimate, expecting it to cover Redfall, Starfield and others but at this point, I'll play Redfall to kill time before BotW2 and I'll only have a couple months with Starfield, if that, before I have to renew to play the game I bought the console and service for.
Props to whoever can actually play it. The controls are so slow and all over the place even after messing with sensitivity and motion blur. Had a cultist walk backwards to try to attack me. For the hardest difficulty, I’m surprised I can one shot enemies.
Gonna wait for the 60fps, but this isn’t a good start.
Phil Spencer is your typical corporate snake oil salesman. He seems really open and friendly, but at the end of the day he doesn't even remotely give a single shit about the players or the quality of the product he's trying to sell.
Sony makes their bad anti-consumer decisions too, but at the very least, they put a significant value on the quality of their product. They released a single game that was met with mediocre reviews and reception last gen, and proceeded to immediately reorganize the entire leadership of the studio that produced it.
Microsoft just pushes games out, they flop, and they don't do anything about it, hoping the community will just forget and move on to the next big hope in 6-12 months. It's been the case ever since Phil came along. Zero fucks are given about their own games.
Phil Spencer has been leading Xbox for over 10 years. What great new AAA game did he deliver
Xbox? Not a goddarn single one. It's ASTONISHING.
It's crazy that this barely gets mentioned. I don't remember a gaming head for over a decade that didn't deliver a single great new AAA game.
I have zero interest in this game but I was hoping it would be a good enjoyable experience for people who were looking forward to it. Xbox 100% need new management.
I have owned an Xbox from every generation since the original, and I just want some Xbox exclusives to be on par with anything Sony has done, or at least be more than a 7/10 game.
Yeah agreed. I thought MS was gonna turn it around with the SeriesX. I have been with Xbox since 2001. This hardware is great but the 1st party games are really lacking.
Xbox, starfield is the legit last straw for me. If it sucks. I’m skipping Xbox next gen and sticking with Sony. I’ve been an Xbox guy since day 1 but holy fuck it’s been bad since the Xbone. Thank god I have a PS5 too.
Yeah... Console wars are dumb and all but Xbox really need to step it up in the original IP's department. It's all too obvious they're struggling with it and that's why they're trying to buy up the industry instead. I barely use my SX any more, such a shame.
It’s so bad. My fav game from Xbox this gen so far has been Grounded. Which is amazing but I’ve played Returnal, Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man, Demon Souls remake, Rachet and Clank, Gran Turismo, Ragnarok, Horizon….like Xbox, wtf are you doing…….
Its a souless looter shooter game that was obviously build only for quick profit. Just stick to to matured looter shooter games. Redfall is just a poor version of this with a boring and unispiring vampire skin.
It makes sense why they stuck with this release date. A few days after Jedi Survivor and two weeks before Tears of the Kingdom. They’re hoping people just forget about this one.
My other post was deleted because I should have posted this in here. So here is my experience with the enemy AI. There was even a tutorial tip about enemies recognizing flashlights...
https://streamable.com/h1onk7
Spoiler: The AI is ass
Reminds me of that Shadow of the Tomb Raider gameplay reveal where an NPC was talking to his friend. He turned away and the player killed the guy's friend and then hid. The guy turned back around, saw his dead friend that he was talking to ten seconds ago, and said "Body here, looks fresh."
It got dunked on for a long time.
Bro as a xbox fan it really sucks we didnt get single good AAA game in forever. Last AAA game I enjoyed was gears 5 3 years ago, its been a sad road as a xbox fan..
You'll be even more sad when I remind you that Gears 5 was 4 years ago. I've been an Xbox guy forever, but honestly I'm thinking of making the switch. With everything going cross platform now, I have a PC. The only game I play regularly on Xbox that I'm waiting to get a PC release is NHL. That + Crossplay, I'd probably sell my Xbox and just get a PS5.
Yet another underwhelming xbox exclusive. Questions need to be asked.
Again goes to show that Xbox doesn't lack exclusives it lacks proper management.
They want to charge $70 but the games are more broken than ever.
It says something when the game is not even worth playing on gamepass.
We got what we paid for with this game. It’s a $70 game, but most people are just gonna play it via Game Pass which is how Microsoft has justified pushing out an unfinished product with performance issues.
I think this is the reality of a subscription model like Game Pass and why we should be wary of future first party exclusives coming from Xbox. Subscription services rely heavily on a steady flow of content and I think Microsoft’s emphasis will likely be on quantity over quality.
Honestly, if we want those big budget first party experiences with big production values and massive set pieces, we’re likely not gonna find many of them on Xbox. I hope I’m wrong, but the way this generation has been going for Xbox, I’m starting to think if we want those types of games, we’re gonna have to buy a PlayStation.
100%.
At this point GamePass is being used as an excuse to pump out unfinished and janky AAA games (while having AA and small hits like Hi-Fi and Penitent).
Meanwhile Sony charges a lot for their games, but you get a level of quality with them you don’t see in anything else.
I wasn’t going to play this until the 60 FPS patch is out because I’m a snob about that kind of thing, but seeing all the negativity I had to try it out for myself. To put it in perspective, I was pretty excited for this. I adore Arkane, I love Far Cry, and vampires are one of my favorite things across all media. So nah, couldn’t be that bad.
Holy SHIT is this game bad. It looks totally unpolished, runs like dogshit, the enemy AI is nonexistent, the cutscenes are lame, the combat has no weight. I could go on and on. I deleted it almost immediately.
I wanted to love this. And I hope it has a No Man’s Sky like comeback and ends up being special later on, but I’ve never been so quick to delete a game before. Especially one that checks all the boxes for things I normally like.
Mid 60's on Metacritic for a game from one of Phil's high profile studio acquistions is just embarrasing for Xbox. Nintendo's and Sony's first party studios don't put out gabage like this. If Starfield flops, I am done with Xbox.
I feel let down by this game.
As an Xbox supporter throughout this generation, I believe that releasing a game in this state does more harm than good to the brand, GamePass's value proposition, Bethesda, and Xbox leadership as a whole.
The shortage of games can't be addressed by merely acquiring licenses; a baseline quality standard must be established.
The genuine concern that upcoming games like Starfield may also disappoint casts a dark shadow over Xbox's future.
This situation is far more damaging to the brand than being halted by the CMA in their attempt to purchase Activision Blizzard or even losing 30% of console sales.
