Video Game / Redout

Race faster than ever.

Redout is a futuristic Racing Game developed by Italian indie outfit 34BigThings. Largely inspired by games like WipEout and F-Zero, it released onto Steam on September 2, 2016, and came out on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 29th, 2017, with a Nintendo Switch port (handled by Nicalis) coming out on May 14th, 2019. It was also released onto the Epic Games Store for free in the first week it was on the store between 12th May - 19th May, 2022.

The game is set in the year 2560 AD, after a mass exodus from an Earth that has been stripped of all its natural resources and made too difficult to inhabit due to global warming. Most humans have inhabited other planets and satellites within the Solar System like the Moon, Mars, Titan and the other moons of Saturn through terraforming, while the Earth is now largely used as a place for testing and amusement parks. Meanwhile, a popular sport, called the Solar Redout Racing League, or SRRL for short, the fastest - and most dangerous - racing championship ever conceived, has become far and away the most popular form of entertainment in the solar system.

The game's core mechanics take a lot from older futuristic racing titles: the racers have to pilot extremely fast crafts around long circuits that twist and turn their way through 12 exotic locales. The crafts are all capable of strafing side to side, enhancing their cornering abilities while also making less maneuverable crafts able to drift through corners. There are four classes, one faster than the other, and there are 7 teams (originally 6) to choose from, each having upgradable crafts with their own quirks. However, what really sets this game apart is its boost system: you have an energy bar that slowly fills up overtime, which can be used for quick bursts of speed or power-ups like EMPs, track magnets, and turbo boosts.

A spin-off game, Redout: Space Assault, has since been released. Set during humanity's attempts to colonize the rest of the solar system, it changes the gameplay into a space shooter flight simulator. It can be found here.

A sequel, Redout II, has been announced for a 2022 release. Its main selling points are a far deeper ship customization system with multiple interchangeable parts with different stat allocations, a revamped boost with a temperature bar not unlike Star Wars Episode I: Racer and MotorStorm, and a licensed soundtrack featuring names like Giorgio Moroder, Zardonic, and Dance with the Dead. See the announcement trailer here.

Trope faster than ever:

