When Xbox announced they were closing down Arkane Austin, many wondered about the planned content for Redfall, including the expansion and the games updates. Well while the expansion is not happening, refunds will be offered in some form, but the final update has now been delivered.

The highlights for the update are enhancements to the Neighbourhood and Nest systems and introducing some highly requested features such as Offline Mode, Single Player Pausing, DLSS3 and more.

The major updates are listed below, but the studio won’t be issuing patch notes for this release. While it is great to see the studio release the update they had promised, it sucks that they have to do it as the lights are being turned off.

NEIGHBORHOOD REVAMP – INTRODUCING COMMUNITY STANDING

With the release of Game Update 4, unlocking a new Safehouse, completing Safehouse missions, rescuing civilians, or killing an Underboss will all contribute to a new reputation bar called, “Community Standing”. As you assist the residents of Redfall in freeing their town from the grip of the Vampire Gods, you’ll be able to use your Support currency to unlock new rewards from the Safehouse Skill Tree.

There are six ranks of Community Standing giving you 39 unique rewards that serve as permanent buffs. As you progress higher through the Skill Tree, the unlocks become increasingly more impactful.

To help you get a better idea of what upgrades await, let’s look at a couple of unlocks from each of the six ranks of Community Standing.

Rank 1:

Treat Yourself: Cosmetics near your location appear on your Map and Compass.
I’m In: Turrets and Tripwires take 50% less time to Hack.

Rank 2:

The Rest of the Story: Grave Locks near your location appear on your Map and Compass.
Ammo Dump: Human enemies drop more ammo on death.

Rank 3:

Well Grounded: Take 50% less damage from Rook Storm lightning strikes.
Castle Doctrine: Unlocked Safehouse defense now includes some Friendly Turrets.

Rank 4:

Family Heirlooms: Anglers, Shrouds, and Siphons drop better rewards on death.
Homeopathic Remedy: Using a Medical Supply has a 40% chance to not consume the item.

Rank 5:

Crystal Ball: Each Psychic Residue Orb collected has a 40% chance to give you significantly more Psychic Residue.
Last Laugh: When destroyed, Friendly Turrets will electrocute enemies within 20 meters. Does not affect enemies immune to electrocution.

Rank 6:

High Roller: Unrivaled items appear much more frequently in loot.
Escape Plan: Activate a salvaged Bellwether cloak for 10 seconds upon reaching critical health levels. Attacking will deactivate. Can only occur once every 10 minutes.

All the upgrades from the Community Standing Skill Tree are meant to provide you with a mixture of QoL and gameplay benefits. A few of the traits will even help collectors finish out their hunt for cosmetics and Grave Locks.

NEST REVAMP – ELDER NEST

Also arriving with Game Update 4 are Elder Nests. These new Boss-focused Nests will challenge you to destroy dangerously modified special Vampires to free Redfall from their influence.

Portals to the Elder Nest will appear around Redfall much like their Heart Nest siblings. But these new psychic spaces can be distinguished by their purple glow over the areas where their influence reaches.

Once you’ve accepted the challenge and entered the Elder Nest, your objective is to find the Vampire boss buried deep within and destroy them, freeing the Heart inside, grabbing your rewards, and escaping.

After successfully clearing the Elder Nest, you (and your teammates) will be granted a temporary buff called a Heart Shard. The duration of the Heart Shard scales to the campaign difficulty; granting a longer buff at each higher difficulty.

Here are just a few of the Heart Shards that could be granted after completing an Elder Nest:

Ammo Synthesis: Holstered weapons regenerate ammo and reload when not in use.
UV Healing: A player gains health when hit by UV.
Light in Darkness: The expanding aura around the Nest weakens vampires inside it, instead of the usual strengthening effect.

There’s one more major change coming to all Nests with this update. Failing to escape a Nest during its destabilization phase will now result in you not obtaining the Major Remanent. Any loot that you pick up will still be yours, but the Major Remnant is now rewarded after you successfully exit the collapsing Nest.

QUALITY OF LIFE

OFFLINE MODE

With the release of GU4 you will be given the option to play Redfall while disconnected from the Internet. You will also be able to continue playing if you’re disconnected from the Internet in the middle of a solo session. When playing in co-op, the host will be dropped into a solo offline session.

SINGLE PLAYER PAUSING

Another new feature we’re happy to introduce is Single Player Pausing. Now if you need some time to adjust your kit, or you just need to step away for a minute, the world of Redfall will wait with you.

WRAP-UP

This article only covers the largest additions coming to Redfall, but that is not all. New enemy encounters in Redfall Commons, continued AI improvements, Story Mode difficulty, and a new Unrivaled Weapon have also been added with this update.