WARNING:Spoilers for Redfall AheadWith her razor-sharp claws and flame-wreathed head, the Vampire God known as The Black Sun makes for a terrifying sight when players first make her acquaintance in Arkane Studios’Redfall. But while her outward appearance may be suitably terrifying on its own, there’s far more to the monstrous force thatblotted out the sun overRedfall’s titular townthan initially meets the eye. As players uncover the truth behind The Black Sun, they’ll come to know a villain whose twisted form is rivaled only by her inner darkness.
Players first come face to face withRedfall’s menacing Black Sun at the beginning of the game when the malevolent Vampire God nearly kills the player before being forced to flee at the last second. The force behind the vampire invasion that has wreaked havoc on the once-peacefultown of Redfall, players will find repeated references to The Black Sun in the documents and other lore items scattered throughout the game. By piecing together these tidbits, players slowly learn the terrifying truth behind the figure that set the events of the game in motion.
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The Vampire God at the Center of the Redfall’s Eternal Twilight
Establishing the backstory for The Black Sun is one of thethingsRedfalldoes well, with Arkane Studios crafting a villain whose motivations go beyond the typical video game trope of simple world domination. When players beginRedfall,the only thing known for certain about The Black Sun is that she is responsible for plunging the town into darkness. It quickly becomes apparent that The Black Sun holds sway over the monsters roaming the city, with the true extent of her power slowly revealing itself as players dispatch her fellow Vampire Gods.
In order to make their way to The Black Sun to free the town from her grasp, players will first need to eliminate the otherVampire Gods inRedfallto clear the way. Defeating special vampires known as Sin-Eaters while inside the memories of each of these bosses releases psychic echoes that reveal how the founders of the Aevum biotech company were the ones responsible for unleashing the terrifying forces laying waste to the town of Redfall. Though each of the founders were twisted in their own way as they transformed into Vampire Gods, The Black Sun is shown to have had a darkness in her soul long before taking on her current, terrifying visage.
The Black Sun’s Inner Darkness Matches Her Monstrous Appearance
Players eventually learn that The Black Sun was once the human known as Claire Beck. Claire, along with her brother Charles, helped found the Aevum biotech company in order to profit off of the miracle cures produced using the blood ofRedfall’s mysterious Young Woman. When Charles begins to experience guilt over the Aevum founders’ treatment and eventual murder of the Young Woman, Claire lashes out by brutally killing her brother.
Having consumed the last of the Young Woman’s blood along with her brother and the other Aevum founders, Claire begins her metamorphosis into The Black Sun. Transforming Charles into a hideous Bloodbag and chaining him beneath the big top in the center ofRedfall’s Burial Point map, Claire uses her new powers to blot out the sun and give the vampire hordes she’d unleashed free rein. The last bits of her humanity now sealed away inside the Sin-Eaters inside her mind, Claire’s transformation into The Black Sun is complete, and her twisted outward appearance comes to reflect the darkness at her core.
Claire’s descent from a powerful executive into a ruthless, vampiric entity out to destroy anyone in her way is the centerpiece of the tale of uncheckedhubris at the core ofRedfall’s story. And although players eventually defeat The Black Sun, freeing the town of Redfall from her clutches, the game closes with a monologue that makes it clear that Claire won’t be the last to try to use the power of the Young Woman’s blood to reshape the world in their own image.
Redfallis available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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