Vampire fiction, in general, affords plenty of dramatic opportunities to condemn structures of power. It’s also apparent in Midnight Mass, in which a respected local church acts as the gateway for a monstrous contagion. The same suspicion of authority courses through Salem’s Lot, whose heroes bypass official channels to combat the vampire threat. Redfall finds the core of its terrors, then, not simply in the physical horrors of its otherworldly monsters, but in the all-too human evils they manipulate.Ī healthy suspicion of authority runs throughout Arkane’s past work, from the perverse spectacle of feasts laid upon gilded tables in Dishonored, to Deathloop’s filthy slums, to the administrative trickery of Prey’s sci-fi horror setting. In order to achieve their goals, they make victims of hapless, desperately ill patients or trusting family members and friends. They do so having already taken advantage of key community figures’ desire for longer life, and the willingness to chase that longevity at the expense of others. The vampires - tall, spindly creatures who physically resembled an insectile, invasive species of predators - target the average person’s desperation to survive the takeover. The start-up spreads by taking advantage of the individual foibles of key figures in the town, preying on their greed, fear, and selfishness until the avenues for healthcare and addiction treatment have come under their control. Or, to look back at King, a novel featuring a ragtag group of small-town citizens thwarting the homicidal scheme of a powerful vampire.ġ1 thrilling Stephen King adaptations you can watch at homeĬults devoted to the vampire’s worship operate as foot soldiers for their new rulers, policing the town of Redfall by shooting at those who, like the player, attempt to resist their masters’ control. (Even the most aggressive Dishonored player has to slink back into the shadows and make plans to outwit a more powerful enemy force from time to time.) Redfall’s heroes are also battling overwhelming odds, but their supernatural powers, ever-growing arsenal of firearms, and the game’s dimwitted enemies position the rebels less as bedraggled freedom fighters than as a Red Dawn-style militia hitting back with nearly equal resources.ĭespite this, Redfall clearly aims to evoke the same feeling of underdog comeuppance as games starring a solo assassin overthrowing a fantasy government. In Dishonored - and, to a lesser extent, 2021’s Deathloop - assassins fought back against a fictional status quo through game design that prioritized clever thinking and subterfuge over brute force. Unfortunately, the signs of that inspiration don’t so much rise dramatically from the ground as wiggle a finger from the dirt.Ī healthy suspicion of authority runs throughout Arkane’s past work, from the perverse spectacle of feasts laid upon gilded tables in Dishonored, to Deathloop’s filthy slums Its roots in King’s novel, Arkane’s immersive sim philosophy, and vampire fiction in general are buried beneath layers of distraction, but they do exist. The game’s narrative is unevenly delivered, presented mostly through brief, stilted, pre-mission cutscenes and bits of in-universe text that can be easily missed while chatting with a co-op partner or avoiding a cultist’s gunfire. In Redfall, players work to take back an island overrun by vampires, driving bullets and stakes through the hearts of bloodthirsty monsters and their human worshipers while trying to uncover how they rose to power in the first place. It’s a storied lineage to live up to - one whose heights Redfall consistently fails to reach. It’s also the most recent game to come from Arkane Studios, a developer whose portfolio includes the Dishonored series, Prey, and Deathloop. Redfall stands in the towering, Count Orlok-shaped shadow of more than a century of popular vampire fiction - especially, because of its small-town setting, Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot and the heavily King-indebted TV series, Midnight Mass.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |