34BigThings’ sci-fi series Redout decided to branch off and experiment with things, and last year, the result of that was space shooter Redout: Space Assault. When all was said and done, it wasn’t an experiment that worked out for the best, but thankfully, the series will soon be returning to what it’s good at. After some delays, Redout 2 is finally going to launch imminently, and here, we’re going to talk about the game, its key details, and why you should be excited about it.
PREMISE
There’s a good chance you haven’t heard of Redout before, so you might be wondering- what exactly is it? Well, if you’re a fan of fast-paced sci-fi antigravity racers like WipEout and F-Zero, there’s good news for you- that’s what Redout 2 is. Like most genres that have been left to die by the companies that once dominated them, the antigrav racer is now being stewarded by passionate indies, and in that group, Redout is very much a fan favourite. Redout 2, which is being billed as “the fastest game in the universe”, is set in the year 2589, where a post-apocalyptic Earth has been almost entirely abandoned and serves as the home for high-speed antigravity races.
CONTROLS
Of course, given how starved antigravity racing fans have been in recent years, it goes without saying that Redout 2 doesn’t have to contend with an awful lot of competition from similar games (though there are a few of those, at least). Even so, developer 34BigThings isn’t content with just playing things completely straight. Redout 2, like its predecessor, is promising to set itself apart from the (admittedly sparse) crowd with its unique control scheme, which, in addition to extremely high speeds, also allows players to tilt, strafe, and boos their ships at any time. The result is a greater level of control over your ship’s movements, and, in turn, a much higher skill ceiling. Of course, for those who’re looking for a more simple and straightforward experience, Redout 2 will have plenty of assists on offer to automate the stuff you want automated.
MODES
Redout 2 will also have six unique game modes that will let players participate in different kinds of events. There’s Race, of course, which is a regular race against opponents, where you can set how many opponents you want to race against, and how many laps the race will have. Then there’s Time Attack, which is a regular time trial mode where you race against the clock. Arena Race is a mode that removes respawns and increases damage with every lap, with either the player to cross the finish line first or the player who’s the last one left standing being declared the winner. Last Man Standing is a regular knockout race, where the racer in the bottom position is eliminated each lap (with speed increasing with each lap), and the last player left standing wins. Then there’s Speed, which tasks players with staying above the target speed threshold to score points. Finally, there’s Boss, which sees you racing across all three track layouts in sequence.
TRACKS
Redout 2 is promising a decent amount of content in terms of tracks and locations as well. The game will have 10 unique racing locations, which is twice as much as what the original Redout offered. In total, these locations will have a collective 36 race tracks for players to zip through, while each race track will also have a reverse variant, which effectively means the game will have 72 tracks. Regardless of whether or not the game gets any post-launch content (though judging by how the original Redout handled things, it probably will), even right out the gate, it looks like Redout 2 will have quite a bit of content on offer.
CAREER MODE
Redout 2 is also promising a meaty single player career mode. According to developer 34BigThings, the career mode will have hundreds of events for players to play through, which will span all of the game’s tracks across all 10 locations, and all of the six game modes that we spoke of earlier. The game will also feature a Photo Mode, so all the shutterbugs out there can enjoy the aesthetics of Redout 2’s environments and vehicles that way as well.
CUSTOMIZATION
Customization is an element that Redout 2 seems to be emphasizing a great deal, and it looks like there’s going to be plenty of options on offer in order to finetune the performance of your ship in a number of ways, including its durability, top speed, stability, steering, thrust, and strafing ability. For starters, there will be a dozen different chassis to choose from, each with its own base attributes. From there, players can customize a number of different parts and components in a variety of ways, including propulsors, wings, stabilizers, magnets, flaps, rocket engines, spoilers, rudders, intercoolers, and of course, paint jobs.
MULTIPLAYER
Redout 2 will also have a multiplayer component on offer for those who want to test their skills against other players. According to the developer, the game will feature 12-player races on “most platforms”- what exactly that means remains unclear for now, but in all likelihood, the Nintendo Switch version of the game will end up having a lower player count. Hopefully, we’ll get some more clarity on that front sooner rather than later.
SEASONAL EVENTS
As you’d expect from any game with multiplayer offerings in today’s day and age, Redout 2 will try and keep its players coming back with the promise of new content being delivered at a regular clip. According to the developers, that will entail regularly added custom content, seasonal events, cosmetic rewards, and more. What the exact roadmap will look like, what the cadence of that post-launch support will be, and how it will handle monetization remains to be seen, though hopefully we’ll know more on that front in the not-too-distant future.
SOUNDTRACK
Music is incredibly important in pretty much every game, but that stands doubly true for high speed antigravity racers, and it looks like Redout 2 is going all out on that front. The game features an electronic soundtrack featuring artists like Giorgio Moroder, Zardonic, and Dance with the Dead. On top of that, Redout 2 also uses an algorithm that mixes and matches the game’s tracks and blends them together in real time, based not only on what’s going on in the race and how you’re performing, but also based on how you’ve customized your ship.
PC REQUIREMENTS
Redout 2 will be available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC when it launches on June 16, but if you’re planning on playing it on PC, you might be interested in knowing its minimum and recommended system requirements. Thankfully, neither setting seems too demanding, all things considered. On minimum settings, you’ll require either an Intel Core i5-3470 or an AMD Ryzen 3 1200, along with either a GeForce GTX 970 4 GB or an AMD Radeon RX 570 4 GB, and 4 GB of RAM. Meanwhile, on recommended settings, you’ll need either an Intel Core i7-3770 or an AMD Ryzen 5 1600, along with either a GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB or an AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, and 8 GB of RAM. On either setting, you’ll need about 25 GB of free storage space.
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