Something a lot of RPGs fail to trigger in me is a sense of enthrallment. I love action RPGs quite a bit, but few make me feel invested in the story. Mass Effect is a great example of a series where I cared about every little detail. So, is Greedfall another I can add to the list? No, but it could be in the future as a series. Here’s what I mean, as well as my thoughts on the game from Spiders.

There’s an aspect of Greedfall that makes me feel like the master plan is to build to something great. For starters, I didn’t dislike much about the story. Set in a fictional world not that unlike pre-industrial Europe circa 1750, the game leans heavy into environments that portray colonial expansion. What perfect timing to set sails, as a strange disease called Malichor is tearing its way through the country. On the distant isle of Teer Fradee, your character is hoping to find a cure for their mother and others.

As you reach Teer Fradee, and even before embarking on the voyage, you come across some insane creatures. It’s a bit of mythology mixed with great fantasy-style monsters. While the combat system, (which we’ll get to below,) gives you a clear cut way to take on enemies with the typical light attack, heavy attack, and dodge mechanics, you get some room to work on things your way. As you pick up magic casting abilities and ranged weapons, it feels like you have a say in how to take on these crazy enemies. It’s kinda nice, since sometimes RPGs feel like they present you with one way to beat the game. Greedfall is wonderful in this regard, working as a true RPG game that lets you pick how to play.

With that being said, the formula is evident pretty soon after the combat tutorials and early introductions to central characters. You can choose to take jobs from factions, as well as side quests that make you seem reputable to others. Something Greedfall does really well is give the player a chance to complete quests in various ways. It’s not uncommon to have a mission lead to a fork in the road, but things like paying people off versus completing an actual quest makes it fun to play around with how you want to conduct yourself. It’s also helpful as you work through the game to pay close attention to the detailed skill tree.

Something that I struggled with in Greedfall is the feeling that I can’t build my character’s skills in the correct way.  For example, running around strong-arming your way through missions can look bad, especially as you attack rival factions. However, early on I decided to try and boost my charisma skill. Immediately, I found this put me behind on science. I don’t think if I had gone back to boost my science skill that I would have been in much better shape, because I needed the charisma boost to complete a few missions. It’s not a difficulty issue, or even a progression and pacing problem, it’s a bad setup with too few actual choices in how you’d like your character to excel.

I mentioned my love for Mass Effect in the intro, and to be honest, Greedfall plays at times like a game from that same generation. The performance of the game is buggy, and controls feel quite erratic. Combat isn’t terrible, and pretty on par with a slightly less smooth Witcher experience. A big plus is the crafting tree, which is so detailed I kept getting distracted playing with my options only to find myself forgetting what I was up to in the first place.

I don’t need my games to feel like a 4K, silky smooth powerhouse each and every moment I play them. To be honest, the setting is great, but interiors look dull. Cutscenes don’t show off any amazing character models. Nevertheless, the story at the heart of Greedfall is good, and I looked past these things for the most part. In the future, should Spiders look to build a series out of this game, (which they should,) some improvements to performance need to happen for it to be a great game. As a start, Greedfall didn’t feel like a waste; just a bit of a walk through mud at times.

An Xbox One review copy of Greedfall was provided by Focus Home Interactive for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Greedfall

$59.99 USD

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Good story and setting
• Seems to set up a possible RPG series a la Mass Effect
• Combat gives the player freedom
• Complete quests with a variety of choices for finishing

Cons

• Combat and performance could be tighter
• Skills tree corners player into one single experience
• Things to build on, but could have been a bit stronger of a debut