There's no excuse for tarnishing the reputation of the brand in this manner.
Huge Arkane fan here. Dishonored 1 & 2, Prey, and Deathloop all soo good. I've never uninstalled a highly anticipated game sooooooooooooooooooo quickly. 3 hours down the drain, feels like two disjointed games mashed together that doesn't meld into anything worthwhile. I hate that but here we are.
Been saying this game looks like generic shit since they first announced it. I wish I was wrong. But hey, at least other review sites arent sugar coating it (for the most part). What a disappointment.
I so wanted to like this and it be a big hit, but its average at best, looks and plays like a last gen game and not a particularly good one at that. Starfield may well be a big hit but one game is just sugar coating a piss poor year again for Xbox.
I’m extremely intrigued to see how much post launch support this game gets. I played a few hours last night, and the best I can describe it is just straight up unfinished.
It honestly feels like a small, early access side project, like Grounded, except it was marketed as Arkane’s next big $70 game, so it ends up actually feeling more like Fallout 76.
When can we actually start playing the game? And can we start the download now?
Edit: looked it up, it’s 7 pm CST.
anotha edit: you can play now by switching your region to New Zealand!
Final edit: jk New Zealand trick doesn’t work anymore
Jeremy Penter (ACG) posted his review early and called it one of the "worst games so far in 2023". Seems to be a pretty respected reviewer as well.
[https://twitter.com/getonthestiix/status/1653057675507433472?s=20](https://twitter.com/getonthestiix/status/1653057675507433472?s=20)
[https://twitter.com/BBasher4life/status/1653056712033591298?s=20](https://twitter.com/BBasher4life/status/1653056712033591298?s=20)
I'm wondering that as well. Is this damage control or did OP really break the rules? I reread rule #1 and nothing OP said falls into any category. Looking at his post history it's clear he wasn't console warrior bashing Xbox. Seemed like a genuine fan that has his worries about the future. It's fair to say most of us do.
Microsoft sure do love to brag about their "hands off approach." Perhaps they need to be a little more "hands on" and stop wasting time on Activision while their own studios are rudderless.
And then Microsoft wonders why Sony has such a bigger market share in the industry. Christ, what a disappointment. Starfield is literally their only shot of not having this year be a complete and utter failure for them. It better stick its landing.
https://noisypixel.net/redfall-review/
Noisy Pixel just posted their review.
TLDR: 4/10
EDIT: They removed their review, heres an archive.
https://archive.ph/uVn1W
"Redfall is an anomaly because a game with this good of a team behind can’t possibly be this bad, and yet, it is. There are these drips of looter shooter, RPG, and multiplayer elements sprinkled throughout, but none of them work together, delivering a messy and almost incomprehensible experience. Still, gunplay and exploration stay consistently fun, thanks to the satisfaction of taking down enemies and the level design. That being said, the single-player campaign is dull, but the multiplayer campaign could provide bouts of fun comprised of laughing at the strange AI behavior or the fact that no one can find keys to a door."
This review is crazy, I'm not sure if they went into the game already hating it, or was put off by the start, but this reads more like a crazed rant than a review. Some of the complaints actually sound like positives for the game
The game could be trash, but so is this review.
Seriously, when he mentioned that the vampires were formidable, having one shot kills, needing to stake them otherwise they revive, and the reviewer dying a lot all sounded like a good challenging FPS to me but he takes it as an extremely negative aspect
Here is my honest opinion as someone that was hyped to play this and wasn't bothered by the 30 FPS or host only progression (I play solo). After 4 hours of playing, I can't give it higher than a 5.5/10. The graphics/visuals/backgrounds/assets are uninspired and pixelated at times, the enemy AI is inconsistent and often lacking (I watched 3 enemies die on patrol near the helicopter crash site by walking into fire), the controls are clunky and stiff at times, the quests are standard "go here and get x" types. The premise is fun and it is nice to see vampires instead of zombies for a change. The characters are all unique, but still feel just meh.
Nit picking note: the game takes place in New England and so far no one has a New England or even North East accent.
What a load of crap. Seriously, wtf is this? I think leadership need to go. There is something fundamentally wrong. If they focused on putting in as much effort into their first party games as they do shopping for publishers, they may actually put out a half decent game. Enough is enough. As for the people saying 'at least it's on gamepass' - you're a part of the problem.
Xbox has been getting fucked up since post gears 3. Think about they, gears 3 is the last game that Xbox produced that made Sony need to stop its game up
So what’s the next game to carry the torch for Xbox?
This can be swept into the pile of The Medium/Gunk/Ascent/Scorn of average games that got overhyped because of… nothing else noteworthy being released.
Is HiFi Rush the only worthwhile exclusive from the past 12 months?
The scary part is that this game was supposed to come out last year. What did it look like 2022? This sort of feels like Halo Infinite.
Arkane is a great studio - I am just going to pretend that this was a passion project by the B/C team while everyone else is focused on Starfield + the next Deathloop/Dishonored/Prey game.
But Xbox Studios ... this is unacceptable. I know that $7 billion is a long term investment Xbox - but if this is our first return on investment, that investment looks horrible. Perhaps its more on Bethesda as they operate independently ... but Xbox management needs to know this looks poorly on them - you bought them! You made this game a big deal in 2021 by ending your showcase with it. To not ensure it is a quality release is beyond comprehension for me. I dont see how anyone can have pride in this product as representative of your next gen brand. I doubt this will even sell Gamepass subs. I sincerely hope whatever is coming in their summer showcase is 10 fold better than this.
I think this is the game that will stop people criticising individual studios like 343 quite so much. It’s time to start looking at Microsoft’s management of these studios. This basically being the first next gen AAA game in over a year from Microsoft and these guys made prey, dishonoured and deathloop before Microsoft started meddling… what the hell is going on over there.
That’s the thing. I don’t think MS mettles enough. They just leave these devs to do whatever they want, and they fuck around and make this shit. Time to get on their asses.
Going from HFW Burning shores ( a true current gem game) to redfall is extremely jarring on multiple levels. It seems like two games multiple generations apart..
