Redfall gets its first major patch, but is anyone around to care?

More than a month after it launched to—let's just put it out there—spectacular failure, Redfall's first major patch is live. The update makes a wide range of changes and bug fixes, and the developers say more is coming, but one of the most anticipated fixes—the 60 fps "performance mode" for console players—is still missing in action.

"We’re grateful to see that millions of you have explored the quaint but dangerous open world of Redfall," Arkane said. "Building a play space this large has been humbling to say the least. We recognize that we still have work to do, and we plan to address as much as we can, as quickly as we can.

"Today’s release is only our first patch and introduces a lot of incremental fixes that will improve Redfall. Once available, we will be sharing more information about future updates, including our 60 FPS Performance mode, on our official social channels @PlayRedfall."

It's a meaty patch to be sure, but unfortunately for Arkane there are very few people left to notice, much less care. According to Steam Charts, there are currently only 42 people playing Redfall, down from today's peak concurrent player count of just 79. Redfall is a multiplatform game so that doesn't tell the whole story, but it's still extraordinarily bad, especially for a game that was positioned as a major release from a big, well-respected game studio. 

A couple of comments on the patch express hope that it represents progress toward a better future, but by and large there's not a whole lot of optimism for a turnaround.

"I was really looking forward to this. But let's be realistic," one Steam user wrote. "Had this patch, or at least some communication happened during week 1 of release this would have been received more positively. Currently there are barely 100 per day players. A bitter disappointment."

"As much as the PR lingo bothers me (talking to us like it's not common knowledge by now that Redfall was only made as a live service lure for potential Zenimax buyers, and ignoring the fact that the game's reception has been catastrophic across the board), I guess it's good to see that there's someone left at Arkane to patch this game into a minimum viable product," another said. "Let's see how long they'll continue to put money into fixing this."

They have to start somewhere, I guess. The full patch notes are below.

Gameplay

• Increased enemy encounter spawn rates across the open world
• Improved ADS (aim down sight) visibility when looking through sniper rifle scopes
• Breakable glass will now shatter on first impact from all guns
• When using additional ammo storage skills, ammo collected above the standard weapon capacity will now persist between gameplay sessions
• Players can move without interruption when performing melee attacks against enemies
• Bribón no longer idles in place after performing the Siren ability
• Devinder's Translocate ability is now more reliable when used in the Black Sun boss arena
• Updated various mission descriptions and mission summary texts across all languages
• Nests now unlock at the correct time when playing in New Game Plus (after completing *A Voice in the Dark*, and start *Giving You Tomorrow* | or in the reverse order)
• Added medical supplies to the path leading up to the Bloody Tom boss arena
• General mission fixes and improvements

Combat

• Fixed multiple instances of enemies appearing unresponsive in combat
• Improved Vampire melee attacks to increase chances of hitting players in motion
• Cultist and Bellwether enemies received general improvements to their combat behaviors, including faster reaction times
• The Rook is now more relentless and will now hunt down all living party members. Kill or be killed
• Rook Storm lightning bolts will no longer hit players through rooftops and most other unexpected situations

AI/NPC

• General improvements to human enemy navigation, including animation timing and responsiveness
• Dormant Vampires are now more susceptible to waking up from player-generated noise
• Enemies are now drawn towards the greatest threat during combat. This could be a player, Bribón, or an opposing enemy faction
• Improved enemy pathing options across open world areas in both districts
• Added mouth blood to additional Vampire facial variations

Environment

• Players have higher chances of encountering additional and varied enemies while exploring the open world
• Enemies are no longer able to shoot through certain walls in the Fire Station
• Vampire Nest exit door will now appear correctly in the Shipyard heart instance
• Improved many instances of visual issues at a distance, including materials and model adjustments
• Mission Briefing sequences are brighter
• Improved lighting and audio processing in many interior spaces in both districts
• Skybox updates to prevent extreme star flickering
• General improvements to collision detection and asset placement throughout both districts

Performance and Stability

• Fixed an issue that was preventing certain decal streaming textures to fully load in, causing them to appear blurry
• Resolved several situations where players could experience an infinite loading screen
  Improved framerate performance in Bloody Tom and Miss Whisper psychic spaces and boss arenas
• Players can now proceed past the Accessibility Menu on a new, unlinked bethesda.net account
• Improved lighting performance in psychic spaces
• Blood pool reflections no longer excessively flicker
• Optimized VFX particle counts, emitters, and spawn rates for the following effects:
• Shield and Inspiration enemy trait effects
• Environmental fire and smoke effects in the Bladewell Campgrounds
• Hero ability effects, including Layla's Umbrella and Jacob's Heart Stopper
• Bloody Tom's slam effect, and Miss Whisper's death effects
• Floating dust particle effects
• Grave Lock effects
• Psychic Echoes
• Nest area-of-influence effects
• Effects when placing Underboss skulls on vampire god pedestals
• Blood tree disintegration effects
• Optimized memory usage when using Jacob's Raven ability
• Black Sun's clothing no longer renders animated blue materials
• General improvements to stability
  

Multiplayer

• Increased the chances of players encountering enemies with special traits in multiplayer sessions
• General improvements to stability and functionality in Multiplayer Lobbies

Accessibility

• EmLeft and right movement keys can now be successfully remapped to Left and Right Arrow keys to improve left-handed movement control experience
• Players with existing game saves will need to reset their Mouse and Keyboard bindings to Default in the settings menu before attempting to remap movement keys to the arrow keys
• Screen Narration supports additional paths for critical player communication:
• Invites and Friend requests
• Joining a multiplayer Lobby
• Clients leaving a multiplayer Lobby
• "Invalid Username or Password" error
• Additional bethesda.net menu screens
• Updated states of disabled UI elements once players Ready Up in a multiplayer Lobby
• "Let Games Read to Me" option on first launch for Xbox Series consoles is now enabled
• Adjusted the timing of several subtitles to ensure they display in the correct order
• Screen Narration settings will now persist between game sessions
• Added missing audio cues for Friends List section headers, and the Play Game button
• Adjusted text size scaling for Bethesda icons
• Contrast improvements for Ping text, multiplayer progression text headers, and Hero names
• Controls will no longer lock while the Text-To-Speech field is open
• Resolved instances where certain UI elements would lose cursor focus
• Added error messages and warning pop-ups for the following situations:
• Controller disconnections while on the Initial Input Screen
• Clients de-selecting Ready after the Host launches the game
• Players cancelling Friend requests
• Added missing subtitles to Archive entries for the Giving You Tomorrow mission briefing
• "Optional Details" is no longer a required field when reporting another playerpty list

User Interface

• Tutorial blades are now more responsive when multiple are stacked on top of one another
• Settings will revert correctly during active gameplay when Cancelling in the Confirm Changes message prompt
• Enemies will no longer lose nameplates and health bar information when cancelling fast travel
• Weapons loadouts will no longer swap into weapon inventory when starting new game sessions in quick succession
• Safehouse keys have been added to the Key Ring
• The Rook Storm meter now appears more consistently in game, and in the Map
• General improvements to Menu navigation and feedback