The last time Arkane Studios released a "bad" game, it scored anywhere between 79 to 82 on Metacritic, depending on the platform. Six years after the divisive outing of Prey, which apparently faced issues behind closed doors, Arkane just came out with its worst game yet - and it isn't even close.

The review embargo on Redfall has finally lifted as hits the Xbox Series S/X and the PC and it appears there's a good reason Arkane waited until the launch date to give the critics the green light.

Redfall currently hovers between a 62% and 64% rating on Metacritic, which isn't bad but definitely what you'd expect from a studio that's known for producing solid hits like the Dishonored series and Deathloop.

Steam tells a similarly bleak story for the vampiric co-op-shooter. As if shining a light on Redfall's villains, Steam users are giving Redfall a "Mostly Negative" average rating. To make matters worse, Arkane has done a poor job of optimizing it for the PC. Desktop gamers are reporting a plethora of issues, citing poor performance on even the most powerful of setups.

It appears that there's no saving grace for Redfall.

Here's a round-up of some of the most notable critics and their scores for Redfall:

• XboxEra - 8.5/10
• ScreenRant - 3.5/5
• Windows Central - 3/5
• VG247 - 3/5
• GamesRadar+ - 2.5/5
• NME - 2/5
• GameStop - 4/10

While Redfall isn't Starfield, its launch was supposed to signal the start of Microsoft's new era of first-party titles. Instead, its poor launch performance is expected to come with significant consequences for the Xbox brand.

Microsoft has found itself in the crosshairs of critics in recent years for its awful handling of its first-party studios, resulting in the relative lack of exclusives for the Xbox Series S/X. Although Forza Horizon 5 was a hit, the rest have left no impact on gaming. Halo Infinite, in particular, was delayed and underwhelming when it came out as 343 Industries finds itself bleeding talent by the day.

Redfall's poor reviews aren't likely to help with this discourse and put an unfortunate precedent for upcoming releases like Starfield.

Redfall's failure falls squarely on the shoulders of Microsoft and it might force the company to reevaluate its plans for first-party titles going forward.

This isn't a situation where critics have nasty things to say about a game that did and sold perfectly well with gamers. The review embargo for Redfall lifted the same day that it came out and we've not heard a good thing about it since. Both are red flags that give Redfall little to no chance of recovering. But, hey, this is Arkane we're talking about, and it's possible it could fix the current issues with Redfall to make it playable. Unfortunately, that's just a start, as the main gripe with Redfall isn't something that can be fixed so easily - the game itself is inherently bad and a rare dud for Arkane.

Much like how Square Enix owned up to the catastrophic numbers Forspoken put up earlier this year, Microsoft should do the same for Redfall.

Otherwise, gamers might want to start fearing for the day Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard. The CMA might have blocked the deal, much to the chagrin of Bobby Kotick, but Microsoft is still pursuing the sale at the moment. If the purchase pushes through, there's always going to be this fear that Microsoft might drop the ball on Call of Duty, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and more.