Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
The original GreedFall, released in 2019, introduced players to the fantasy-tinged land of Teer Fradee, a beautiful island filled with wondrous creatures and inhabited by a magic-wielding indigenous population — and then cast them as one the colonisers tearing it asunder. Sure, as an RPG, it meant you were playing an ostensibly neutral outsider who could choose to ally themselves with the natives, but the framing — unsubtly modelled on the real-world rush for the “New World” in the 1600s — was still uncomfortable.
Attempting to redress matters with its second go-around, developer Spiders opts for a prequel, set three years before the events of the first game, this time focusing on the native perspective. You play as Vriden Gerr, a trainee druid of sorts, and designed to your liking with a robust character creation suite. “Vriden Gerr” is more title than name though, meaning “Rootless” in the Teer Fradee language (one of The Dying World’s more impressive elements, an entire constructed language that’s fully voice acted), a moniker that underpins the returning choice-driven gameplay.
This latest GreedFall does present a captivating world to explore. Although not quite fully open world, its multiple vast areas are beautifully crafted.
Exactly how much you choose to associate with the outsiders, and whether or who to trust among them, could make for a deeper exploration of complex themes, but such complexity never materialises. Soon enough, your player character is captured by invaders and shipped off as a “prisoner”, with all the subtlety that implies. That, along with the game’s standing as a prequel leading inevitably into the downer vibes of the original game, undermines almost any later attempt at nuance – even though you’re rapidly freed and the game begins to open up after a fairly linear intro, why would you ever consider working with any of the colonisers? It nullifies almost any choice you may take or story thread you might pull at, the writing lacking anywhere near the consideration necessary to handle such sensitive material.
Still, this latest GreedFall does present a captivating world to explore. Although not quite fully open world, its multiple vast areas are beautifully crafted. From the earliest sections in your home village, where you’re accompanied by childhood friend Nílan, to the more “developed” regions populated by arch capitalists and cartoonishly evil villains, The Dying World is a gorgeous one. Special note has to be made for the sublime soundtrack too, composed by Olivier Deriviere, and elevating the entire package.
Structurally though, this all feels a bit by the numbers. All the standard hallmarks of a western RPG are here – assorted companion characters with their own plots and backgrounds to explore, missions and quests that can branch in countless directions, an attempt at a romance system, a glut of skills and customisations to master – but there’s nothing that really stands out as being unique to this game, this world.
The biggest departure from the original GreedFall is with The Dying World swapping out the previous real-time action-driven combat for a more tactical real-time-with-pause approach. At any point, you can freeze the action to issue specific commands to your characters, be it precisely where to move to or which ability to use. It’s reminiscent of RPG classic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, although not quite as intuitive. It’ll likely take a few battles to wrap your head around both the compexities and the possibilities of the system, but once you have, it’s a robust approach that adds an almost tabletop aspect to combat.
If you’re really struggling though, Spiders throws in a couple of difficulty modifiers to streamline things, either handling some of the minutiae for you while still allowing you to issue individual commands, or taking full control of any other party members while you control only Vriden Geer, an experience a bit closer to the original game. There’s even an invincibility toggle, if you just want to focus on the story.
Unfortunately, that story just isn’t enough to win most people over. There are hints of greatness in The Dying World, narratively and mechanically, and perhaps with more development time it could have achieved it, but ultimately it never does. While it’s not without its charms, this is one for hardcore genre devotees only.
