Karen Segars, art director at Arkane, described the setting as quaint and small, despite the fact that Redfall will be its “biggest” game. Talos One, the setting for Prey 2017, is dwarfed by a farm area players visit in one of Redfall’s early missions, Studio director Harvey Smith recalled. Segars said Talos One was approximately the size of five (American) football pitches, which equals 27k square metres. Redfall is massive compared to Arkane’s previous games, but Arkane has promised it will have just as much environmental storytelling. Smith described Redfall as Arkane’s most ambitious project yet, but not just because of its size. Ricardo Bare, the game’s creative director, spoke about the different approach the team had taken to designing the town of Redfall. “We start with something really weird and fantastic like Dunwall or [a] space station, and then we work to make it so the players can understand the space and learn about the environment,” he said of the process in Dishonored and Prey. “But this time we started with something familiar on purpose… and then we twist it.” This also alludes to the abilities some of the game’s more powerful vampires have access to, warping reality with psychic power. Bare also claimed that “none of [the vampires] are romantic interests” but hey, that didn’t stop us all falling head over heels for Lady Dimitrescu. The developers also talked about how they’ve changed the gameplay from Dishonored and Prey to suit both single and multiplayer sessions. There’s now a skill tree, so one character can specialise in a number of different roles. When playing in co-op, skills that are fully levelled up can also benefit other players. Redfall is expected to release in the first half of 2023 on PC and Xbox Series X and S.
