Last week I was lucky enough to get a chance to visit the Bethesda ANZ office to get an early hands-on preview of Redfall. During this experience, I was able to play a story mission that takes place about 30% into the campaign, and I was able to pick from the four characters you can play which also already had some levels earned and skill points unspent, this allowed me to pick skills that I think would have suited a playstyle I went with.

The playable characters are Jacob Boyer, a marksman with the ability that sends out a raven to scout nearby targets and highlight their positions for the team. He can use a cloak that will make him invisible for a short period of time. Jacob’s ultimate skill is Heartstopper, where he summons a ghostly sniper rifle that deals massive damage per shot and is able to kill vampires at range. His skill tree will consist of extra damage at range with headshots, and critical damage while cloaked.

Layla Ellison has telekinetic powers which she can use in two main ways. First off, her Lift ability will create an old-style elevator which she can use to jump from, giving her a massive boost into the air, and her second skill is to create an umbrella in front of her to act as a shield and will capture enemies’ rounds, and these can be thrown back when you turn the skill off. Layla’s ultimate ability allows her to summon her ex-boyfriend, who just so happens to be a zombie, and he will fight alongside her, zipping and zooming around, and slashing targets. It is nice knowing you can have a helping hand.

Remi De La Rosa is the tech head of the group. Her skills are more gadget-based, with C4 dealing big damage, or possibly being able to act as a jump pad, launching Remi to get to the high ground. Her other skill is to deploy a robot, Siren, who will distract enemies nearby by making noise and flashing lights, allowing Remi to get some good shots on targets. Remi’s ultimate skill is by far the most helpful for a team setup, as she places a healing circle that not only heals allies, but it can pick up downed teammates within its radius.

Devinder Crousley, like Remi, uses gadgets to gain the upper hand in combat with an Arc Javelin that will shock and stun all enemies near where the Javelin lands. His Translocate skill is great for getting around, and by throwing down a metal disc, the player will teleport to it, ideal for getting high ground in fights, or for quickly getting to cover. His ultimate skill is Blacklight; a portable UV lamp that he places in front of him which will stop vampires in their tracks and causes them to become fragile, letting you simply punch them once for a killing blow.

We were dropping into the story surrounding the Addison Mansion, where players are sent to find more information about Dr. Addison and his experiments. I first spawned into the Fire Station, the map’s home base, where I was able to resupply ammo and pick up side quests. The mansion in question was located southwest of the home base, and there was a lot of ground to cover in between.

As I was making my way there, and exploring along the way, I met some cultists who made for some good target practice, and seeing how the gunplay worked with the arsenal I had at hand, I was able to play with assault rifles, shotguns, snipers, pistols, flare guns, stake launcher, and a UV beam gun.

When fighting against a vampire you can deal damage like normal, but for the killing blow, you need either a weapon with a stake attached or use a ranged weapon like the flare gun, the UV beam, or the stake launcher. When a vampire is ready to be staked, they will stay where they are and will flash red, but if you are not quick enough, they will restore some health and return to fighting you.

Across the map, I was able to find safe houses to unlock and vampire nests to take down. The nests were fun to engage, particularly when clearing a way to the heart of the nest, but then having to destroy it and escape before the nest collapses and traps you added some good tension, as you can easily get swarmed in the nests so it was a risk to take part in. There are variants of vampire enemies, such as the Siphon. When you are close to this variant, they can pull blood from you and feed at a distance. The Watcher variant was all over the Addison Mansion, working as lookouts and doubling as snipers.

They are easy enough to spot and track; just look out for a laser sight, but the highlight of the special variants that I managed to fight would have been the Rook, hands down. The Rook is a harder variant to fight as they are sent by the Vampire Gods when you kill too many followers, or if you clear side objectives like safe houses or vampire nests.

You will be informed that the Vampire Gods are watching and a progress bar will appear. If you anger them and the bar is filled, a Rook will spawn nearby to deal with you. The Rook, out of everything I fought, was more of a tank as it took a lot more bullets to weaken and it hit very hard, but upon killing it, I was able to find some amazing loot on the body.

While the event I attended was for single-player only, Redfall has shown that with the right selection of characters, you can make an unstoppable team when playing with friends. With an amazing open world and stunning visuals, Redfall is coming along very nicely, and I very much look forward to seeing more leading up to the full release.

Written by: Shane Walsh