Arkane Studios‘ vampire-themed open-world game, Redfall was released earlier this week on the 2nd of May for the PC and Xbox Series X|S. But did you know that the game is also the result of a 4-year creative partnership between Arkane Austin and Malaysia-based Lemon Sky Studios. If the latter rings a bell, you’ve probably read about their work in AAA-titles such as Hi-Fi Rush by Tango Gameworks, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part 1, as well as Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart by Insomniac Games.

The studio was tasked with coming up with a number of character interactive props, assets and environment art for Redfall as part of the engagement that started before the pandemic hit. Based on the comments from the Malaysian team, they’d have to overcome challenges from an artistic point of view and logistics.

On Working Remotely

“As this would be the first time we were working with Arkane Austin, we were very keen on ensuring that the transition into remote working mode was carried out as smoothly as possible. Arkane Austin were great partners, supporting us in every way possible throughout the process,” said Eng Tzy Ling, Studio Manager at Lemon Sky North.

On Artistic Alignment

“Balancing the realistic feel with stylised aesthetics was an intriguing venture for us. It opened up a learning opportunity for us especially for our artists working on texturing to achieve the iconic Redfall look. We were definitely inspired by Arkane’s vision and we are extremely proud of the final outcome. We look forward to working with them again in the future,” said Ken Foong, Chief Creative Officer & Chief Operations Officer at Lemon Sky Studios

“We want to congratulate Arkane Austin on the release of Redfall. Having worked with them over the past 4 years, we understand the intricate details they looked into to ensure gamers have an amazing gaming experience with Redfall. We also thank them for trusting us to execute their vision for Redfall while working with us on establishing an effective workflow throughout,” added Cheng-Fei Wong, Chief Executive Officer of Lemon Sky Studios.

Redfall is available on Game Pass; I’m waiting for the download to complete as I type this article, the download is pretty huge. I’ve not played an Arkane-title before, so this would be interesting.