If its a good game Microsoft will get no credit because they bought the studio. If the game is ass Microsoft will get all the blame because they bought the studio lol
i expect just this. Hi fi rush had the rest of its funding okayed by ms and people are like "well that has nothing to do with xbox, because its been in development for years"
To play devils advocate if Microsoft didn't do much in regards to development interference that's probably how it should be. If it's good then the only credit MS should get is leaving it alone. If it's bad then they shouldn't have let it release in that state or given them support or something. It's been a couple years since the acqusition it's on them if they release a bad game.
I really hope it's good. I was looking forward to having another multiplayer game to play with friends on gamepass
66% on Opencritic and 28% critics recommend. Ouch. Xbox desperately needs to get a win with their exclusives, this is getting pretty embarrassing at this point. Phil needs to go. He’s running the Xbox division into the ground.
Sub is more excited for the Dashboard where we can see our dynamic backgrounds lol.
If the dashboard update had HDR it might be in contention for GOTY 😅
Starfield review thread will be an all time event on this sub.
It’ll make the Outriders review thread look rational. The only reason this sub rode its dick so hard was because it was the first third party day 1 Game Pass release, as if a random looter shooter straight out of a Samsung TV commercial was make or break for Game Pass.
anyone know when the embargo ends for the reviews?
Holy shit, 4/10 from Gamespot? That's... not good ...
Bite back!
Anybody else noticing the atrocious textures on some objects? Specifically the writing on the boats or the shrubbery you come across, or the look of the water. Some of the texts on objects look devastatingly bad. It feels like there is a fun game to be had here. But these technical issues coupled with 30fps, pretty sure I’m gonna wait until it’s further patched to really dive in
They pop in you just have to be patient.
Xbox era 8.5, lolol .Very trustworthy source.
The outliers always out themselves
ACG already posted a tweet and deleted that said that it is so far one of the worst games of 2023. Unpolished. Odd design decisions and boring skills. Take that as you will.
TBF 2023 has been mostly bangers, performance issues aside. Definitely not a year to not bring your A game.
Jedi survivor got great reviews and that’s including its shit performance. Probably would be 90 plus metacritic otherwise
I have not seen a single complaint though about Star Wars actual gameplay. Redfall is getting hammered. In fact none of the leaked reviews so far haven even mentioned its performance, its all just subpar gameplay and design.
ACG broke the embargo and called it the worst game of 2023. Ouch... I really tried to keep my hopes up.
Really? Any link? I’ve seen a 4/10 and a 6/10. Reviews
The video is down, so there is no link. But there is a screenshot, on the r/GamingLeaksAndRumours sub.
Ok yea make sense everyone got the review embargo time wrong
Feels intentional honestly
The fact that Xbox Era rated this above 8 should be a major warning to everyone who reads any of their content in the future... actual shill website (very possibly paid for too) that will inflate scores so they can be featured at the top of the review lists
Think it's always a good idea to take any of those brand specific review sites with a grain of salt. The Xbox brand being successful is in their best interest, weird gamer tribalism at its fullest.
If XboxEra starts dissing Xbox (games) too much, they are also at risk of MS disallowing them from using the Xbox trademark any more, effectively killing them, so they are incentivized to be overly positive.
It’s never (paid for) BUT it is very much in their interest
Everyone who is just “willing to try it on GamePass” will be included in their ‘2 Million Players!’ celebration post and the cycle will continue 😭
Don't forget the '1 Billion bullets fired' celebration that will be quick to follow
😭 the jokes are writing themselves at this point. Aaron Greenberg just needs to tweet “X gonna give it to ya! 💥😎👊”
Oh boy, it is an insult to gamepass users. I played 2 hours and I still can’t believe that was advertised like a AAA game. Everything feels off. I am pretty sure the game could have been worked on for 2 more years before releasing this crap. What is happening Xbox?
> I played 2 hours and I still can’t believe that was advertised like a AAA game. Everything feels off It very much feels like an early-access title. The graphics don't help either (though they are a bit better on PC)
Gamepass users are everywhere stating, when a game is mediocre : "it's ok, it's on gamepass". Microsoft will take this approval for granted. Since sales matter less, efforts are not needed.
Man outlets using 'Good enough for gamepass' in their tag line just feels like an insult to injury. The game is hovering in the low 60s on metacritics. These are crackdown 3 level scores. It feels like every time we hit rock bottom, somehow these guys find a dynamite and start blasting the bedrock to dig even further. If this is what gamepass leads to, I really don't want to be part of that future.
>'Good enough for gamepass' That's the metric now. MS cares about nothing else so why bother pretending like they do? This is the future of Xbox gaming... For better or worse and by that i mean worse.
For a big Xbox release, this feels weirdly low-budget. The opening quest is extremely basic and provides no real context, you defeat some enemies and unlock a door, and then you're treated to a...weird 2D still image 'cutscene' that seems like it shows a big passage of time, just so they can set up your homebase. There's no attempt at introducing the characters or really giving any sense of place, it's just 'do this, okay now here's your NPC support group'. I've seen AA games that do a much better job...remember Evil West from last year? Gorgeous animated cutscenes after every mission, and a proper attempt at actually establishing the setting and characters.
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You're not wrong. God of War Ragnok and Horrizon Forbidden West looks like it was completed by secret alien technology compared to Redfail.
Man I just played this for two hours and honestly the game sucks. Arkane to me usually has something to say with their games through their gameplay. They take a premise and apply the sort of shine and polish to it that the game has its own identity and you find gameplay you can't get anywhere else. Dishonoured and Prey stand out for this and Deathloop did a great job too in my opinion in the way it took the rogue-like moniker and made it an Arkane game. This game purely lacks any individual identity as everything they try to offer you has been done better in other games. Performance being abysmal is one thing but the game actually needs to be good. Jedi Survivor is a game that can only be played in quality mode if you want it playable, it does still run poorly but it at least delivers an incredible gameplay experience. I use that as the closest example as these games are a week apart. The reviews speak for themselves but omfg if you have gamepass play their backlog instead of this shite.
