Redfall update breathes new life into the game’s open world

Redfall had me unbelievably excited almost as soon as it was first announced. An Arkane Studios and Bethesda Softworks game all about vampires? Sign me up, or so I thought. Unfortunately, the game’s launch didn’t go as planned and many of us were underwhelmed with the empty open world, lack of combat, performance, and other issues. Since that initial release, the developer has been hard at work to improve gameplay and more in Redfall with patches. Arkane Studios’ recent major update addresses a lot of these problems, breathing new life into the game.

This new Redfall update is a sort of second wind for the FPS game, giving us a fresh incentive to hop back into the open world with friends. If you spent most of your time in-game looting rather than engaging in chaotic combat against bloodthirsty vampires, you likely found yourself wishing for more enemies and fleshed-out battles with them. The Redfall patch notes detail a greater “enemy population and mission encounter balancing,” which targets the lack of frequent, fun fights.

Objectives should be a bit more tedious to complete now, albeit in a good way. Many games have succumbed to the open-world trap of going from point A to point B without much happening along the way, but it seems like the developer is combating this in the big patch. Arkane also writes that the new update fixes “several scenarios where enemies could become stuck in an idle state and stop engaging with the player,” which will also help make the world feel more alive.

Boss fights are also changing with the update as Arkane works to improve “combat behavior” in such big fights. On top of those combat and enemy AI changes, it looks like we’re also getting an interesting stealth mechanic. The dev says we can now “sneak up and take down unaware Cultists & Bellwether enemies with staked weapons,” adding a new layer of immersion to Redfall.

While multiplayer has recently died down quite a bit, especially when considering the current number of Redfall Steam players, the second update could turn the dead online play around. A variety of multiplayer changes are included in the patch notes, such as “visually distinct player indicators” as well as new multiplayer session markers and a “unique co-op ping color for each player in the squad.”

You can look through our in-depth roundup of all of the new features and adjustments coming to Redfall with the second update below. There are a lot of strong accessibility additions and fixes tackling various performance issues. The game’s environment should now also be graphically more appealing and less confusing overall, with loads of interface changes to boot.

Redfall patch notes – Update 2 – Friday, October 6, 2023

If you want to view the full patch notes directly from the source as well as any additional notes from Arkane Studios, you can head on over to the developer’s official Steam post.

Accessibility

• Improvements to Screen Narration
  • Narration updates when a Multiplayer Lobby state changes between Ready and Unready.
  • Support when the text entry field is open. Narration updates every seven seconds if the field remains open.
  • Narrates “Back” and “Friends” menu controls on all pages of the Settings menu.
  • Support within the Username input field for the “Add Crossplay Friends” sub-menu.
  • Fixed an issue where players would be prompted to “Press Enter” when focused on the Username input field in the “Add Bethesda.net Friends” sub-menu.
  • Support for navigation control in Hero Select and System Select menus.
  • Narrates game invites and friend request notifications.
  • When selecting a locked difficulty, the screen describes the difficulty type as “Locked”.
  • When selecting an unlocked difficulty, the screen narrator will narrate “Difficulty Selected”.
  • The Main Menu’s System tooltip displays “System” only, and will narrate “System” in both the Main and System menus.
  • Hover support for all buttons and links, both digital and analog inputs.
  • Narration support when pings are placed or removed from the world.
    • • Fixed several issues with screen narration in Bethesda.net modals.
      • Removed incorrect prompt to “Press Enter” to input email address, username, and/or password when logging in.
      • Bethesda.net account Help menu now supports proper narration.
      • Narration Support in the Bethesda.net Updated Agreement.
• Exiting a Multiplayer Lobby now properly reads “Close”, instead of “Quit” or “Leave Lobby” when the Friends List is open.
• Lobby labeling now visually and audibly differentiates between Singleplayer and Multiplayer.
  • Added a secondary sensory method in the Archive to indicate a focus on the scroll bar.
• Improved photosensitivity work in the following areas:
• Firing the Clacker Unrivaled weapon in ADS near a red emergency light.
• Flashing environment light bloom caused by weapon fire.
• Vampire death and disintegration.
• Remi’s Cluster Bomb C4 explosions detonating in rapid succession.
• Summoning Layla’s Lift with other players standing nearby.

