I've played every Spiders game up to this point. They're a developer I've been rooting for. Their previous titles have been held back by things like the budget, scale, and design flaws. Yet, I've enjoyed every one of them for their imaginative worlds, adherence to that classic style of RPG studios like BioWare have moved away from, and the clear passion with which they were made. With each successive release having been an improvement on the last it was only a matter of time until everything came together for Spiders and they delivered their first truly outstanding adventure. Thanks to GreedFall that day has finally arrived.
The plot sees you travelling to the mysterious land of Teer Fradee in search of a cure for the plague that's sweeping across your home country. Along the way you'll have to manage your relationships with the various factions inhabiting the island and make decisions that will shape the fate of multiple continents at once. The setting is a one of a kind fantasy reimagining of the colonial era backed by rich, highly detailed lore. This is the best writing the developer has had so far. The dialog flows more naturally than in any of their other games, the companions are more fleshed out than ever before, and most of the side quests are so deep and significant feeling that it's hard to believe they aren't directly tied to the main thread. Things do get a little murky near the end where the need to establish a big villain for a final confrontation leads to a bizarre character turn that's clumsily executed. It's a disappointing conclusion, but not so much that I didn't still enjoy the tale or the role I got to play in shaping it.
The world you'll be exploring is broken up into a handful of different areas. However, each zone is so large that at times it almost sells the feeling of being open-world. The decision to move away from the maze like corridors that comprised all of Spiders' previous efforts was a good one, as traversing these wide, sprawling plains that are covered in secrets is a far more enjoyable experience. Which is good as there is a lot of backtracking and the fast travel system is somewhat restrictive. It's also worth noting that interior locations are easy to get lost in due to how they're often a mess of identical looking hallways.
The area where Spiders has struggled the most over the years has undoubtedly been combat. They've always done a phenomenal job at making their systems flexible and capable of being tailored to your will with robust skill trees that are filled with options. The problem has been that battles have either been clunky due to poor controls and camera issues or downright unbalanced. Sometimes both. That isn't the case with GreedFall though. Fighting is incredibly fluid and it manages to be challenging, yet fair. Strategic play is often required to survive so the game's combination of real time action with a tactical pause is incredibly satisfying and fun.
The only area where I feel GreedFall doesn't improve on its predecessors is the presentation. The voice acting and music are high quality across the board, but the graphics are dated. Expect stiff animations during dialog, poor lip syncing, and plastic looking character models. The environments and monsters look fine and are well-detailed, but there's no mistaking this for a triple-A title. Still, if the budget was going to show through anywhere I'm glad it was here as I've always been a proponent of gameplay over visuals.
Spiders has at long last reached their potential. There are still some things they need to work on, but it's evident that all the criticism they've received over the years was taken to heart as this is leaps and bounds above any of their prior works. The huge step forward they took here from just The Technomancer is amazing, and they are finally ready to fill the void that was left in the single-player gaming scene when the former greats of the RPG genre lost their way.
9/10
The plot sees you travelling to the mysterious land of Teer Fradee in search of a cure for the plague that's sweeping across your home country. Along the way you'll have to manage your relationships with the various factions inhabiting the island and make decisions that will shape the fate of multiple continents at once. The setting is a one of a kind fantasy reimagining of the colonial era backed by rich, highly detailed lore. This is the best writing the developer has had so far. The dialog flows more naturally than in any of their other games, the companions are more fleshed out than ever before, and most of the side quests are so deep and significant feeling that it's hard to believe they aren't directly tied to the main thread. Things do get a little murky near the end where the need to establish a big villain for a final confrontation leads to a bizarre character turn that's clumsily executed. It's a disappointing conclusion, but not so much that I didn't still enjoy the tale or the role I got to play in shaping it.
The world you'll be exploring is broken up into a handful of different areas. However, each zone is so large that at times it almost sells the feeling of being open-world. The decision to move away from the maze like corridors that comprised all of Spiders' previous efforts was a good one, as traversing these wide, sprawling plains that are covered in secrets is a far more enjoyable experience. Which is good as there is a lot of backtracking and the fast travel system is somewhat restrictive. It's also worth noting that interior locations are easy to get lost in due to how they're often a mess of identical looking hallways.
The area where Spiders has struggled the most over the years has undoubtedly been combat. They've always done a phenomenal job at making their systems flexible and capable of being tailored to your will with robust skill trees that are filled with options. The problem has been that battles have either been clunky due to poor controls and camera issues or downright unbalanced. Sometimes both. That isn't the case with GreedFall though. Fighting is incredibly fluid and it manages to be challenging, yet fair. Strategic play is often required to survive so the game's combination of real time action with a tactical pause is incredibly satisfying and fun.
The only area where I feel GreedFall doesn't improve on its predecessors is the presentation. The voice acting and music are high quality across the board, but the graphics are dated. Expect stiff animations during dialog, poor lip syncing, and plastic looking character models. The environments and monsters look fine and are well-detailed, but there's no mistaking this for a triple-A title. Still, if the budget was going to show through anywhere I'm glad it was here as I've always been a proponent of gameplay over visuals.
Spiders has at long last reached their potential. There are still some things they need to work on, but it's evident that all the criticism they've received over the years was taken to heart as this is leaps and bounds above any of their prior works. The huge step forward they took here from just The Technomancer is amazing, and they are finally ready to fill the void that was left in the single-player gaming scene when the former greats of the RPG genre lost their way.
9/10