Redfall's cooperative gameplay was inspired by Arkane's experience playing games like Diablo, Borderlands, and Dungeons & Dragons with friends.

One of Xbox's biggest games of 2023 is Redfall, the next title from Arkane Studios, the team behind Deathloop, Dishonored, and Prey. Although much of Redfall seems to carry that same immersive sim DNA that the rest of Arkane's games are known for, Redfall is a noteworthy venture for the studio, as it's the first time that one of its games has featured and focused on cooperative play.

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In a recent interview with GamesRadar+, Arkane Studio's co-creative director Ricardo Bare and studio director were asked about some of the inspirations behind Redfall's multiplayer focus. Bare revealed that his inspiration mostly comes from the fun he and the team had playing cooperative games together.

Team of survivors from Redfall

Bare said, "I can remember, as far back as working on Deus Ex – us as a group playing Diablo together, and then through the years then playing Diablo 2 together and then playing, you know, Borderlands and there's just all these games that are super fun to play co-op, that when we're not working on our kind of game we're like playing these kinds of games together as friends. And we were like, 'How can we have our peanut butter and chocolate together? Like, can we make the kind of games that we like, but somehow play them together?"

Meanwhile, Smith's inspiration is a little more surprising, "I live in constant fear that people are going to figure out that we're just D&D players who think video games could be cooler and deeper. D&D is the best co-op game of all time, and I think people would be shocked if they knew how much we have all played D&D together as a group, from Origin Systems to ION Storm to Arkane."

Although Redfall's co-op does seem like a big part of the game's identity and a clear passion project for Arkane, it's worth noting that the studio has previously confirmed that the whole game can be completed in single-player mode too, just like some of the core inspirations that Bare listed.

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