Combat

• Players can now sneak up and take down unaware Cultists & Bellwether enemies with staked weapons.
• Increased open-world enemy population and mission encounter balancing.
• Added unique open-world enemy encounters in Redfall Commons.
• Added elements of light or reflective clothing to vampire and human NPCs to aid in visibility during the night.
• Increased ammo pickups in areas surrounding the Fire Station to help new players maintain early-game resources.
• Enemies now reposition to avoid friendly fire.
• Bribón is now guaranteed to shock nearby enemies while using Siren with the Robot Rock skill activated.
• Remi will now be alerted when–and where–Bribón is downed.
• Fixed several scenarios where enemies could become stuck in an idle state and stop engaging with the player.
• Sights and silencer barrels have been updated to improve reticle visibility.
• Sights using a green emissive have been tuned so they aren’t as bright at night.
• The scale and positioning of magazines have been improved to prevent clipping and other animation issues.
• Improved Rook combat behavior in the Black Sun boss arena.

Environment

• References to the Burial Point district have been added to the Map and other locations in the Redfall Commons district.
• Improved the lighting presentation in the Black Sun boss arena.
• Improved visual fidelity for psychic space butterflies, fog pockets, the Black Sun’s glowing sigil, and various water effects.

Gameplay

• Numerous improvements to default Aim-Assist and Dead Zone tuning, and more options for players to customize these settings for both Controller and Keyboard/Mouse.
  • Arkane Recommendations:
    • • For fast-paced multiplayer FPS fans – Check out Medium, High, or Linear Input Response Presets as they tend to feel faster and more responsive overall.
      • For slower single-player FPS fans – Check out Default, Low, or Medium Input Response Presets as the slower response curves tend to feel like you have a little more precision over your aim.
  • Increasing/decreasing your Controller Sensitivity from the Input Response Presets default value will directly increase/decrease your overall left/right turning speeds.
  • For players who turn up their Controller Sensitivity, consider trying out Default/Strong/Very Strong Aim Assist Strength and ADS Snap Strength if you would like that assistance.
  • For players who turn down their Controller Sensitivity, try Very Weak/Weak/Default Aim Assist Strength and ADS Snap Strength presets to prevent it from feeling like you are fighting for control over your aim.
  • Tinkering with the Input Response Preset setting is a great first step to help you find the controller settings that work best for you.
• During the Settling In mission, Anna Creelman will now fill the player’s pistol, shotgun, and assault rifle ammunition.
• Added new Vampire Nest spawns to Old Town and Sedgewick neighborhoods.
• Added a tutorial blade and Archive entry for Psychic Residue.
• Remi’s C4 no longer remains in the world after exploding.
• Various fixes for mission objective persistence.
• Added mission dialogue for Fall Like Lightning.

Multiplayer

• Added visually distinct player indicators and markers for Multiplayer sessions, and unique co-op ping color for each player in the squad.
• Improved player ping visibility.
• The Light’s Out achievement will now be awarded in multiplayer only if the Lost in the Fog mission is active.

Performance and stability

• Improved PC performance and stability across a wide range of hardware configurations.
• Addressed several edge-case memory crashes.
• Addressed graphical corruption issue with changing resolution with AMD GPUs.
• Fixed an issue with resetting Game Settings to their default values while in Windowed display on a second monitor.
• The anti-aliasing setting is now hidden in Video Settings while AMD FSR 2.1 upscaling is enabled.
• Various performance improvements were made to Hero abilities, weapons, and general game systems.
• Various fixes to support Hero abilities triggering properly despite environmental factors like ladders, death mist, electrocution, and more.
• Improvements to player navigation and collision across both Redfall Commons and Burial Point.

User interface

• Weapons with silencers, or silenced muzzle attachments, now reflect their “silent” state in tooltips.
  • Silenced weapons generate less noise, and are less likely to alert nearby enemies.
• Vault and Mantle indicators now display in the HUD when a surface can be vaulted over, or mantled.
• The Mission Briefing Table now better delineates between Main Missions and Optional Missions.
• Functional improvements to compass markers and objective search areas to behave more consistently.
• Historical Markers now display on the Map in their locked state once players complete the introductory missions in Redfall Commons and Burial Point.
• Improved the readability of ammo purchasing.
• Added an off-screen indicator when Bribón is downed.
• Fixed an issue where objective search areas were blocking fast travel actions while using the Map.
• The Text-to-Speech hotkey now displays at all times when active.
• Player reporting now shows a loading indicator when submitting.
• Clarified the achievement description for Rum Runner.

If you’re looking for some other action-packed experiences to enjoy with your friends outside of Redfall, be sure to browse through our list of the greatest multiplayer games out there. Alternatively, check out a few of our favorite vampire games if you want to have a fang-tastic time.