GreedFall
Explore uncharted new lands as you set foot on a remote island seeping with magic, and filled with riches, lost secrets, and fantastic creatures. Forge this new world’s destiny, as you befriend or betray companions and entire factions. With diplomacy, deception and force, become part of a living, evolving world – influence its course and shape your story. - Engage in a core roleplaying experience – achieve quests and complete objectives in a multitude of different ways – through combat, diplomacy, deception, or stealth. - Complete freedom in character progression – play as a male or female, customize your appearance, and freely choose your abilities, spells and skills. - Delve into a mysterious world of magic – begin a grand journey and uncover ancient secrets protected by supernatural beings, manifestations of the island’s earthly magic.
Steam User 148
Ah yes, Elder scrolls: Witchers Creed: inquisition's flag!
This game takes me back to a time when not every game had to be either a AAA title,
with the backing of a major publisher, or an indie title that has to hope for attention from the press or from streamers. It goes to show that a budget, "AA" title can still grab gamers and get them invested.
It may not have the level of polish of a AAA game, but it has content, and above all,
it has heart. It's not some soulless shell of a game that begs you to pay for micro transactions or day 1 DLC. For a Spiders game GreedFall has more care and love put into it than most AAA titles of the time. I can see this game being someone's first. You know, that one special game that not everyone liked. But it was your game and nobody can take that away from you.
I for one am glad to see more and more games like this gaining traction. I would put this into the same ranks as risen, elex, Hellblade and a Plague Tale as games that prove a middle market can still exist in the industry, and I hope that in the years to come, it can become a regular thing again.
It’s essentially a low budget Dragon Age Inquisition. It has pretty fun combat, interesting story and exploration, varied party members to interact with (or romance) and a lot of skills/equipment to play with.
Greedfall absolutely has its issues, but it excels in the areas that matter for the most part. Dialogue, characters, and world building/lore. I personally am a huge history buff so to see something new done in the genre with a colonial setting I just couldn’t help but like it. It certainly has room to grow and this could be a great foundation for a sequel, but it’s definitely better than what bioware has been producing lately.
The amount of lore and atmosphere and how easy it is to love the characters is amazing. Sure the combat is repetitive and there’s a few glitches here and there as well as a wonky camera. But the overall vibe of the game completely immerses you into a world unlike anything I have ever experienced.
When I first played it I spent my first 5 hours doing everything in Serene and then finally saw the title screen. Could have progressed a lot sooner but the city just engrossed me. Any game that can pull me in and make me want to forego progression for the sake of exploration like that is a winner in my book. It just captivates you with its quests, cast of characters, deep customization and leveling system.
In addition to not being afraid to tackle some of the nastier elements of colonization, the bit with the Coin Guard mid-game (if you know, you know) genuinely caught me off guard and it was a neat way to reward you for keeping the guard captain or whatever his rank was on good terms with you.
It’s an RPG that actually plays like an RPG, making you live with choices and not always giving you an ideal answer. You'd be surprised at how grey and murky the questlines can be. "Oh, these colonizers are just oppressing the natives, how evil!" you'd think. But then you learn what actually happened, from the perspective of the other side, and now you learn it's not that simple.
Another thing I loved about the game is that it's one of the few that I've played where my character's title in the world mattered. I absolutely love it when you get to flex on people being difficult "Maybe I haven’t introduced myself!” Sure other games gave you power over people, but Mass Effect is one of the only ones where who you are matters, not the army you have backing your every move (Inquisition), or the strength of your character, but the authority vested in your Office.
As a young dad with little time to spare, I was also very happy about the length of the game. It was just right and I could even pick it up once more for a second playthrough.
In short, this game is great for Spiders fans and great for fans of games like Gothic or Risen, but if you're willing to cast a blind eye at some budget ways of making games - it's an amazingly atmospheric game. Nothing says Spiders quite like being too ambitious for their capabilities. But they always have a certain level of heart that makes it hard to dislike their games
A shame the game is not more appreciated. I really liked my time with the game. I liked the worldbuilding and exploring the different cultures. Sure it's heavy handed with its messaging, but I could definitely enjoy it for what it was. I say totally get it on a steam sale. Don't listen to the nay-sayers and instead judge it for yourself.
8/10
Steam User 76
Before you start, don't expect a Skyrim or Witcher 3 in terms of content and features. It is very much an AA RPG made by a small studio. The closest I could compare this game to is Risen 2-3, with elements inspired by The Witcher and Dragon's Age series. With that out of the way, let me describe what GreedFall is and why is it one of my favourite RPG's I've played in the past few years. I'll try to avoid spoilers as much as possible.
