Happy Friday, everyone! Welcome to Bonus Round, a look at some of the week’s biggest gaming stories. This week, we learned new details about Redfall and Zelda, two of the biggest games this side of the summer. We also caught wind of the potential return of a beloved cult classic in Jet Set Radio. Let’s get into it!
Redfall to launch with 30fps cap
Here’s a bummer to kick things off: upcoming co-op shooter Redfall is launching without a 60fps performance mode on Xbox. Developer Arkane Studios announced the unsavoury news via the game’s official social channels earlier this week:
This might sound like I’m throwing my toys out of the pram, but here it goes: I’m not playing Redfall at 30fps. I’m not a total framerate queen; while I prefer my games to be as smooth as possible, a lack of 60fps isn’t a dealbreaker for me. While A Plague Tale: Requiem received similar criticism last year, a cinematic third-person adventure game running at 30fps makes more sense to me.
But Redfall is an online multiplayer first-person shooter game. A smoother framerate is just undeniably better for this kind of experience. Arkane is a very talented studio, with games like Deathloop, Dishonored and Prey under its belt. I don’t think the developers are blind to the fact that it’s not ideal to launch Redfall with a 30fps cap, which is why they’ve made clear that a performance mode will be added later.
Still, though, this raises questions about the state that Redfall is going to launch in. Redfall has already seen one major delay before, and I suspect that cutting performance mode from the launch feature list is a move to avoid pushing it back further. Will this game come in undercooked? I guess we’ll see soon: Redfall launches on Xbox Series consoles on Tuesday 2 May.
Jet Set Radio remake leaked
I never owned a Dreamcast, much as I wanted to. My childhood friend James had one, while I opted for the safer bet of the PS2. I was on the right side of history on that one, although James is now a real estate mogul selling industrial land for millions of pounds, so I think he won in the long run. Still, I used to love going over to his house to check out what would become the final Sega console.
And the game that truly made me jealous of his doomed system? Jet Set Radio. It had literally everything I thought was cool when I was 10: extreme sports, street art, hip hop… wait a minute, I still think those things are cool!
Now, it looks like the underground classic might be returning. As Polygon reports, footage of what appears to be a current-gen remake of Jet Set Radio leaked last weekend. The footage apparently dates back to 2021, and has purportedly been presented to Sega executives. These same videos also seemed to reveal a remake of Persona 3, the third game in the increasingly popular JRPG franchise.
We’re still technically in rumour territory on this one, but there’s enough evidence for me to believe this is real. Whenever the Jet Set Radio shows up on consoles, I will absolutely be there to check it out.
New The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer
Here’s a short and sweet one to round things off: a new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. In short, it looks incredible. See, I don’t need 60fps to think a game looks great! I’m not even going to try describing the trailer, because I inevitably won’t do it justice. You should just watch it for yourself above.
The recent gameplay demo of Tears of the Kingdom converted me from ‘cautiously optimistic’ to ‘uncontrollably excited’. I’ve pre-ordered the game. I’ve bought a Switch Pro controller so long sessions are more comfortable on my hands. Hell, I’ve even booked release day off work so I can spend the whole day playing it! The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches on Friday 12 May, and I can’t wait.