How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (Metacritic) | – | 56 | 23 |
| Creator reviews (2 tracked) | – | 40 | 2 |
| All-time Steam reviews | – | – | 0 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 40 | 667 |
| Backloggd ratings | – | 14 | 750 |
| Xbox store ratings | – | 19 | 750 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | – | – | 0 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 0 reviews sampled · 0 total reviews in window · weighted 0 up / 0 down · computed 40m ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (66)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 30
“Redfall is a sorry skeleton of a game that meets the lowest bar possible to be considered a functional, sellable product, and it manages to bungle even that elementary task. At its very best, this embryonic embarrassment almost aspires to mediocrity, but such heady heights are too frequently beyond its reach. If it were interesting enough to inspire any emotion other than boredom, the humiliatingly cretinous enemy AI, recycled assets, lack of basic features, and laundry list of glitches would be laughable. The quality of this game, however, isn’t funny. It’s exasperating. Arkane Studios is so much better than this, and be it through a lack of time or a lack of money, they’ve made something a studio of such pedigree could rightly be ashamed of. ”
read full review ↗ - 30
“Redfall is a broken mess that serves as the worst kind of Xbox Series X|S representation and a huge stain on Microsoft, Bethesda and Arkane's reputation going forward.”
read full review ↗ - 40
“Redfall features none of the variety to support its bloated length, in either its slow-to-unfold character progression or its bizarrely thin loot system, which is scant on customization and quickly devolves into finding the same guns at progressively higher levels.”
read full review ↗ - 40
“The result is a game with no identity of its own. Redfall simultaneously wants to be a looter shooter like Borderlands, in an open world like Fallout's, with action like Dying light and a lengthy multiplayer experience like Destiny. But it fails on all counts. The game environments are bleakly empty, the gameplay is wooden. Like the vampires from the world of Redfall, the game has no soul.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“Redfall sees Arkane experiment with melding genres, to mixed results. There's plenty of flashes of the style and narrative flair we've come to expect from this incredible studio as you explore the town and face off with its undead inhabitants. However, the mixing of FPS action and story beats with open world exploration and a relatively relaxed pace leads to a balancing act that may leave hardcore shooter aficionados and Arkane super fans alike wanting more. If you come at it looking for a chilled out bit of vampire hunting there's still plenty to enjoy here, but some irksome AI issues and a lack of clarity over what it really wants to be leave it feeling a little lost in a limbo of its own making.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“It just makes no sense that Microsoft promotes this game as this grand co-op experience but then puts in place every system known to man to hinder that process or make it harder than necessary; no quick match in a multiplayer game in 2023 is ridiculous. Sadly, Redfall is a prime example of what current day Xbox has become, the potential for greatness is there but they can’t get out of their own way to reach it.”
read full review ↗ - 50
“Redfall is an epic miss from Arkane. The combat is mind-numbing, the quests are uninspired, co-op is a bummer, and the story doesn’t reach its potential. The only saving grace is its setting, but it’s pulled down by everything else. While co-op is the focus of the marketing, it doesn’t feel like a priority in Redfall’s design. There is some basic enjoyment in the solo campaign if you just want to turn your brain off, explore the town, and blast some goons, but there are easily better alternatives out there. ”
read full review ↗ - 83
“Redfall is that kind of game that gets you into the action with your friends. It's super fun, especially when you join a team of four, and are tasked with fighting hordes of vampires to save survivors and meet haven objectives. But that's not all, what really takes this game to another level are the character enhancement mechanics and dynamic agility of movement. ”
read full review ↗ - 52
“A shooter in which you slaughter vampires with your friends sounds fun on paper, but in the case of Redfall it is especially frustrating in practice. The game has a nice game world and great shooting action, but that doesn't make up for the bizarre choices, technical problems, stupid enemies and extremely short playing time. Redfall is an Arkane-unworthy product.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“Redfall disappoints. Arkane Austin decided to take some risks and experiment a bit, but the result is a game whose target audience is really hard to define.”
read full review ↗ - 40
“Ultimately, Redfall is a game that should not have been released yet. Its litany of bugs hampers the gameplay loop of exploring its world with friends, and that loop itself feels compromised by elements that are poorly executed and ill-suited to the team implementing them. I can't pretend to know whether Arkane chose to make a loot shooter or was assigned to make a loot-shooter, but I can tell you what it feels like: one of the best game studios in the world suddenly made toothless.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“Immersive sim meets four-player co-op in this vampire themed first person shooter that features competent gunplay but a lack of ingenuity in its challenges.”
read full review ↗
The Jimquisition
GameMAG
Slant Magazine
Pure Xbox
ZTGD
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SomosXbox
Power Unlimited
Eurogamer
GameSpot
Metro GameCentral…and 54 more tracked reviews.