An Ambitious but Uneven Journey
What makes a good RPG? Everyone has a different viewpoint on what constitutes the perfect one; or at least something that gets close to ‘perfect’.
Some prefer action-adventures, like Skyrim, where you play in the first person, wielding a sword in one hand and a bow in the other. Others might argue for something like Baldur’s Gate 3, favouring complex narratives with a host of characters and thoughtful, real-time battle systems.
Personally, I like an RPG that throws me into a deep story, allowing me to engage with a huge world that comes together via an epic narrative. GreedFall: The Dying World has a bit of all those things, but for me, something is missing in the overall execution.
A Double-A Prequel with High Ambitions
It has been seven years since the original GreedFall game, which mixed 18th-century historical visuals with high fantasy in an epic RPG that I enjoyed a lot at the time. It is always nice to see double-A games go neck and neck with the bigger studios to carve out a niche of their own. GreedFall: The Dying World is set three years before the events of the last game, starting off on the fantasy island of Teer Fradee. Here, you name and create your character, shaping them into your own vision of who you want to be.
A Personal Narrative Journey
You belong to a tribe and are a sage in training. When we join the story, you are in the final stages of your initiation. One of the major events unfolding on the island is the encroachment and invasion by foreigners; a deep parallel to our own history with European settlers arriving in North America and seizing those lands.
Following the prologue, you and two of your friends are captured by the settlers and taken to the continent of Gacane. After you escape, the real story begins. Your journey is one full of hope, as you get involved with various factions, freedom fighters, and political plots. The narrative is a much more personal journey than that of the first game, and I liked the way it introduced social themes of racism, cultural clashes, and class struggles. It features many hours of dialogue, presenting you with numerous choices that dictate how your character behaves. I still don’t fully understand why this needed to be a prequel, but it ultimately doesn’t matter for the sake of this story.
Tactical Shifts
The biggest gameplay change from the first game is the combat. Rather than the free-flowing battles of the original, the system now utilises real-time strategy elements. You can pause mid-battle to issue special commands to your character using specific talents and skills. Alternatively, you can switch to other members of your party to play as them or issue them commands directly. You don’t have magic or stamina bars either; instead, by building up standard attacks, you can eventually unleash special abilities.
I wasn’t sure I liked this system at all to begin with. I felt it took away from the immediate action and the narrative of the combat. However, as I used it more, it started to feel interesting and unique. Thankfully, your party members have decent AI, often healing themselves, and you, without needing to be prompted. But do I still prefer the old combat system? Yes.
There is a talent tree to progress through in The Dying World, as you earn points to spend. You can choose to invest them in various disciplines, such as Diplomacy or Alchemy. Choosing these different talents gives you alternative ways to tackle main missions and side quests. Will you focus on stealth, or rely on talking your way into, and out of, tense situations?
Visual Highs and Performance Lows
The game features some great visuals when it comes to the characters themselves, especially during close-ups, which occasionally gave me some serious Baldur’s Gate vibes. In the semi-open environments, the landscapes are pretty and feature a nice colour palette. However, the environments do become a bit familiar after a while, and I found myself wanting a bit more diversity in terms of climate.
The biggest letdown of GreedFall: The Dying World though is in the performance; whenever I panned the camera around my character, everything slowed down and became blurry. It isn’t the smoothest experience.
On the other hand, the audio is solid throughout, featuring a good soundtrack and effective sound design. The voice work is also great, handling a wide range of languages and characters very well.
A Solid but Sometimes Deflating RPG Experience
Overall, GreedFall: The Dying World is a fine, reasonably solid RPG that offers great ways to tackle missions from different angles using your specific talents. The story is good, but it doesn’t engage as much as other games in this genre. I found myself losing interest in a few of the side quests and some of the secondary characters’ arcs too.
And then we have the combat, something that is very much a Marmite situation: you are either going to love it or hate it. I could appreciate it, but I never truly loved it and often found myself wanting to avoid encounters entirely; something that is nigh on impossible.
There are certainly things to love about GreedFall: The Dying World, but after many hours in its world, I left feeling a little deflated.
Important Links
Return To The World Of GreedFall In The Dying World – https://www.thexboxhub.com/return-to-the-world-of-greedfall-in-the-dying-world/
Greedfall 2 is coming in 2024 – https://www.thexboxhub.com/greedfall-2-is-coming-in-2024/
Buy the Standard Edition of the game – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/greedfall-the-dying-world/9PDWZ4GBDJSD/0017
Or go Deluxe – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/greedfall-the-dying-world-deluxe/9NMTZ1299PP0/0010