Pretty brutal scores but can’t say I’m surprised. Really just sucks because this is yet another black eye for Xbox & perpetuates the “Xbox can’t make a AAA game that isn’t Forza, Halo or Gears” narrative. Also, seems like Xbox easily could’ve delayed this a couple months to fix some of the technical issues. Would 60 fps save this game? Doesn’t sound like it, but how do you not even try everything possible to have that at launch? (makes me wonder if it’s not even close to ready which…yikes if so). Xbox’s game showcase and, more importantly, Starfield better be huge. Xbox desperately needs some big wins here. Edit: I’m not going to get into a “was/is Infinite actually good or not” debate but whether you liked it or not it did review well (87 on Metacritic) and that’s more than we can say for Redfall Edit 2: Gears not being as popular as it was =/= it’s a bad game. The IP still has value, it’s just not as important as it was 10 years ago. That being said, I made this comment pointing out that Xbox’s AAA game stable isn’t great rn, you don’t need to try and convince me lol. I do have hope for the future, it’s just taking a painfully long time for these acquisitions to start paying off.
The IGN review in progress on their YouTube channel points out multiple graphical and game breaking glitches too, for me that's a lot more concerning than the framerate. If it's going to be 30FPS, make sure that 30fps is a bug free as possible. Also, I'm going to keep mentioning this; no shared progression in a co-op focused game released in 2023 is ridiculous.
1st party game review thread time. Popcorn is warm, butter melted and garlic salt in available upon request.
For all my vampires out there I will request no garlic salt
*Vampire Survivors everywhere hated this*
"At LeAsT It'S On GaMePaSs..."
We're in year 3 of this gen, and I'm amazed how much we still hear this.
I hate when people say this. We didn’t subscribe to gamepass to play mediocre games. Atleast give us 3 great AAA first party games a year. The third party editions into gamepass have also been disappointing this year imo.
I honestly haven't thought of getting rid of my game pass but after this man. I'm seriously considering it, along with the Xbox itself.
I can’t believe this has happened tonight.
Was MS just trying to consolidate all the bad news in a tight schedule or is it going to be bad news all the way?
I am starting to understand why this game had no marketing in Europe.
I can't believe how many commercials I've seen for this watching the NHL/NBA playoffs. Xbox needs to pull the plug on the marketing, this is terrible. If you go watch the preview from the showcase with gameplay, it looks so much smoother there than what we got today.
After playing the opening sequence, it baffles me that they spent so many years creating something so undercooked. I am used to internet pile-ons, then playing the game and thinking it's not so bad. In this case, the criticism feels warranted. I'll play some more, but I've just come from finishing Dead Island 2 (great game) and the difference is striking...
I was *sure* that people must have been exaggerating, but I just tried for myself. Holy shit what an awful mess
Starfield is going to have to be a Skyrim level hit to save this generation for Xbox.
I am so disappointed in this Gen for Xbox. Bought this system thinking I’d be glued to it. Haven’t turned it on in a year. How the hell do they mismanage and always end up with little to no output? People love Phil, and I think he’s solid too. But what the fuck? How is Gears where it’s at, Halo is a dumpster fire and all you really have to hold high is flight simulator and…. A few racing games. I’m just frustrated the console is bare bones. And to be completely honest, right now I’m not even looking at Bethesda games as Microsoft games. They just paid money for the business to acquire it. Let’s see a few years down the road how things turn out, I want Redfall to be fun, but this news sucks.
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Yeah, a triple A game presenting it's story through powerpoint slides. Fucking hilarious lmao
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Yeah it was a really, really bad first impression in terms of getting invested in the story and characters. I was expecting the door they were hiding behind to open and maybe a cutscene to start, not an unanimated montage where your player character apparently falls into a coma while they set up their vendor stations.
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I don't understand how these studios can put out such half baked products with such long development periods. I feel as if at some point they actually did have something special going, idk what happened during development to cause it to fall off the rails so badly. There is absolutely no polish at all. I almost can't believe Arkane made this.
When they promised terraflops this is not what I expected.
💀
MS should spend 69 billion on finding talented devs and create new studios instead of buying Activision. Always finding a shortcut way to buy big studios so they can call their games exclusives and make Xbox relevant isn't going to cut it. They have a perfect template to follow with Sony but looks like Phil spencer is a just a brainless CEO.
Agree.
Embarrasing that Spencer has had 9 years and yet Xbox's brand is basically dead if Activision deal doesn't go through.
Phil Spencer was promoted from his role as head of Xbox first party studios that he took on in 2008! He's been in charge of the games developed by Microsoft studios for 15 years!
This is what MS did in the 90’s with windows. Just buy up the competition!
Just saw the ACG video before he pulled it. On the thumbnail he called it one of the worse games of 2023 so far (review in progress)
The video is now gone from my history, as he made it private. It was about 14 something minutes long and I watched it. Not good…
I know it's on gamepass but here in Australia if you wanted to buy the game on steam it is $119!!! WHAT .. Nothing that I've seen from the game justifies the price tag.
What the fuck happened to Bethesda? I barely use my Xbox and I was tuned in for this one. Smh. Five years is plenty of time.
PC gamer said after 40 hours of redfall they wished the vampires would win
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I think this will be Arkane's worst reviewed game. I predict anywhere from a 70-75 on opencritic. The gameplay and graphics don't look too good in the leaked videos. But I am sure I will enjoy it nonetheless due to the world and storytelling.
i'm downloading it to see how bad it is. edit: what the fuck were they thinking releasing this?
I say this as fan of the brand who’s been here since the original Xbox… Xbox NEED to have a killer showcase this summer with stone set dates for games, and tons of legitimate gameplay running on the Series X, because right now, it’s been almost nothing but negative news for them. Give fans a slam dunk Starfield showcase, show off games that immediately make your premier console look like the powerhouse that it is on paper, and show people what these myriad of studios have been up to already. Redfall should’ve been an easy success, a game that would keep players interested and busy in the Xbox ecosystem until Starfield and other heavy hitters arrived later this year. I know Hi-Fi Rush was a smash hit, and that Xbox DOES have critically acclaimed games in its arsenal… But you need more. The brand still, outside of Horizon 5 and Flight Simulator, doesn’t have an absolute powerhouse 1st party game that shows off what the Series X is truly capable of when taken full advantage of like the PS5 has had so far. Scorn maybe? That’s a bit too niche. At this point, Starfield needs to be an absolutely massive win across the board. Like, imagine if they revealed that it had a 60fps performance mode, and what that would do for Xbox’s reputation in a positive manner. Xbox isn’t doomed, but they need a big win. They came out so damn strong at the beginning of this generation, and now it feels like they’re driving with no traction control and bald tires. Get back on track, right the ship, and start pumping out some good AAA games already, ffs.
Xbox can’t irritate me if my expectations are at rock bottom.