GreedFall is a third person ARPG set in fantasy world based on XVII-XVIII century. Magic does exists but its relatively grounded, by that I mean that you won't see any elements commonly seen in high fantasy settings such as teleportation or meteors magically falling from the sky. You play as legate/diplomat set on a mission to sail to a distant island, which supposedly has a cure for the plague that is devastating the continent from which your character comes from. Along the way you will meet few companions (which have their own goals and motivations) that will follow your character along your journey. You can have 2 of these companions active by your side at any the time and you can equip them with the loot/gear you find. Speaking of gear, for combat your character can use various one or two-handed melee weapons as well as pistols, rifles and magic rings for casting spells. You can also craft potions, bombs and traps. Through crafting you can also customise and upgrade the weapons and armours you have with exception to Legendary-tier gear which is not possible to modify.
The combat in the game is pretty responsive and similar to that in Witcher series. Any build is viable and you can pick companions to fill the gaps in your party (for example, you can pick someone with heavy armour to be a tank while you and other companion fight from the distance). There is also an active pause system that allows you to stop the game and analyse the station. As you level up you will gain skill points that can be spent to learn new combat abilities, attributes which grant passive bonuses and are required to use the best gear as well as talent points, which can be used to e.g. increase Charisma for non-combat approach to problems, or improve your character's ability to open locks. All these points can be reset by using crystals of which I had 5 of in my inventory by the end of the game. First playthrough took me 45h, I've explored every area, did every side quest I could (including DLC which is about 2h long) and pretty much did everything there is to do. There are several endings which are based on decisions you've made in your playthrough, so there's some replay value if you want to go again with a different build perhaps. Graphic-wise, the game looks really good IMO, some vistas are truly spectacular and I think the game holds up pretty well overall. What does stand out are character (face) animations, sometimes they lean closer to uncanny valley category, also the game does re-use a lot of interior assets, which is understandable given the budget and studio size. In terms of performance, the game seems well optimised, I didn't have any crashes or stutters and my CPU/GPU utilisation was slightly below what I expected it would be.
While all of that might sound good so far, the game does have some issues. The biggest I would say is the amount of running around that you have to do for some of the quests. There is a fast travel system but it can only take you to specific waypoints (camps) in each area. I often found myself fast-travelling to waypoint, running several hundredth metres to talk to an NPC then run back to the waypoint in order to use fast-travel again. It happens more than few times although you do get an option to fast-travel immediately to a specific place/NPC in some of the quests after interacting with an NPC. The second issue I need to mention is difficulty of the game, it can become trivial if you min-max in your playthrough. Don't be afraid to start on "Extreme" difficulty, its much easier than it sounds, especially if you have any form of ranged weapons. Other issues I would say are of minor nature, for example once or twice I had NPC pop-up in the distance and at one time I was unable to loot a mini-boss because it died on a rock to which I couldn't get to. If you've played Piranha Bytes game, you'll know what kind of jank am I talking about. I haven't encountered any game-braking issues and there is a frequent auto-save that you can load if something goes wrong.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with GreedFall. Story was much better than I thought it would be (I won't say why because its difficult without spoiling the game), factions and world setting are believable and I often didn't know which companions to pick into my active party because they are all likeable and often have something to say about the quest or mission you're at. If you're looking for a decent RPG and don't mind the occasional jank, I do strongly recommend GreedFall. Also a sequel(prequel?) with seemingly larger buget is currently in production so I'd say its worth trying the first game if it got your interest.
Steam User 52
TL;DR: 7.5/10
I took my time to get around to play this game and I'm kind of regret to wait this much. Why? Let's break it down:
Story/Character:
Not a very original idea but still, better than "a nobody saving the world" cliche. Being a diplomat and walking around politically untouchable is a refreshing feeling. Going to a faction leader and saying "fcuk your shyte" to their face and walking out without getting arrested by guards and hanged afterwards is really nice. De Sardet had a distinct character just because of this role.
Setting of the game is also refreshing from the regular "medieval era swords and magic and stuff". Using firearms and (al)chemical bombs feels so natural in the game, rather than a gimmick. On the contrary, i felt the existence of "light" magic was more out of place than anything else (and... I played a magic build De Sardet).
NPCs and Factions:
Sadly NPCs were mostly bland. Siora is a must in a 3 people party and your third character can be interchangable. Kurt was my choice for most situations but he wasn't "necessary", unless there is a faction related quest. Sadly, Vasco and Aphra were both an afterthough for me. Petrus was alright, as he had some background connection to De Sardet.
