GreedFall

Much like Cyanide, Spiders is an ambitious developer which usually bites off more than it can chew. With GreedFall, however, Spiders finally delivered. A cocktail between BioWare games like Dragon Age: Inquisition and the Risen series, this action-RPG instantly captured my attention for its neat setting, inspired by 17th century colonialism.

After a prologue/tutorial, the young protagonist (customizable in gender and appearance) leaves his baroque city to explore an exotic island colonized by his countrymen and other factions, seeking for the cure to a deadly plague.

The game is a bit rough around the edges but there many things to like: solid writing, serviceable gameplay, a semi-open world with some pretty locations, interesting and likable party members, factions conflicting with each other, a character system with different skills and talents (magic, firearms, crafting...), quests with multiple solutions (combat, stealth, disguise, diplomacy...) and moral choices.

There are flaws. While acting is fine, lip-syncing is off. Colonies are often populated by scores of identical NPCs who are invulnerable and don't react to attacks. There isn't a theft system, so you can take everything you find without repercussions. The three main colonies look nice and distinctive but there isn't a lot to do in them apart from a few places of interest; ironically, wilderness maps are more eventful. Combat is competent but unbalanced in favor of ranged attacks (magic and guns), while melee is much harder. It is entirely possible to create hybrid classes though.

Overall, this was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed the characters and the setting and appreciated that quests often have a narrative twist to make them more interesting and unpredictable.

First off, this game is very rough around the edges in many ways but, all in all, it's still a fun experience. Good world building and decent character development. Cringy at times but still worth the playthrough.

Greedfall takes us on a long journey through a stylized fantasy universe inspired by 17th century America. The overpopulated and corrupt Old World of Malichor is destroyed by a mysterious plague. Its inhabitants find refuge in the New World, the island of Teer Fradee, where the locals live in harmony with nature and are allegedly full of treasures and other secrets. As our conquistadors go there and explore, their relationship with the natives becomes increasingly strained.

During the game, we control the protagonist whose main mission is to find a cure for a disease that is destroying the Old World. In the adventure, we must make every effort not to put either the natives or the colonizers in too much danger. The decisions we make affect not only the distribution of power on the island, but also how your history will unfold. GreedFall starts with character creation, including gender selection and a few basic traits. The producers have included a development system that doesn't divide the character into classes. This means that more than a hundred skills can be unlocked, allowing you to tailor the protagonist to your individual play style.

The main elements of the story are quests, which can be completed in various ways. While there's nothing to stop problems that arise in missions from being solved by force, stealth or relying on your hero's diplomatic skills often yields better results in missions. The path we choose and which side we support in a conflict affects not only our reputation, but also the local geopolitical situation. In addition, the choices we make have an impact on which of the adventure's potential companions will decide to join us and their subsequent attitude towards the protagonist. It is possible to build relationships with our companions that cause both romance and hostility.

When it comes to battles with enemies, both humans and monsters called Guardians stand in our way. In combat, we use weapons and firearms, which we can upgrade using an extensive crafting system, and the same goes for armoring elements. Magic also comes in handy. As for the game's graphics, the three-dimensional GreedFall graphics are pleasing to the eye. While working on the visuals, the developers modeled their work on baroque artworks. Greedfall offers an average of 40-50 hours of gameplay with all side content. In addition, there are a total of five different endings.

Canceled The creators of Greedfall have undoubtedly had the heart in the right place in the creation of the game, as it has much of what such a game should have.

Unfortunately, there are many annoyances, such as the lack of cutscenes or sequences in addition to just talking and walking, as well as many illogical limitations in its course.

The big plus of this game is the use of diplomacy, rather than pulling weapons in all situations.

I can't really recommend this one. While the under-utilised historical influences are pleasant and the voice acting is strong, the negatives outweigh the positives.

One of the first things to draw my attention was the basic errors in subtitles' spelling and grammar. Two examples I noted were the misspelling 'sollicit', and the use of 'rebel rousers' instead of 'rabble rousers' - amateurish, easily correctable mistakes.

Some of the side-quests are fairly interesting, but a large amount of your questing time will be spent running between NPCs. This has driven me from other games in the past, and it's done so once again with GreedFall.

The lore has some potential, but I don't think it is introduced very effectively to the player. The term 'lore dump' would be an apposite description of what the player is subjected to in the first minutes of gameplay. A more informative opening cinematic would help here.

The combat is serviceable but becomes repetitive fairly quickly, and dialogue sequences are consistently verbose.

All things considered, the interaction of 17th-century New World and European fantasy aesthetics is very refreshing, but as an RPG GreedFall quickly falls flat.