GreedFall was released on September 10th by the French Development studio “Spiders”. Previous titles by Spiders in recent years include “Bound by Flame” and “The Technomancer”. While Spiders has had trouble before in hitting the mark, they really seem to shine at what they are good at in GreedFall.
The story of GreedFall is interesting. The game’s premise puts you into the shoes of a royal named De Sardet. You are, essentially, a super ambassador. You have a whole lot of political pull, and are being sent to the mystical island of Teer Fradee to explore and, most importantly, seek out a cure to the gross eye eating plague that infects the mainland, the Malichor.
This hook works decently enough during the tutorial to pull you into the world and get you feeling sorry for those around you. Please remember, everything I say in anything I put out is my opinion. If you’re curious about a game, do your research and form your opinions.
That being said, let’s get into it. (“Too long didn’t read” with score and favorites/gripes at the end)
- Visuals
The place where I feel GreedFall is most lacking is the visuals.
Often (early game especially) voices and visuals just seem to be a bit off. This can get frustrating. Characters mouths moving apart from audio has always been a pet peeve of mine in games (unless they have been translated, then I can understand it).
In general the visuals of the characters faces just do not seem right. Sometimes they seem off-putting, and not in a way that seems like a style choice.
All of that not to say that the visuals are not also done well.
The clothing in the game is really nice. The capes and interchangeable clothing options provide a variety of options in customization, and you can certainly find a way to make your character look cool.
I also really enjoyed the design of some of the larger mini bosses in the game. They felt really unique and interesting to fight. So much so that I was always sad when they were gone.
The environment and cityscapes were also very nice looking. A city feels like a city, which is more than I can say for every game I play lately. Visually, I loved the environments.
My final note on visuals is another thing I often do not like all that much: reusing of spaces. Lots of the rooms and places in GreedFall are the same as another. While I understand this is much easier, it makes me sad to walk into a room and find it the same as another room you’ve just been in. The lack of variety can be discouraging.
- Gameplay
My biggest problems with GreedFall can almost all be found in visuals. The gameplay feels solid. I read that it was inspired by Dragon Age and Fable, and that can certainly be felt.
The combat is fluid and graceful. While there are not too many different ways to go about fighting enemies, the few that are there are polished and fun. I found myself switching between the variations of combat regularly just to get a taste of each.
There are a lot of different skills and pieces of clothing have different stats to encourage role playing, however you will likely quickly find yourself putting points into almost everything. Not just because you want to try it all, but there are not really all that many options.
There are times where spaces feel relatively empty. Though this could be considered a world building problem, it is sad to go into an area you would expect to be bustling (like a brothel) and find it to be an empty room with one dude sitting in it on a box.
My only other gameplay gripe would be variations of enemy encounters. Getting attacked by a group of bears in a field or bandits outside a tavern is fun the first few times, but after about ten it stagnates quickly.
Another thing GreedFall does well is the variation of dialogue options as well as the use of skills in dialogue. You frequently have another line of dialogue available to you if you have a high enough skill in a certain tree. These options inspire real changes in how things have to be done to complete the quest. I once failed a check and had to find a completely different way to get the job done. Really a fun and inspired way to set things up.
Also, every quest was a “quest”. I never felt like I was running someone’s errands. Everything felt important and fun. There are also a LOT of them.
Now, onto the parts I can rave about.
- Story and World Building
The story for GreedFall is really well done. I am a sucker for a story that is character driven, and a lot of games now are not that way. Creating characters that are interesting and making me care about them is difficult, but GreedFall does it.
While I might not be all that interested in finding the cure for the Malichor (out of sight, out of mind) I did find myself caring more about the residents of the island and the people I came into contact with.
Characters feel real. Their struggles are relatable. Their stories flushed out. The main questline is interesting, but I found myself constantly sidetracked with the side quests. The stories of my followers interested me. They made me want to learn more about them.
The world around you in GreedFall feels like it has a rich
history, and gives you opportunities to glimpse into it. The variety of
factions are interesting and fun. The island feels alive. The regions feel separate
and have their own identities.
The world building and story of GreedFall are what it does best. It does them
very well.
- Concept Execution and Conclusion
GreedFall is not a massive, crazy, RPG. However, I feel it deserves more recognition than it is going to get. I point out its faults in fairness, but in truth I enjoyed my play through. Their fusion of styles is done in a way that reminds me of the games it is trying to emulate while doing something all of its own at the same time. It feels like a good start to a new IP.
I recommend picking up GreedFall and giving it a shot for yourself. I feel I got my money’s worth.
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