As for factions... Natives were nice, but seeing so many different skin colored native in a very small island was, shall we say, irrational. I think they should've stick with a single "racial" type and just go with it. Still, it wasn't a major issue, just felt a little silly.
Merchant Congregation should've had more details, quests and lore. They were literally the least shaped out faction in the game.
Coin Guard and Nauts as independent factions were a different approach and existence of an mercenary faction responsible for the security of all other factions is politically funny. Existence of Nauts is also a little silly, as they are the literally only faction that can sail the seas. While there is a "science" faction as Bridge Alliance, it's highly unlikely these guys were the only ones that have discovered the art of navigation. But I digress.
Theleme, if you set aside the whole inquisition issue, funnily were the more humane of the two major factions in the game. Won't say more about these guys as it can be considered spoilers.
And last but not least, Bridge Alliance's sciency, progressy but "let's murder them savages FOR SCIENCE" approach was a surprise. Also seeing a lot of Turkish names in a major faction was an even bigger surprise.
Graphics:
Well... nothing special but I enjoyed the lighting effects, especially sunsets around the isle. Overall graphics were "decent" but probably most AAA lovers in 2023 wouldn't find it appealing. As for me, it was completely acceptable. However, character models could've been more diverse; even 15+ year old games had better diversity for npc faces. Monster models were also a bit repetitive and non-descriptive. I didn't realised what I was fighting until they started rolling towards me or started kicking me.
Character armor & fashion styles are carrying the entire game though. Walking around with a Tricone and noble attire, rather than full plate armor (which is still an option) or the classic "robes and a wizard hat" is what I've needed in a game.
Sound/Music:
Again nothing special. I usually take notice of the soundtrack in games but I can say there were nothing catchy in the entire game. Ambient sounds were also bland. Still, none of these were bad or distrupting so I count that as "ok".
Gameplay:
Game started challenging but after a little while, combat became repetitive and easy. I finished the game on normal difficulty and aside from a certain combat at the end of the tutorial, I didn't die once. Magic build path for the main character literally solo'ed the entire game, without a need for a tanky companion. Getting stasis as the starter ability is a broken idea. I completed the entire magic ability tree by the mid game (maybe even earlier) and literally rolled over every single enemy, including bosses.
Using firearms for a magic character is not essential but a great extra damage source. Building your entire character on firearms is sadly not possible, as the firearms in game are single shot weapons so you must also use either melee or magic to balance a fight.
I should also note that game is not completely hack'n slash but it's diplomacy elements are mostly based around a couple skill checks. If the devs had worked on that side more, Greedfall would've shined among it's counterparts.
Lastly, I need to add that stealth has almost no meaning in the game, not that it's necessary or anything. I had to resort to stealth in only one or two situations just because of my roleplaying choice, where I could've just dived into the mob and start banging.
In short:
Greedfall's main premise, at least for me, is it's art and setting. Gameplay, graphics and sound are all passable too but it might disappoint some people. Game itself is not extremely long (can be done in 50-55 hours, easily) and doesn't require a lot of commitment. For CRPG gamers, it should be a solid "buy while on sale".
Steam User 33
Fights will be repetitive
Quests will make you walk everywhere 10 times
But I really liked the world and history
Steam User 77
---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MY EYES
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☑ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Do you even need a keyboard?
☐ Easy
☑ Medium "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."
☐ Difficult
☐ PAIN
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☑ player.repeat(grind)
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ 5min in-game world record
☐ Short (0-10h)
☑ Average (20-50h)
☐ Long (50-150h)
☐ Faster Than Light (150h+)
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You will waste both your time and money.
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ Imagine a spider web full of bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☑ 7,5 (gameplay is always the same, too much grind)
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10
Steam User 23
If the game were more condensed, it would be the studio's best game. Unfortunately, the amount of backtracking is overwhelming and the game has absolutely no respect for the player's time. Completing quests and side activities is even more tiring than in the latest Assassin's Creed games.
The plot and relationships between the characters are well written, and there is an interesting combat system (although it is not very developed and is based more on mechanics from looter shooters, i.e. you look at the damage and defense numbers) and good character development (significantly influencing the way of solving problems during exploration and quests).
I recommend it, but rather to fans of this studio's games.
Steam User 22
I've played this game on numerous platforms. I like this game. It's casual yet challenging if preferred. There are a couple of twists and turns and unexpected's along the way. It did get easier to play as skills and attributes came into play. All in all a good game I can't wait for greedFall 2.