GreedFall 2: Dying World Preview
While it may not have the same name recognition as some games, Spiders' 2019 RPG GreedFall can safely be considered a cult fan favorite. With a unique setting and narrative, GreedFall also explored its characters and 18th century setting quite thoroughly. Five years later, we get a sequel, which is actually a prequel. GreedFall 2: The Dying World takes place three years before the events of the first game.
Trouble in paradise
The game begins on Teer Fradee, an island paradise that featured prominently in GreedFall. Instead of playing a colonial-era explorer, players take on the role of a Teer Fradeean native named Vriden Gerr. Ultimately, the narrative takes the Vriden of Teer Fradee to the mainland, a very symmetrical turn from the first game. Much of the game's opening dialogue is in a made-up native language with subtitles, although there are natives who have learned English. Those who are allergic to reading, take note. Skipping dialogue will leave you (even more) confused. Aside from the made-up language, which sounds absolutely authentic, GreedFall 2's art design for the native Teer Fradee culture is impressive. Obviously a lot of time went into building a believable world. Overall, while the developers obviously have a strong vision for the narrative, the dialogue is quite expository and rarely reads (or sounds) witty or natural.
Only about a third of the final game was released in early access. Therefore, the narrative is naturally incomplete. As a young Teer Fradee native coming of age, this allows the player to learn combat mechanics as part of a native rite. The story, broadly speaking, initially involves Vriden Gerr trying to get to the source of a mysterious disease that is killing native wildlife and spreading to people. Finally, he and his companions find themselves on dry land and the narrative sets in motion.
taking a break
In addition to changing the point of view from the colonials to the natives, Spiders has really mixed up the combat and some of the RPG mechanics from the first game. The focus now is on real-time combat with a tactical break. The player can press the side button, pause the game, and assign up to three actions to party members using a modified overhead view before resetting the clock. It's also possible to ignore the tactical pause and treat combat more or less like a traditional ARPG. I enjoyed Steel Rising by Spiders, one of the best Soulslikes from a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, I found the combat, at least so far, in GreedFall 2 to be much less satisfying, with some pretty clunky animations and not much impact.
However, that could be because combat, while not Vriden's last resort, is also not the focus of the game. Exploration, diplomacy, and stealth are more important to progress the story and complete objectives. It's often possible to avoid combat through clever dialogue choices, smooth talk, and sneaking around.
There are no pre-made classes in GreedFall 2. Instead, the player character (and all party members) draws on various skill trees when upgrading. These are fairly common types of roleplaying skills related to tanking, healing, buffing, dexterity, and magic. It seems like a relatively deep and flexible system. It allows for some impressive combat scenarios and synergistic actions.
While characters can be fully customized in terms of their abilities, weapons, and abilities, the same is not true for their physical appearance. The game has a surprisingly rudimentary character editor, with some standard faces and hairstyles. Let's hope this aspect of the game gets a lot of attention during Early Access.
Set the timer and let it bake
GreedFall 2: The Dying World enters Early Access with a decent amount of gameplay to explore and the beginning of an intriguing narrative. The developers have suggested that what's currently available is around 25% of the game, meaning the final release will be a substantial RPG, as the first game was. The world building of the game is excellent. Unfortunately, the game also enters early access in a technically very difficult state. I experienced a lot of crashes, graphical errors, pop-ups, and a large number of broken or buggy missions. Skipping dialogue or scenes seemed to cause a lot of problems and errors.
The original GreedFall also launched with a lack of polish, but many fans waited patiently while the kinks were (mostly) worked out, and in the end, the experience was memorable. As it stands, GreedFall 2: The Dying World is a bit disappointing. Hopefully, player feedback and developer attention will help turn the final game into the accomplished, compelling sequel so many have been asking for.
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