"Redfall" ranks among the year's biggest disappointments. In fact, PCG's Tyler Korpp gave the game a score of 44% and used the strong phrase "having a miserable time" less than 20 words in his review of Redfall. But bad games don't just fall from the sky; they are often the result of bad decisions, limited resources, and a long chain of plain old bad luck.

Between playtests, mock reviews, and simple experience, developers often know when a game falls short of expectations. In fact, according to the article, many of the studio's developers secretly hoped to cancel the project outright after Microsoft acquired ZeniMax in 2020.

According to a Bloomberg investigation, the development of "Redfall" was plagued by chronic understaffing; Arkane Austin's team of less than 100 people was not large enough to make a major multiplayer-focused shooter. About 70% of the team members who worked on Arkane's (excellent) "Prey" left the studio before "Redfall" hit store shelves, and the company struggled to make up for their expertise.

A brief glimmer of hope came in the form of Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax in September 2020, but perhaps not in the way the studio's bosses would have liked. Sources told Bloomberg that when Arkane Austin staff learned that they had been poached by Microsoft's acquisition, the new bosses rebooted the project as a classic Arkane-style single-player project They hoped that this would be the case. Otherwise, he hoped the company would cancel development altogether, freeing the staff from a job for which they lacked confidence or enthusiasm.

No such order was given. Instead, Microsoft allowed ZeniMax to continue development much as before, enjoying a great deal of autonomy and ensuring that the plans for "Redfall" remained much as they had been at the outset: Microsoft allowed ZeniMax to do the same kind of work it had done before, and Arkane excelled at It included few of the elements that Arkane excelled at, such as gameplay and close level design. So it was small surprise that the game was finally released in that state.

As a diehard "Prey" lover and "Dishonored" fan, I was wary when "Redfall" was announced and disappointed when it was finally released. worth reading to get a sense of how this project came to be. I worry about where Arkane Austin will go next, as it seems that many veteran developers are gone, but I hope it will be a project that they are much better at than "Redfall."