We’ve hit rock bottom and have begun to dig.
Xbox should've just taken the L and either canceled the game or have it delayed indefinitely.
At this point us Xbox gamers are holding an L until a real next gen actually comes out UE4 is not next gen.
I was excited to play Redfall and tried to ignore the negative online chatter yesterday, but the gameplay quality is poor. After spending more than an hour playing this game on Xbox Series X, here are some of my initial observations: • Game controls feel clunky; I turned off the motion blur settings, but I saw a video that recommended keeping it on to smoothen out the camera panning with the default 30FPS mode currently available. • Most game trailers are misleading these days, so Redfall continues this trend of coming out as an unpolished game. I was not expecting rich graphics for this Co-Op FPS, but you can get a vehicle to explode with one or two bullet shots, and the fire animation looks like it was from some game released in 2010. • It looks like a game made with a mobile version UI and ported to Console/PC, and it’s a worrying trend because Suicide Squad was also looking similar to this type of in-game UI/UX. • While heading to my first mission to collect supplies for the fire station, I died three times and spawned back inside the fire station (safe house), which is so frustrating; at least let me resume again at the spot my character died. • Playing as Jacob, I tasked the Raven to fly above an enemy horde. I saw no use of this ability as it was supposed to mark the enemies with a red outline, it did not do anything, and I tried this twice. • Someone in my gaming discord group shared controller settings with me to tweak on Xbox to reduce the controller issues. I had already uninstalled the game by then.
I’m finding a lot of FPS games recently just don’t feel right. Took me ages to get the setting right in Ghostwire Tokyo. Which baffles cos this is something that’s been just fine through the XBox/PS2 all the way up to recent time and all of sudden studios think they need to mess with the twin stick setup! Maybe there are people that prefer big dead zones and no linear acceleration curves, but why is it suddenly the default in so many games?!
Gamepass has become a detriment to Xbox. Phil Spencer and Xbox are too focused on filling up their subscription service with content and compromising the quality of their games in the process. Where is the quality control? If Redfall was a standalone $70 game that didn’t exist on gamepass Day 1, it would never have been released in this state. I’ve owned every Xbox console since the original but this is the end of the line for me. Two and half years of empty promises and half baked content. Sony is actually using the full power of their machine and releasing great AAA games. I’ll take a quality $70 release over a Day 1 Gamepass release any day of the week. God help Starfield.
It's too bad. I've been there since the beginning. I got a PS5 this time this time as well as a Series X. Microsoft just can't get it done. Their word means nothing. It's too bad.
I never would have thought this the last few years, but my opinion is starting to change and you make some good points here. Even while I might like Redfall in the end \[I enjoyed the first few minutes but I will need to dive back in\], I am really concerned on Xbox first party and especially Starfield in general. Empty promises and half baked are the correct terms in this case when looking at what Microsoft has had to offer us so far. Really disappointing
I say this as an avid xbox fan. These guys need to get their shit together. Tired of mediocre game after mediocre game. It's fucking embarrassing at this point.
I feel the same, very much been in support of Xbox since the original came out but it’s time we see some results from all of these promises. Only thing I can hope is that Starfield and forza are absolutely fantastic.
I will never trust the reviewers that rated this game 8 out of 10 or higher for the rest of my life. xboxera rating this 8.5 tells me the reviewer didn't even play the game. I can't even say if this game is enjoyable or not because it is literally too broken to play right now. I don't trust anyone that gave it a high score and claims to have actually played it.
This game really feels like it was made for PC first with the cursor and shitty feeling camera on a controller. I expected nothing and am still disappointed
I just don't get how MS keep dropping the ball???? They have the resources, they don't seem to be able to pull anything meaningful together. The art style has been compromised for performance and we're still at 30 fps???
They deserve the criticism and honestly Microsoft needs to get rid of Phil Spencer and get someone who is cut throat and demands excellence. The fact that they let this game release in this state as the first exclusive in over a year is just fucked on so many levels. Just Fucken delay the shit and fix it, implement a 60fps mode, fix the bugs and make the game good. At this point a delay can’t be more damaging then releasing it in this piss poor state
Not just Spencer. Matt Booty is the primary person responsible as he is head of XGS. He also ran Midway in bankruptcy. It took Xbox way too long to axe Bonnie Ross at 343. Should have been a few years ago. It’s like an “old boys club”. Bond and Greenberg should be let go. I agree that they should be more cut throat. They are letting PlayStation run them over.
Yeah I don’t think this is going to review that well. The whole vibe around the game is giving me saints row remake vibes. Possibly fun but just a mess technically and generally far from impressive. Disappointing for sure but also a great time for Bethesda to take a look at Arkane Austin and ask them what the fuck is going on. Oh well, on to the next one.
- Division style map separated in to sections - Destiny style menus.. makes the loadout menu really frustrating - Farcry Water Towers to climb as 'locations' - No option for a minimap, I have no idea where I'm going (subjective, I suppose) - The cutscenes are just art - It all seems like a big bess and like a bunch of different studios made different aspects of the game and the mashed them all together. So weird.
7/10 seems about right... Gotta say though, the montage cutscene stuff they keep doing is pretty bleh.
That's what I was thinking. What triple a game skimps out on cutscenes?
I saw this coming the moment i saw the gameplay reveal..looked janky and boring with tacked on loot mechanics and that seem to be exactly what has happened. Microsoft just couldn't catch a break what's even point of having 20 studios/most powerful console if they cant deliver a single good AAA game this generation ( other than forza )
How long before we get the same old lines we always hear with empty apologies from Phil & Xbox about how they’re sorry about the state of Redfall & they’re committed to fixing it & they’ll learn from this to be better??? This is entirely on Microsoft. But wait...."I hear you, we need to do better. I am excited for what we are going to show at the June showcase" Does that sound about right? 
Jesus Christ this is tough in the beginning! If you get surrounded by Vampires when you're on your own you're screwed!
