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.

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.

Greedfall. (2019) Where to begin? This was a very interesting experience for me. I was pleasantly surprised to have liked this one as much as I did. Although it is pretty rough around the edges, it was a great game none the less.

The main character is the Legate of the Merchant Congregation, named De Sardet (either male/female, with options to customize appearance) who is chosen to serve their cousin Constantin D'Orsay in the new settled colony of the island of Teer Fradee, as well as seek out a cure for the horrific plague called the Malichor spreading across the lands.

Greedfall was pretty different from other games of the fantasy adventure RPG genre, namely because, although there is some strong fantasy aspects (fictional world and races, magic usage, mythic creatures, spirituality, lore etc.) there is less focus on fantasy elements so much as it focuses on human connection and interaction. Bridging the divides, understanding other cultures and politics, resolving conflict etc. This game is very racially and ethnically diverse and focuses heavily on social political cultural diplomacies rather than merely battling monsters and thoughtlessly exploring and questing. For some, that specific edge of realism (shall we say?) gives the game an edge over others and makes the game far more compelling in many ways. For others, it might make it feel slow or unexciting. Less action/suspense etc.

If I have to complain, a few downfalls would have been fairly smaller issues, such as too few cutscenes / main story quests, some repetitive side quests, too few city quests and scenes, limited melee moves and skills (compared to magic, firearms, traps etc), repetitive creature fights (not the boss fights but the general creatures you fight while traversing the wilderness began to feel tedious. You fight so many of the same creatures. Ie. Bats, wolves, etc.), lack of alternative transport such as mounts etc. (there are carriages and fast travel points but some kind of mounts or speed running/teleportation ability might have spiced up traveling esp. Through extended wilderness maps. Felt like half the game was walking/running.), minor lip syncing / animation improvements etc. Lastly, repetition in city design (ie palace layout and coin guard barracks etc.).

While there were times that it did feel a bit slow, overall I really enjoyed it and more than that, I appreciated the mentality behind it. The world building, the concepts, the diversity, the characters and plots. I loved the intelligent, and empathic nature of the game. It did a good job of portraying misunderstood cultures enduring the harsh reality of colonization. The dialogue often required intuitive, thoughtful decisions. The game doesn't rely too heavily on action and battles sequences but rather wit and understanding. There were many things that make you think, heavy on choices and consequences, alternative endings and interesting side plots.

The writing was really great and often portrayed realistic scenarios. The stories were fascinating and compelling. The quests were mostly intriguing if not a bit repetitive at times. I really loved the main cast as well, they were very vivid, unique, and memorable (specifically DeSardet, Vasco, Siora, and Petrus.) The romance options added a fun layer to the game and made for interesting breaks between other questing. The gameplay was pretty fun and there was plenty of room to get creative with characters and class builds.

The art, design, music and graphics were all top notch and memorable. The devs definitely set high standards and put a lot of effort into this game. It really felt like so much more, in the end. Overall, I really enjoyed it, and was pretty hooked on it for a while. Great game that made a lasting impression.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10 GRAPHICS: 9/10 ART DESIGN: 9/10 MUSIC: 8/10 OVERALL RATING: 9.

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.

Didn't really know what to expect with this game. Delightfully surprised. Solid RPG and went back to what made them cool. No online or co op just fantastic single player campaign. Is it perfect? No. Could use a few tweaks but the story is great and the game play is fine once you get the hang of it. Spiders scored with this game, highly recommend it.