Redfall: Where is the Hype?

It seems we’ve been really quiet about the upcoming Redfall here at GamesReviews and we’re not alone. It doesn’t seem like it’s getting the hype of other big games.

There’s a lot of reasons that might be. Starfield was the next big Bethesda release, until it wasn’t. And now Redfall seems to be being compared to that, in terms of its “place” within the Xbox release schedule. That’s a lot of pressure to put onto a game that is in a completely different genre.

But that’s what happens when you delay your flagship game and then refuse to tell anybody when it’s coming out. I understand why, but I don’t know it’s done Redfall much good.

It’s also not a PlayStation or Nintendo game. You can remove at least a little bit of hype because of that. If it was being released by some indie company it would still be getting around the same amount of discussion. I’m not seeing much talk about Stalker 2, for another example, except when it comes to the situation the game is being developed in.

So here’s the question. Is this something that Xbox has to overcome? Does every game need to be a Starfield or a Fable or a Perfect Dark to recieve an appropriate amount of hype? Or does something need to be shadow dropped without being announced to get any amount of traction with gamers?

Changing The Face of Redfall

This has been paired with some mixed reaction to showcases of it so far. It’s never bothered me personally, but the gaming community are famously difficult to impress. That, mixed with the multiplayer focus, probably has done more damage than good.

But here’s the twist in the article: I don’t think any of this matters. So long as the game is good – and I can’t say with any certainty that it will be – then the crowds will come to play it. Like Sea of Thieves, it’ll find its crowd, both multiplayer and single-player. And then the message will begin to change.

Sure there will still be negativity amongst those that haven’t played it, but DLC packs will probably be popular and pull people back in.

And I think this is the beauty of the Game Pass model. When you have nothing to lose except the time it takes to download something, why wouldn’t you give it a try? And as Microsoft start releasing more and more titles – we’re on the precipice of that now – the hype will begin to grow automatically.

Will that lead to more consoles being sold, or more people paying directly for the games? I guess that’s something we’ll have to wait and see. I don’t know that either of those things really matter in the grand scheme of things.

But Redfall is going to be a good test of that. Like Forza before it, the metrics on Xbox have completely changed, and it’ll be interesting to see how well that starts to pan out.