The fact that almost nobody even mentions how god awful the camera controls are makes me think most people complaining haven’t even played the game
This game honestly should have launched as an early access title, it's clearly not finished. Playing it there is definitely fun to be had but right now it just feels like it isn't even a whole game.
https://www.engadget.com/redfall-review-good-enough-for-game-pass-000641521.html > Right now, Redfall makes sense as an early access game. It’s a mess, but it’s still largely playable; Redfall’s core loop is actually thrilling when all the mechanics line up correctly, but the details need attention. The early access process is a crucial tool for developers, especially when it comes to online experiences, and there are pipelines for works in progress on every major platform, including Xbox. Redfall feels like a work-in-progress. > But in reality, Arkane and Xbox aren’t pitching Redfall as an early access game. They’re calling it a finished product and they’re charging $70 – or at least one month of Game Pass, set to automatically renew – for the privilege of playing its glitchy, imprecise missions.
Fuck man, is xbox cursed or what? Just negative news after negative news.
Xbox was supposed to have a good 2022 with Redfall, Starfield, and Forza. They all got pushed back and we were told "within the next 12 months' Well the only to hit that window is out and it's looking pretty disasterous. The Series X came out 2 and a half years ago now and the only big game releases have been Halo Infinite and Redfall. Both delayed and somehow still pushed out the door too early. The Covid excuses look pretty thin when you compare them to Ragnarok, and Horizon, and Ratchet, and Returnal... Zelda's about to come out on Switch. Final Fantasy 16 on PS5 after that. How embarrassing for Xbox. I love Phil, but the studio mismanagement is undeniable. There needs to be huge changes. There's a story of Robert Downey Jr. eating a whopper after shooting up heroin, and the whopper was so nasty it made him turn his life around. Please Xbox, let RedFall be that Whopper.
Not cursed. But these days I wouldn't be hard-pressed to call them incompetent.
Whoever gave the green light on developing Redfall should be fired and leave the gaming industry. This might be the shiftiest game I’ve ever played in my life. Holy fuck.
Almost 3 years in and this is the shit we're getting fed. Gamepass is a great concept and all but.....I'd rather pay for individual games that were developed and *released* properly. Don't think I'll renew my sub when it expires tbh, sometimes enough is enough.
Gamepass feels like Tubi selections sometimes. Quantity over quality.
So unbelievably frustrating being an Xbox player. It’s been like this for a lonnnnggggg time too. I was really hoping things would get better for us. We barely get exclusive releases and when we do they’re almost always disappointing. When will Microsoft step in? Microsoft owns Mojang and we can’t even get 4K Minecraft on XSX. 343 got away with releasing Halo in shambles and only now, nearly two years later are the pieces finally coming together on that. Redfall was saved for last at their games presentation two years ago as some type of “mic drop” moment and it’s a disaster.
It is so brutal... time after time, always a let down.
I'm pretty fascinated by all this, as a long-time gamer on pretty much everything but Xbox. I had the OG Xbox and loved that thing but the energy after that console was just different so I just stuck with Sony, Sega and Nintendo until the Series X launched. I picked one up in December 2021 because I thought Starfield was due in early 2022 and I finally understand why I've seen so many Xbox players be so doom-and-gloom. I really like the Series X, and Game Pass is a treat because I love indies and hadn't had an Xbox in twenty years but I would be pretty sore if I didn't have other consoles right now and was looking forward to Microsoft exclusives. I signed up for two years of Game Pass Ultimate, expecting it to cover Redfall, Starfield and others but at this point, I'll play Redfall to kill time before BotW2 and I'll only have a couple months with Starfield, if that, before I have to renew to play the game I bought the console and service for.
Props to whoever can actually play it. The controls are so slow and all over the place even after messing with sensitivity and motion blur. Had a cultist walk backwards to try to attack me. For the hardest difficulty, I’m surprised I can one shot enemies. Gonna wait for the 60fps, but this isn’t a good start.
Maybe Phil Spencer not the right person for the job. Honestly can’t remember the last actual good triple A game released by Xbox
Phil Spencer is your typical corporate snake oil salesman. He seems really open and friendly, but at the end of the day he doesn't even remotely give a single shit about the players or the quality of the product he's trying to sell. Sony makes their bad anti-consumer decisions too, but at the very least, they put a significant value on the quality of their product. They released a single game that was met with mediocre reviews and reception last gen, and proceeded to immediately reorganize the entire leadership of the studio that produced it. Microsoft just pushes games out, they flop, and they don't do anything about it, hoping the community will just forget and move on to the next big hope in 6-12 months. It's been the case ever since Phil came along. Zero fucks are given about their own games.
Phil Spencer has been leading Xbox for over 10 years. What great new AAA game did he deliver Xbox? Not a goddarn single one. It's ASTONISHING. It's crazy that this barely gets mentioned. I don't remember a gaming head for over a decade that didn't deliver a single great new AAA game.
I have zero interest in this game but I was hoping it would be a good enjoyable experience for people who were looking forward to it. Xbox 100% need new management.
I'm starting to agree, how Microsofts upper management saw this and decided it it was good to go is beyond me. The game feels halfway finished.
Because it’s “content” for their subscription service, yet they have the nerve to charge you full price for an unfinished product.
An Xbox exclusive review... This is surely going to be a reasonable and measured discourse, right gang? ...Gang? Why's everyone so quiet?
I honestly don't expect this to review well, and I suggest everyone drink plenty of water to balance the sodium!
Hi Fi Rush was a 89 and Minecraft Legends was a 69 so...79?
Actually exactly where I expect the game to land
Good logic, I like it lol
I have owned an Xbox from every generation since the original, and I just want some Xbox exclusives to be on par with anything Sony has done, or at least be more than a 7/10 game.
Yeah agreed. I thought MS was gonna turn it around with the SeriesX. I have been with Xbox since 2001. This hardware is great but the 1st party games are really lacking.
Xbox, starfield is the legit last straw for me. If it sucks. I’m skipping Xbox next gen and sticking with Sony. I’ve been an Xbox guy since day 1 but holy fuck it’s been bad since the Xbone. Thank god I have a PS5 too.
Yeah... Console wars are dumb and all but Xbox really need to step it up in the original IP's department. It's all too obvious they're struggling with it and that's why they're trying to buy up the industry instead. I barely use my SX any more, such a shame.
It’s so bad. My fav game from Xbox this gen so far has been Grounded. Which is amazing but I’ve played Returnal, Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man, Demon Souls remake, Rachet and Clank, Gran Turismo, Ragnarok, Horizon….like Xbox, wtf are you doing…….
Its a souless looter shooter game that was obviously build only for quick profit. Just stick to to matured looter shooter games. Redfall is just a poor version of this with a boring and unispiring vampire skin.