• After the End: The game takes place after the Earth has been stripped of all its natural resources and been made uninhabitable because of global warming.
• All There in the Manual: The game has an incredibly large amount of lore for the competing teams, the racing locales, and even the power-ups, which is however explained in the game itself within the ship, track, and power-up select screens. However, the backstory behind the dawn of the SRRL isn't explained within the game.
• Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The V.E.R.T.E.X. venue, from the eponymous DLC, is oh so much this.
• Announcer Chatter: The game uses a female Computer Voice as announcer. Expect to hear "Hull integrity 50%" a lot if you aren't careful enough.
• Artificial Stupidity: While the AI racers reasonably hold themselves up well, they do have slight tendency to shred themselves to pieces on more difficult circuit once every few laps.
• Artistic License – Physics: It's a futuristic arcade racing game, what do you expect? It stands out a bit in case of the DLC tracks, however, as the trope is zig-zagged in the Neptune track series. These take place in outer space, namely in high Neptune orbit and thus with a lack of gravity. Jumps essentially turn into long flying sections in which it is very easy to miss the track, but also possible to take some amazing shortcuts (so presumably, in this case, the AG devices on the ships actually attract the ships to the track). Lack of gravity in space is quite correct, with the trope seemingly averted; however, the ships (for gameplay reasons) still have capped, different top speeds, which makes no sense for flying/hovering objects outside of an atmosphere, where friction is not an issue.
• Astral Finale: The Neptune tracks are set around a space station built by NASA and the SRRL committee above the eponymous planet, and by virtue of being the second DLC track, it is also one of the final venues you race on in the Career mode.
• Boring, but Practical: Some of the active power-ups, like the Extra Magnetic Grip and the Repair Drone.
• Bubblegloop Swamp: Rotorua, the final DLC location in order of release alongside Sequoia, is set nearby Volcano, in New Zealand's North Island. There are floating rocks, water flowing upwards, and underground methane swamps that puzzle scientists even in the game's future.
• Cast From Hitpoints: In the sequel, continuing to boost when overheated will begin to drain your health, with the Hyperboost practically guaranteeing this will happen. Knowing when to sacrifice health for speed is essential to the game.
• Character Level: Your Pilot level goes up to 99. The higher your level is, the more events are available in the Career mode.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Averted in the sequel. Heat management is critical and as a result, hot parts of the track will cause your heat to climb regardless of whether or not you're boosting.
• Crapsaccharine World: Despite the copious Scenery Porn, the lore doesn't pull back the punches over how Earth has become a locale far too extreme for most people to inhabit.
• Critical Existence Failure: Keep that hull integrity above 0% and you'll be fine.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Unlike many other anti-gravity racing games, which use the left analog stick to steer and pitch, the shoulder buttons or triggers to strafe, and the face buttons to accelerate and brake (except in WipEout where under the tradition control scheme, strafe buttons are air brakes rather than having a singular brake button) Redout's default control scheme on consoles and PC gamepads uses the left stick exclusively to turn, the right stick to pitch and strafe, and the shoulder triggers to accelerate and brake; as such, veterans of other antigrav racers may have a hard time adapting to these controls. That said, there is also a "Classic" control scheme that is more in line with those other games.
• Death Mountain: Mars is the fourth DLC location and the third paid one. The complex is built in the Arabia Terra continent and, thanks to the Red Planet's low gravity, the pilots will also race on pipes instead of in them.
• Deflector Shields: The EPSS (Enhanced Protection Shield System) power-up absorbs collision damage and nullifies the effects of the Energy Drainer and the EMP.
• Eagleland: Conqueror, a team formed by two American entrepreneurs.
• Endless Game: Surival mode has you racing through the track while avoiding EMP bombs and trying to reach the next checkpoint before the time runs out.
• EMP: One of the active power-ups. When used, it slows down rival ships in a short radius, as well as depleting their energy bar and making their interface glitch out for a few seconds. You're definitely not going to make many friends if you use this power-up online, that's for sure.
• Every Ship Is a Pinto: Depleted your hull integrity or went way off the track? Enjoy looking at your ship spectacularly exploding into multiple tiny pieces!
• Final Death Mode: Arena Race and Instagib modes both get rid of respawning if you go out of the track boundaries or destroy your ship. The former is essentially a glorified race without respawns, while the latter is a time trial with no respawns and more fragile crafts than usual.
• Fragile Speedster: The Sulha and Lunare ships both have a very high top speed and great acceleration, but can't take hits well. However, the Lunare ships have more handling, while the Sulha ships have a better energy pool.
• Fun with Acronyms: V.E.R.T.E.X.'s name stands for Virtual Environment for Redout Training EXperience.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: The loretab for the ESA-AGR Lancer reveals that the ships are essentially spaceships that have magnets bolted to the bottom. True to form, it is very easy to overshoot some jumps if you forget to pitch downward and/or slow down, and skipping sections of track via flying can be a fairly effective tactic in the sequel.
• Glass Cannon: The Asera ships have a playstyle that is centered upon their energy pool, the best among all the teams. They however have below-average stats everywhere else except for good acceleration and handling. Sulha also counts.
• Glorious Mother Russia: Buran. Not only they're based in Russia (as well as China), their aesthetic is heavily influenced by Communist imagery.
• Guide Dang It!: Platinum medal requirements for Time Trial and Survival events are not listed in the game proper. This might or might not be deliberate on developers' part.
• Heal Thyself: The Repair Drone. If upgraded, it also gives a slight speed boost when used.
• Jack of All Stats: The ESA-AGR ships have above-average stats across the board, with particular focus on acceleration and handling.
• Lethal Lava Land: Volcano, the final venue of the original four, is set around Moutohora Island, off the coast of New Zealand's North Island. The pilots not only race around the volcano, but even inside the magmatic chamber.
  • The Tartarus Mines in the sequel also count. However, unlike its predecessor, being near lava will impact your heat levels, and several descriptions warn that you need to have a good radiator equipped to do well.
