Skip to main content

Redfall co-op comes with a significant caveat if you aren’t the host

Redfall’s cooperative gameplay comes with a pretty big caveat – you’ll only get credit for beating the mission as the host.

Following its gameplay reveal at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, Redfall has been quite the topic of conversation. And for good reason, as it promises an open-world take on the classic Arkane Studios level design, tons of unique gameplay elements, and cooperative play for up to four players. Unfortunately, while speaking to IGN after the game’s reveal, game designer Harvey Smith made it clear that campaign co-op progress is only awarded to the host after the completion of a mission.

Redfall - Official Gameplay Reveal - Coming to Game Pass - Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022

This means that any players who have come along for the ride will have to replay levels they already beat when they get to them in their own campaign. Players will, however, keep any loot and XP earned while completing the mission, so it isn’t a complete wash. Smith says the team originally considered offering story progress to co-op players, but Arkane dropped the idea as it created problems wherein the story and mission structure in their own game would be thrown off.

“So for the flow of things, you want to have to redo those,” he claimed. “The story would be very confusing if you got to mission eight and it said, ‘skip this one because you’ve already done it.'”

While this design choice may be frustrating to some players, it’s not entirely unexpected as Arkane Austin is also positioning Redfall as a fully fleshed out single-player experience. Smith says the co-op is an entirely optional addition that won’t disrupt the story and flow of the game.

“It was very important to us that we allow you to play the game alone,” Smith said. “So you can pick your way along very slowly, play at your own pace, observe things at a distance, plan, formulate, harvest resources, do all those things that you probably like doing in an Arkane game.”

Redfall launches on Xbox Series X|S and PC at some point in early 2023.

Editors' Recommendations

Billy Givens
Billy Givens is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience writing gaming, film, and tech content. His work can be…
You can’t share Xbox screenshots or videos directly to Twitter anymore
The Xbox Series S console on its side with controller.

It is no longer possible to upload and share screenshots and videos to Twitter from Xbox consoles or the Xbox Game Bar on PC. The move comes amid growing tensions between Microsoft and Twitter owner Elon Musk, who recently made a controversial change to the platform's API rules.
While Microsoft has not confirmed if this change is permanent, this disabling comes after Twitter rolled out new access tiers for its API, including an Enterprise tier that reportedly costs $42,000 a month. It seems that Microsoft has opted not to foot that bill, instead disabling Twitter's integration with Xbox on console and PC altogether.
Shortly after the feature was disabled, the official Xbox Twitter account posted a step-by-step process of how players could still get their Xbox screenshots and clips on Twitter by sharing them from the Captures menu in the Xbox mobile app. When asked by fans why the change occurred, all Microsoft would say is that "we've had to disable the ability to share game uploads directly to Twitter."
https://twitter.com/Xbox/status/1649198865961332737
So far, Xbox is the only console manufacturer to disable this feature, so we'll have to wait and see if Nintendo or PlayStation follow suit. Still, considering how common sharing screenshots and videos taken while playing a game has become on social media, it's a surprising change for Xbox to make.
If this is an intentional, permanent change, it also seems to indicate that Microsoft won't be playing ball with Elon Musk's Twitter changes. The two are currently in a social media war, as Microsoft will also be ending Twitter support on its advertising platform, while Musk teased that he might sue Microsoft. No longer being able to share screenshots or clips from one's Xbox to Twitter comes as a consequence of this feud. 

Read more
Redfall won’t get its 60 fps Performance Mode until after launch
Players approach a vampire in Redfall.

Most games for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S let players choose between a Quality Mode that emphasizes resolution and a Performance Mode that ups the frame rate. While Redfall will eventually have both of those, it's only launching with one of them, and it's not the one you'd hope for from a fast-paced shooter.
Arkane Studios took to Redfall's official Twitter account to explain that the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S versions of the game will only have Quality Mode when the game comes out next month. The Xbox Series X version will run at 30 frames per second at a 4K resolution, while the Xbox Series S version shares that framerate at a lower 1440p resolution. Thankfully, the tweet does confirm that a 60 fps performance mode will come at a later date via an update.
https://twitter.com/playRedfall/status/1646158836103880708
This announcement is disappointing for console players who prefer higher framerates for their fast-paced action games. As Redfall is an intense open-world shooter with lots of combat with flashy effects, the game will potentially feel more sluggish than it should be to play at only 30 fps.
WB Games Montreal's Gotham Knights and Focus Interactive's A Plague Tale: Requiem got into similar hot water last year when they only supported 30 fps on consoles. While those games have not gotten 60 fps updates since their October 2022 launches, Redfall fans can take respite in the fact that the game will eventually get a Performance Mode patch post-launch. If only being able to play Redfall at 30 fps is that big of an issue for you, maybe put off playing it on Xbox Game Pass until that Performance Mode update releases. 
Redfall will launch for PC, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S on May 2. The post-launch Performance Mode update does not have a specific launch date yet.

Read more
Redfall isn’t just a fun vampire shooter. It’s a takedown of the ultra-rich
A screen capture from the Redfall gameplay reveal.

Right before I got to go hands-on for 90 minutes with Redfall, Xbox’s big spring exclusive, creative director Harvey Smith set the stage by introducing a new trailer focusing on the first-person shooter’s story. All I knew about the narrative up until then was that there was some failed experiment that turned a small Massachusetts fishing town into a vampire’s paradise. I’d soon learn that the real catalyst is much more politically charged: A group of ultra-rich elites working at a pharmaceuticals company called Aevum created the vampire disease in a selfish quest for immortality.

Redfall - Official Gameplay Deep Dive

Read more