60 / wfmag.ccReviewRated
GENRE
RPG
FORMAT
PC (tested) /
XBO / PS4
DEVELOPER
Spiders
PUBLISHER
Focus Home
Interactive
PRICE
£43.99
RELEASE
Out nowInfo
ReviewFairly sure pride comes before the fall, not greed?
reedfall is a very Spiders game.
As a studio, it is the embodiment
of ambition over execution. All its
previous titles (Of Orcs and Men,
Mars: War Logs, The Technomancer
etc) are as defined by their amazing ideas and
detailed settings as they are by their underbaked
systems and almost non-existent polish. There’s a
constant hope the next Spiders will be ‘the one’ –
the game that will finally see the tech side of things
be at the same quality as the obvious passion the
developer has for its projects. Yes, GreedFall is a
very Spiders game, but it falls short of the mark by
a much smaller margin than any of the games that
came before it.
Set in a 17th-century-inspired fantasy world
hellbent on colonising the newly discovered island
of Teer Fradee, GreedFall puts you in the thick
leather boots of De Sardet, an important diplomat
new to the island. Said island is home to an
indigenous people whose connection with the land
grants them control over hulking plant monsters,
for a good hit of the supernatural, and it is your job
to not only maintain balance between the factions
vying for control of the ‘new’ land, but to also find
a cure for the disease back home, plaguing the
main continent.
With its transparent allegory for the colonisation
of the Americas, GreedFall doesn’t shy away from
the theme of colonialism. While I’m hesitant to
judge if it tackles that discussion successfully or
respectfully, it’s impressive to see the depth of
culture the indigenous people are given. They’re
not just Primitive Magical Elves who are the
passive victims of colonialism that need saving,they’re a powerful faction, complete with their
own language, accent, culture, and history that is
teased throughout De Sardet’s dealings with them.
For all the work put into the wonderful world,
characters, and scenarios, playing GreedFall can
be best described as ‘serviceable’. Mechanically,
there’s more than a bit of the pre-Anthem BioWare- more specifically, Dragon Age: Origins – in
GreedFall. Branching dialogue and a reputation
system, recruitable NPC companions with their
own storylines, and an active-pause combat
function letting you pick between real-time combat
and stopping to make larger tactical decisions are
all here.
The problem is it’s all just fine, rather than
matching its subject matter’s quality. It’s a perfectly
acceptable delivery method for the best bits of
GreedFall, but nothing to write home about in its
own regard. There’s a resounding lack of polish
that highlights this was a mid-budget game with
full-budget ambition. Between the constantly
repeating voice lines, poor animations, major
spelling errors in the subtitles, weirdly designed
UI, dodgy voice acting, limited character creation,
weirdly paced quests, and rough AI, it’s easy to see
GreedFall as a game whose ambition is hamstrung
heavily by its budget.
As a dense, engrossing, original RPG, GreedFall
is the closest thing to a mainstream hit Spiders
has produced so far, and it’s absolutely worth
heading into, provided you can put up with a
higher-than-normal level of jank. If you wanted
a highly polished game to replace something
like The Witcher 3, though, then you may be
severely disappointed.
GreedFall
G
VERDICT
Inching closer to the bar
of quality Spiders clearly
wants to hit, Greedfall
nonetheless falls short.67 %
ReviewRated
Don’t bring fangs to a
flintlock pistol fight, buddy.HIGHLIGHT
It’s really easy to be swept up
by the ambition of GreedFall.
the scale of everything, from
the vistas of Teer Fradee
to the backstories of your
companions, is almost
overwhelming. When creeping
through a forest or delving into
a friend’s past, the frequent
rough patches that are found
elsewhere feel very, very distant.REVIEWED BY
Joe Parlock