Vampires. An odd choice, we’ve always thought, for the villains of the latest entry in the Arkane canon. In most of its games, even the end-of-level bosses tend to be frail human beings – supernaturally powerful in what they can do to you, perhaps, but able to be taken down with just a couple of shots, or a single knife in the back. “The average enemy in [Dishonored] was, like, an elderly aristocrat,” says Arkane Austin studio director Harvey Smith. “So what do you do? You can’t turn them into, you know, Hitler in a mech suit.” We’re having this conversation in Bethesda’s London HQ, watched over by a screensaver image depicting BJ Blazkowicz. “Well, you could do that, but…”
The point is that creatures of the night tend to be a little hardier. Arkane loves diegetic explanations for its design decisions, and we wonder if this might be a way of explaining the need to extend their health bars when four players are out slaying together. “We don’t do the bullet-sponge thing, because it’s not as much fun,” Smith says, to our relief. “That gets obnoxious, where you’re just dumping clip after clip into them.” We only get to play Redfall solo – and Smith concedes that there is a little damage scaling when more players enter the fray -but in this mode at least vampires can be put down with a single well-aimed shot. Although that’s not, strictly, the end of them. If you don’t finish them off – with fire, electricity or a good old-fashioned stake – they’ll eventually revive, like Dracula rising from the grave again at the end of the movie.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
CHANTS OF SENNAAR
How Babel helped a world of stealth become a world of words
MEGHNA JAYANTH
Around the industry in eight games: one writer's journey through indie to triple-A and back again.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Sam Fisher's final outing is also his most enigmatic
Post Script
How low should a boss go?
TWO POINT STUDIOS
How a new studio rose from the ashes of Lionhead success not simulated
RAIDERS OF THE ARCHIVE
Wolfenstein-style shootouts are just a small part of the picture in MachineGames' maximalist Indy game
SPLITGATE 2
If it ain't broke, don't fix Split
KINGDOM COME: DELIVERANCE II
A bigger, better - and funnier Bohemian rhapsody
Narrative Engine
Write it like you stole it
The Outer Limits
Journeys fo the farthest reaches of interactive entertainment