While I didn’t get to go hands-on with GreedFall, the team at Spiders gave us an in-depth look at gameplay and story during Focus Home Interactive’s What’s Next event. GreedFall is an action RPG set during a fantasy version of the 17th century. In it, you’ll be rounding up mercenaries, slaying monsters, exploring, and (hopefully) sweet talking your way out of potentially violent situations.
It’s definitely an ambitious project for the developers at Spiders, as they’re a much smaller team than you’d expect to be be working on something like this. GreedFall looks like Assassin’s Creed meets Dragon Age, with the way you’ll be exploring and gathering party members.
It’s hard to expect the same level of polish as the aforementioned AAA titles, but since there is still time left for development, my hopes are that it will come close. Either way, it seems like it will be a fun time.
The section we were shown followed the protagonist who can either be a man or woman, based on your choice at the start of the game. During the demo, the main character was on a quest to find their cousin, but needed some information before doing so. After a brief encounter with a group of guards, you’re able to use your charisma to acquire a key to enter the building where you suspect your cousin to be. Alternatively, you’re able to engage in combat to get in, as well, but the person playing wanted to show off how to play in a diplomatic way.
After meeting with your cousin, the two ventured off to a nearby port, where a gigantic monster emerges, commencing a boss battle, which was the highlight of the presentation. There are numerous ways to fight, from quick attacks with a sword, shooting a gun, or magic. Interestingly, there is a feature that allows you to pause combat to select various attacks, giving it a blend of fast paced action with a hint of turn-based mechanics, similar to Dragon Age Inquisition. This combat seems to be quite deep and we’re excited to get lost in it.
Afrer defeating the beast, you’re rewarded with some XP that you can use to spend in the massive skill tree. It seems like it will work the same way it does in many games: Each time you level up, you get a point and that point can be used to acquire one upgrade.
From here, we were shown a different area, in which the player took on the role of the woman character. It’s unclear if the two will have vastly different personalities akin to Alexios and Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, but I am hopeful that will be the case.
During this section, we got a deeper look at the companion system, in which you can develop relationships with other characters in order for them to assist in battle. You can have two companions in your squad, each with a ton of different methods of attack.
You can command the companions during combat and depending on what classes they are, you could be at a huge advantage over the enemy. This companion system looks promising and could be one of the hooks of GreedFall. It’s also one of the many examples of just how deep this game can be.
Along with that, there are over 200 pieces of equipment to choose from, giving you a huge variety of options. Again, much like Assassin’s Creed, there are different types of equipment with varying degrees of defense. You’ll have plenty reason to go on quests, not just for XP, but to earn money to buy more gear.
Overall, GreedFall looks to be an ambitious title, with a mix of many mechanics we’ve seen in popular fantasy RPGs. While it doesn’t seem to be doing anything too innovative, a healthy blend of these mechanics could work very well depending on the level of polish. As it stands, it still needs a bit of work, as the animations are a tad stiff and the visuals aren’t up to par with modern RPGs we’ve seen. But seeing as how GreedFall is still in development, there is a lot of hope that this could be one of the great games of 2019 (assuming it launches this year). What’s there is a great foundation, so I’m hopeful that more time will help it reach its full potential.