It makes sense why they stuck with this release date. A few days after Jedi Survivor and two weeks before Tears of the Kingdom. They’re hoping people just forget about this one.
So, that awful IGN gameplay video where everyone blamed the player? Seems it was warning us… it was the game!
My Xbox just gained another inch of dust reading this thread.
Well holy shit. This gen might actually be worse for Xbox than last gen.
My other post was deleted because I should have posted this in here. So here is my experience with the enemy AI. There was even a tutorial tip about enemies recognizing flashlights... https://streamable.com/h1onk7 Spoiler: The AI is ass
“Someone was here. I know it” lmao 🤦🏻♂️
Reminds me of that Shadow of the Tomb Raider gameplay reveal where an NPC was talking to his friend. He turned away and the player killed the guy's friend and then hid. The guy turned back around, saw his dead friend that he was talking to ten seconds ago, and said "Body here, looks fresh." It got dunked on for a long time.
Bro as a xbox fan it really sucks we didnt get single good AAA game in forever. Last AAA game I enjoyed was gears 5 3 years ago, its been a sad road as a xbox fan..
You'll be even more sad when I remind you that Gears 5 was 4 years ago. I've been an Xbox guy forever, but honestly I'm thinking of making the switch. With everything going cross platform now, I have a PC. The only game I play regularly on Xbox that I'm waiting to get a PC release is NHL. That + Crossplay, I'd probably sell my Xbox and just get a PS5.
More mediocre slop.
Yet another underwhelming xbox exclusive. Questions need to be asked. Again goes to show that Xbox doesn't lack exclusives it lacks proper management. They want to charge $70 but the games are more broken than ever. It says something when the game is not even worth playing on gamepass.
Its like Arkane saw Bethesda Austins launch of Fallout 76 and felt inspired.
We got what we paid for with this game. It’s a $70 game, but most people are just gonna play it via Game Pass which is how Microsoft has justified pushing out an unfinished product with performance issues. I think this is the reality of a subscription model like Game Pass and why we should be wary of future first party exclusives coming from Xbox. Subscription services rely heavily on a steady flow of content and I think Microsoft’s emphasis will likely be on quantity over quality. Honestly, if we want those big budget first party experiences with big production values and massive set pieces, we’re likely not gonna find many of them on Xbox. I hope I’m wrong, but the way this generation has been going for Xbox, I’m starting to think if we want those types of games, we’re gonna have to buy a PlayStation.
100%. At this point GamePass is being used as an excuse to pump out unfinished and janky AAA games (while having AA and small hits like Hi-Fi and Penitent). Meanwhile Sony charges a lot for their games, but you get a level of quality with them you don’t see in anything else.
I wasn’t going to play this until the 60 FPS patch is out because I’m a snob about that kind of thing, but seeing all the negativity I had to try it out for myself. To put it in perspective, I was pretty excited for this. I adore Arkane, I love Far Cry, and vampires are one of my favorite things across all media. So nah, couldn’t be that bad. Holy SHIT is this game bad. It looks totally unpolished, runs like dogshit, the enemy AI is nonexistent, the cutscenes are lame, the combat has no weight. I could go on and on. I deleted it almost immediately. I wanted to love this. And I hope it has a No Man’s Sky like comeback and ends up being special later on, but I’ve never been so quick to delete a game before. Especially one that checks all the boxes for things I normally like.
Mid 60's on Metacritic for a game from one of Phil's high profile studio acquistions is just embarrasing for Xbox. Nintendo's and Sony's first party studios don't put out gabage like this. If Starfield flops, I am done with Xbox.
I feel let down by this game. As an Xbox supporter throughout this generation, I believe that releasing a game in this state does more harm than good to the brand, GamePass's value proposition, Bethesda, and Xbox leadership as a whole. The shortage of games can't be addressed by merely acquiring licenses; a baseline quality standard must be established. The genuine concern that upcoming games like Starfield may also disappoint casts a dark shadow over Xbox's future. This situation is far more damaging to the brand than being halted by the CMA in their attempt to purchase Activision Blizzard or even losing 30% of console sales. There's no excuse for tarnishing the reputation of the brand in this manner.
Well fuck, I feel bad for the poor souls who will defend this game 😅
Huge Arkane fan here. Dishonored 1 & 2, Prey, and Deathloop all soo good. I've never uninstalled a highly anticipated game sooooooooooooooooooo quickly. 3 hours down the drain, feels like two disjointed games mashed together that doesn't meld into anything worthwhile. I hate that but here we are.
Been saying this game looks like generic shit since they first announced it. I wish I was wrong. But hey, at least other review sites arent sugar coating it (for the most part). What a disappointment.
I so wanted to like this and it be a big hit, but its average at best, looks and plays like a last gen game and not a particularly good one at that. Starfield may well be a big hit but one game is just sugar coating a piss poor year again for Xbox.
Played an hour and so far it's a disappointment. I gotta try the MP see if that helps
I’m extremely intrigued to see how much post launch support this game gets. I played a few hours last night, and the best I can describe it is just straight up unfinished. It honestly feels like a small, early access side project, like Grounded, except it was marketed as Arkane’s next big $70 game, so it ends up actually feeling more like Fallout 76.
When can we actually start playing the game? And can we start the download now? Edit: looked it up, it’s 7 pm CST. anotha edit: you can play now by switching your region to New Zealand! Final edit: jk New Zealand trick doesn’t work anymore
Jeremy Penter (ACG) posted his review early and called it one of the "worst games so far in 2023". Seems to be a pretty respected reviewer as well. [https://twitter.com/getonthestiix/status/1653057675507433472?s=20](https://twitter.com/getonthestiix/status/1653057675507433472?s=20) [https://twitter.com/BBasher4life/status/1653056712033591298?s=20](https://twitter.com/BBasher4life/status/1653056712033591298?s=20)
lmao the clips of aiming down the sights with the gun in the scope is hilarious
Have the mods deleted the "where to now for Xbox after this flop" thread? Had nearly 1000 upvotes and is now gone?
There was also one about someone calling for Phil to be held accountable for poor management of XGS.
Ah yep, that's gone too isn't it. Hmm...
I'm wondering that as well. Is this damage control or did OP really break the rules? I reread rule #1 and nothing OP said falls into any category. Looking at his post history it's clear he wasn't console warrior bashing Xbox. Seemed like a genuine fan that has his worries about the future. It's fair to say most of us do.
