WARNING:Spoilers for Redfall AheadMany fans of Arkane Studios were excited when it was initially announced that the developer, acclaimed for its systems-heavy shooters likeDishonoredandPrey, would be taking on the horror genre with its next game,Redfall. While some gamers were intrigued by the title’s spooky premise, which sees players taking on hordes of vampires in addition to the human characters that traditionally serve as fodder in first-person shooters,Redfallfailed to land with playersand critics. Despite the poor reception from players, though,Redfallstill managed to pack in some entertainingly eerie bosses in the form of its four Vampire Gods.
Serving as the game’s toughest enemies aside fromRedfall’s powerful Rooks, the Vampire Gods hold dominion over the town of Redfall and its outskirts following the blotting out of the sun. Driven mad by the eerie events enveloping the town, some of the human survivors have become cultists under the sway of the terrifying quartet. Players run into the cultists of the being known as the Hollow Man shortly after stepping foot into town, marking the first step on their journey toward discovering the truth about one ofRedfall’s most ruthless Vampire Gods.
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The Ghostly Voice Haunting Redfall
As players make their way throughRedfall’s early hours, the eerie silence of town will frequently be pierced by the Hollow Man’s otherworldly voice blasting forth from abandoned radios. The Hollow Man’s cultists had been using radio antennas both to communicate with their vampiric overlord and to lure hapless citizens to their death as sacrifices to the Vampire God. After defeating a Rook sent from the skies to slow their progress, players use this same ad-hoc communication network to pinpoint the Hollow Man’s lair.
With the location of his hideout now known, the next piece of the puzzle fits into place when it is revealed that the Hollow Man used to be Dr. Peter Addison, the man in charge of the Aevum Therapeutics blood clinic in the town of Redfall. Upon viewing a film reel insideRedfall’s Overton Theatre, players learn that Dr. Addison had transformed into the menacing Hollow Man after injecting himself with a mysterious substance known as the “gateway sample.” The full extent of the horrifying circumstance remains hidden, though, until players make their way to Dr. Addison’s sprawling, spooky mansion.
Redfall’s Hollow Man Has an Endless Appetite for Blood
Upon reaching Addison’s mansion, players learn that he had been suffering from a fatal degenerative mental condition before taking on his current form. In an attempt to save his life, the demented doctor began infusing the blood of his daughter Amelia in a process called parabiosis. Though this proved to slow the progress of his disease, the diabolical process eventuallytook the life of Amelia. Following Amelia’s death, Dr. Addison’s symptoms returned once more until he was introduced to the “gateway sample” that would eventually turn him into the Hollow Man.
Using Amelia’s butterfly needle as a key, the path is finally opened to the Hollow Man’s hidden lair in theRedfall Commons map. Diving deep into the Hollow Man’s memories before finally dispatching him, players learn that Dr. Addison had been approached by Aevum founders Claire and Charles Beck to expand on his work with parabiosis. With Aevum’s vast resources now at his disposal, Dr. Addison was able to refine the parabiosis process and pave the way for the creation of the powerful “gateway sample” that fueled the metamorphosis of he and the other Vampire Gods.
Although the Hollow Man is the first ofRedfall’s four Vampire Gods, his backstory is one of the most disturbing players will uncover throughout the game. While the other bosses have dark secrets of their own to uncover, none are quite so bleak as the Hollow Man’s. And even though the battle with this blood-soaked boss is over fairly quickly, his haunting history is sure to stick in players’ minds long after they’ve finished the game.
Redfallis available now for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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