I wrote a piece a couple weeks ago that kind of went off on how gaming media likes to blow up every little thing into something major. “People must be outraged or they’re not going to click” seems to be th logic, but then it must also be acknowledged that there is a lot of negative stuff to talk about. It’s often hard to put a positive spin on things since we have so much precedent now, but sometimes it’s not so hard. So, after burying the lead so thoroughly, here it is: Redfall has gotten a “major” update, and it seems nobody is being fooled. Thank goodness!

At first, this most recent update to Redfall (Arkane and Bethesda’s big ol’ vampire huntin’ flop from last May) sounds robust. Lot of bugs have been fixed, new combat capabilities have been added, performance mode finally implemented and enemies made a bit less brain-dead. The full list is quite long, but it’s not as though the game has been fully fixed; it’s just less cruddy now. That’s all Redfall can ever aspire to too, as its a game that’s flawed from its very foundations.

All the same though, in years past this sort of update would have still enticed players to come back in the hopes that it would somehow magically turn a bad game into a good one, the studio/publisher would get money and we’d all be locked-in for another broken mess of a game somewhere down the line. However, it seems that that’s not what’s happening his time.

The update is instead being widely received with skepticism and even derision. People are still calling Redfall and its makers out for what it is, I for one hope it continues. I don’t necessarily want games to fail, mind you, but I do want to see this practice of “release it now, grab the money and maybe fix it later” to be wholly punished to the point of no longer being worthwhile. It’s only going to happen if gamers wouldn’t be so quick to offer forgiveness for this, so here’s hoping Redfall is allowed to remain a failure no matter how much money Arkane and Bethesda pour into their attempts to fix it.

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How do you feel about all this? Should Redfall be given a second chance or just be forgotten?

Image from the Redfall Steam page