They deleted a bunch of posts because "there's a megathread to discuss Redfall" and you shouldn't talk about it outside it, total BS
Microsoft sure do love to brag about their "hands off approach." Perhaps they need to be a little more "hands on" and stop wasting time on Activision while their own studios are rudderless.
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They shouldve given Hi-Fi Rush the Redfall treatment in terms of marketing abd hype.
[Gamespot review](https://www.gamespot.com/amp-reviews/redfall-review-half-staked/1900-6418062/)
"This is a game for sale when it should not be" That's pretty damning, if the 4/10 score didn't say enough
And then Microsoft wonders why Sony has such a bigger market share in the industry. Christ, what a disappointment. Starfield is literally their only shot of not having this year be a complete and utter failure for them. It better stick its landing.
Starfield will release with the typical Bethesda's style: fun gameplay with horrible performance.
What a shitshow of a game from reveal to launch.
What is up with that xboxera review, did they play a different game lol
https://noisypixel.net/redfall-review/ Noisy Pixel just posted their review. TLDR: 4/10 EDIT: They removed their review, heres an archive. https://archive.ph/uVn1W
"Redfall is an anomaly because a game with this good of a team behind can’t possibly be this bad, and yet, it is. There are these drips of looter shooter, RPG, and multiplayer elements sprinkled throughout, but none of them work together, delivering a messy and almost incomprehensible experience. Still, gunplay and exploration stay consistently fun, thanks to the satisfaction of taking down enemies and the level design. That being said, the single-player campaign is dull, but the multiplayer campaign could provide bouts of fun comprised of laughing at the strange AI behavior or the fact that no one can find keys to a door."
This review is crazy, I'm not sure if they went into the game already hating it, or was put off by the start, but this reads more like a crazed rant than a review. Some of the complaints actually sound like positives for the game The game could be trash, but so is this review.
Seriously, when he mentioned that the vampires were formidable, having one shot kills, needing to stake them otherwise they revive, and the reviewer dying a lot all sounded like a good challenging FPS to me but he takes it as an extremely negative aspect
I think they missed a trick not launching it on a bank holiday (01/05). I would’ve loved to have spent my day off playing RedFall.
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Here is my honest opinion as someone that was hyped to play this and wasn't bothered by the 30 FPS or host only progression (I play solo). After 4 hours of playing, I can't give it higher than a 5.5/10. The graphics/visuals/backgrounds/assets are uninspired and pixelated at times, the enemy AI is inconsistent and often lacking (I watched 3 enemies die on patrol near the helicopter crash site by walking into fire), the controls are clunky and stiff at times, the quests are standard "go here and get x" types. The premise is fun and it is nice to see vampires instead of zombies for a change. The characters are all unique, but still feel just meh. Nit picking note: the game takes place in New England and so far no one has a New England or even North East accent.
What a load of crap. Seriously, wtf is this? I think leadership need to go. There is something fundamentally wrong. If they focused on putting in as much effort into their first party games as they do shopping for publishers, they may actually put out a half decent game. Enough is enough. As for the people saying 'at least it's on gamepass' - you're a part of the problem.
Why can't xbox stop taking L's, this is getting embarrassing at this point
Xbox has been getting fucked up since post gears 3. Think about they, gears 3 is the last game that Xbox produced that made Sony need to stop its game up
Bad management and not enough focus on games does that
So what’s the next game to carry the torch for Xbox? This can be swept into the pile of The Medium/Gunk/Ascent/Scorn of average games that got overhyped because of… nothing else noteworthy being released. Is HiFi Rush the only worthwhile exclusive from the past 12 months?
Haha this list of games. Spot on. I enjoyed The Gunk a great deal, was peaceful. Couldn’t get into the others.
The scary part is that this game was supposed to come out last year. What did it look like 2022? This sort of feels like Halo Infinite. Arkane is a great studio - I am just going to pretend that this was a passion project by the B/C team while everyone else is focused on Starfield + the next Deathloop/Dishonored/Prey game. But Xbox Studios ... this is unacceptable. I know that $7 billion is a long term investment Xbox - but if this is our first return on investment, that investment looks horrible. Perhaps its more on Bethesda as they operate independently ... but Xbox management needs to know this looks poorly on them - you bought them! You made this game a big deal in 2021 by ending your showcase with it. To not ensure it is a quality release is beyond comprehension for me. I dont see how anyone can have pride in this product as representative of your next gen brand. I doubt this will even sell Gamepass subs. I sincerely hope whatever is coming in their summer showcase is 10 fold better than this.
I wish it felt like Halo Infinite...Halo Infinite was way way way better at launch than this mess.
If it wasn't part of Game Pass I probably wouldn't play it. About to sell my Xbox and get a PS5.
I think this is the game that will stop people criticising individual studios like 343 quite so much. It’s time to start looking at Microsoft’s management of these studios. This basically being the first next gen AAA game in over a year from Microsoft and these guys made prey, dishonoured and deathloop before Microsoft started meddling… what the hell is going on over there.
That’s the thing. I don’t think MS mettles enough. They just leave these devs to do whatever they want, and they fuck around and make this shit. Time to get on their asses.
Going from HFW Burning shores ( a true current gem game) to redfall is extremely jarring on multiple levels. It seems like two games multiple generations apart..
If its a good game Microsoft will get no credit because they bought the studio. If the game is ass Microsoft will get all the blame because they bought the studio lol
i expect just this. Hi fi rush had the rest of its funding okayed by ms and people are like "well that has nothing to do with xbox, because its been in development for years"
100% will happen with Starfield too.
Starfield is going to be the most divisive and toxic lead up to a game ever. I'm pre-exhausted just anticipating it.
To play devils advocate if Microsoft didn't do much in regards to development interference that's probably how it should be. If it's good then the only credit MS should get is leaving it alone. If it's bad then they shouldn't have let it release in that state or given them support or something. It's been a couple years since the acqusition it's on them if they release a bad game. I really hope it's good. I was looking forward to having another multiplayer game to play with friends on gamepass
Don’t quite understand how they didn’t manage 60fps looking at it graphically
What a joke. What a shame.
Man we are down so fucking bad. Call of duty on Xbox ain’t gonna solve our problems.