• Lightning Bruiser: The Conqueror and the Buran ships both have amazing top speed and good durability, though they have an inefficient energy pool, horrible handling, and mediocre acceleration at best. The Conqueror has an advantage in acceleration, while the Buran has a slightly stronger energy pool.
• The Lost Woods: The Abruzzo tracks snake around the overgrowing forests and the coastline of the Italian region. Sequoia also counts, as it's set in the countryside of Alberta, Canada.
• Mana Drain: The Energy Drainer power-up is pretty self-explanatory. Upon activation it locks on a random nearby ship and drains energy from them. Because of this, it's the only active power-up that can be used anytime.
• Marathon Level: Boss mode makes you race on all the tracks in a certain venue all in a row, linked together by portals.
• Meaningful Name:
  • The term "redout" comes from aviation. When we talk about "G forces," as in "Pulling 8 Gs," it describes undergoing acceleration equal to (multiples of) the force of gravity. Most of the time, this acceleration occurs when an airplane pulls upward, and the force is applied from the direction of head to feet — resulting in a "blackout" as blood is forced out of the brain. But if you were to push the plane downward, blood would flow out of your feet and into your head: a redout. Said effect is emulated in-game.
  • Buran's name is taken from a Soviet reusable spacecraft programme that was basically their answer to America's Space Shuttle. It is also the name of a wind that mostly blows around Western Russia, Iran and China, which explains the team's ship naming pattern based on types of storms.
• Mighty Glacier: Downplayed, as even the slowest ships are still blindingly fast in comparison to other games, but the Koeniggswerth ships have the best hull structure and have great handling, coupled up with a decent energy pool. However, they're the slowest team off the line and their top speed isn't much better, either.
• Mordor: Planetoid A219 is a far-off planet visited by humans for its vast mining resources. It also has a rather... Ominous atmosphere.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Team Asera named their ships after Japanese historical figures: Takatora, Yoshihisa, Yoshinobu, Nobunaga.
• Nintendo Hard: Par the course of its biggest influences, Redout can get brutal at places, especially when you race in Class IV.
  • Some of the career events have a special, hidden Platinum medal objective that is far tougher to beat than the other three objectives. Intimate knowledge of both your ship and the track, as well as advanced techniques, are crucial to win these medals.
• Nitro Boost: Comes in two flavors: one is a normal boost cast from the energy pool, the other is an active power-up that depletes the entire energy pool for a single massive burst of speed.
• No-Gear Level: "Pure" events prevent use of power-ups. This doesn't seem remarkable at first, since they are among the first events you race in and you start a fresh file with no power-ups and have to buy them. However, it can be jarring to encounter a Pure event later on in the game when you've probably started depending on power-ups to win.
• Not the Intended Use: There has been players using the lack of gravity in the Neptune and Moon tracks and Energy Drain to play tag in asteroid fields.
• One-Word Title:
  • The game itself, also a Portmantitle of "Red" and "Out". It refers to the reddening of the vision caused by excessive blood flow to the head due to extreme negative g-forces.
  • Some of the OST Tracks:
    • V.E.R.T.E.X's Breakpoint.
    • Cairo's tracks, which are all named after desert winds: Calima, Khamsim, Simoom, Sirocco and Ghibli
• Phantom Zone: V.E.R.T.E.X., the second paid DLC venue, is a simulation program purposely created for SRRL pilot training.
• Portmantitle:
  • The game itself, which is also a One-Word Title. A fusion of "Red" and "Out".
  • V.E.R.T.E.X's OST Track, "Breakpoint".
• Regenerating Health: If your ship has taken some damage, it will start to self-repair after a few seconds of not touching the barriers or scraping the floor. Of course, depending on the course, this may be easier said than done.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming:
  • Some teams use this for their ships:
    • Koeniggswerth — Classical and Norse Mythology: Centaur, Jormungandr, Yggdrasil, Odin.
    • Sulha — Beings and spirits in Islamic folklore: Qareen, Djinni, Efreet, Marid.
  • P-AR219's OST tracks are named after Hindu gods: Kali, Annapurna, Durga, Shiva and Vishnu.
• Scenery Porn: Unsurprising, considering this game was built with Unreal Engine 4.
• Shark Tunnel: Aside from (obviously) Europa, Volcano of all places features one, at the end of Fingertips; Abruzzo also has one, at the end of Mountain Road.
• Shifting Sand Land: Cairo, which is also the first venue you race on in the Career mode.
• Shout-Out: The Sulha ships are designed to look like a podracer, while Conqueror's Class I ship, the Gila, bears a striking resemblance to the Trans-Am 20000 from REDLINE.
  • The "Mecha" livery for the Asera ships is themed after the Evangelion Unit 01.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Alaska, obviously enough.
• Start My Own: According to the lore, Buran was kick-started by two pilots who formerly worked as engineers for ESA-AGR.
• Teleporters and Transporters: All of the tracks have portals that connect them to other tracks. Said feature is used to its fullest in Boss mode.
• Theme Naming: Oh boy, where do we begin?
  • Each of the teams follow a certain naming pattern for their ships.
    • ESA-AGR — Military units: Vanguard, Hussar, Lancer, Dragoon.
    • Conqueror — Romanized versions of Native American names: Gila, Na'isha, Ehawee, Ii'ni.
    • Buran — Types of storms in Russian: Molniya^note lightning bolt, Shtorm^note thunderstorm, Uragan^note hurricane, Tayfun^note Well... typhoon.
  • Many of the OST tracks for each racing complex follow common naming themes, especially in the DLC tracks.
    • Neptune: "Great Dark Spot" and "Red Storm" referring to a storm on Neptune.
    • V.E.R.T.E.X: "Zero Point Energy" and "Chaos Potential" referring to scientific concepts
  • Some of the racing complexes have common themes in their track names
    • Cairo's tracks are all named after desert winds: Calima, Khamsim, Simoom, Sirocco and Ghibli
    • V.E.R.T.E.X's tracks are named after programming techniques: Voxel, Stack, Loop, Return Null and Breakpoint.
    • Mars's tracks are named after space machines that have orbited or explored Mars: Mariner, Spirit, Curiosity, Opportunity, and Schiaparelli. The latter is also the name of a Martian crater.
  • The Back To Earth DLC's bonus colors are named after founders of supercar brands: Enzo, Ferruccio, Ettore, Alfieri and Horacio.
• Under the Sea: Played with Europa. Most of them race in the massive ocean covered by the thick icy crust of Jupiter's moon. There are parts where you race above the ocean, though, like in Hydro Thunder, Spinning Pipe, and Surface Sprint.
• Vehicular Theme Naming: Team Lunare has sports car naming conventions for their ships: GT9 Stradale, GT10 Veloce, GX210 Corsa, GTX Competizione.
• Wacky Racing: Duh.