Greedfall – Review | “Putting the colon back in colonialism.”

Greedfall Review

Greedfall is a 3rd person action RPG developed by Spiders. They are infamous for making a certain type of game. That is, “immitations of bioware games but at 1/10th the budget and manpower”. They are a small studio that has a LOT of heart and soul that they pour into games. All of their games are janky but highly functional and usually better than the sum of their parts.

This title has you start in a fictionalized 1400’s England-esque country, setting off to a new undiscovered island… to colonize it. Yes, this game takes a deep dive into the goings on of colonialization, which may make some people feel uneasy. It’s a worthy trip as the themes are very often explored. This is a very political game, not so much so in that it tackles current issues, but it has an extremely well developed setting that forces you to experience some tough situations.

Greedfall graphics

GRAPHICS: 2/2

  1. Some great texture details when the camera gets up close and personal during conversations.
  2. The island the game takes place on is lush and glorious in its design and scope.
  3. There is a most amazing selection of fancy hats, and that’s something you really can’t say about other titles. Outfits also evoke the era they are trying to emulate. The appearance of characters and locations are a unique take on various historical settings from the real world.
  4. Really, other than being occasionally low-fidelity, there’s very little to complain about in this department.
Greedfall story

STORY/IMMERSION: 2/2

  1. WARNING: Be prepared to talk to people a LOT. Several quests entirely consist of you going back and forth between people to advance the plot. There is far more emphasis on story than combat going on here, so if you’re expecting a lot of action, look elsewhere.
  2. The complications of 3 different nations all working out diplomacy with each other and the natives of the island all have stellar chemistry and details.
  3. Colonialism is a theme of the game, and its a very contentious topic, to the point where certain collections of people have denounced it. That’s a very low-information way to disregard the game, as its depictions are very in-depth and thoroughly complicated.
Greedfall audio

AUDIO: 1/2

  1. When you have companions who fight by your side, make sure you have the characters record more than 2 lines of battle chants. Not even being sarcastic here, your companions say the same two things during every single fight. All of them.
  2. Sometimes the voice acting can be a little… B-grade stuff. Not like you’d expect an oscar-worthy performance, but there can be some really wooden stuff here.
  3. RECOMMENDED MIX: The sound is considerably off balance in its default state, I recommend leaving the music set to max and setting both sound effects and dialogue to half of the bar.
  4. The music in the game deserves to be heard, but you’ll get a lot of repetition that may put you off.
Greedfall gameplay

GAMEPLAY: 1/2

  1. As per the norm with Spiders games, it’s janky as hell by mostly functional. Recommend you play as a mage since all you have to do is stand far away and cast magic missiles.
  2. The best way to describe the structure of the game as the combination of Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age II, and Dragon Age Inquisition. It’s like they took their favorite parts from all 3 to make their own.
  3. Dialog options are very interesting, as different skill sets besides Charisma can affect your ability to convince people to side with you in confrontations.
greedfall fun

FUN: 1/2

  1. As a new game its so vast and interesting. But once you get further down the game, you’ll be facing down a lot of repetition, going to the same places and walking down the same streets over and over again.
  2. Some of the story lines you take on can be rather cathartic. But there are times where you wonder why you’re doing things in the most difficult way possible.
  3. The firearms are OP as fuck and shooting a sucker never gets old.
  4. Your tolerance for lots and lots of dialog, diplomacy, and doing a ton of chores can cause mixed results. Your mileage may vary.
greedfall sum total

SCORE: 7/10

Spiders has done it once again. With Greedfall, they prove themselves as the little developer who could. They serve as the perfect replacement for old BioWare, who may soon be on the chopping block. But that’s just hearsay, where was I going? Oh yeah, if you’re hankering for the special story driven RPG experience, this is the game to keep an eye out for. Purchased at 14.99 during a sale, it absolutely blows away expectations.

October 18th, 2020 by