In a surprising turn of events, it would seem the sequel to Spiders' widely acclaimed ARPG, Greedfall, will release as a Steam Early Access title. As per the recent livestream from Spiders, Greedfall 2 will pivot into relying more heavily on community feedback for future up??dates.

According to Spiders' producer Reba Isber, the Greedfall community was eager to provide feedback on the original game via reviews and other means. This prompted the team to send out a survey that helped inform some of Greedfall 2's earliest design choices, but also helped the team ?conclude that they needed opinions from experienced players to realize the game's potential to th??e fullest.

"Greedfall 2 is certainly a much more ambit?ious game than the first one," said Isber, "and so Early Access seemed like the right path to take."

Greedfall 2: The Dying World heads to Steam Early Access

In his talk at around the 20th-minute mark of the livestream, Isber explains that "[Spiders is] relying heavily on Early Access to collect player feedback and see if [they] are heading in the right direction." He also says that there will be several "phases" of Greedfall 2's Early Access, the first of which will grant players i?mmediate access to the "entire beginning" of the game. This will be followed upon by "updates at regular intervals," each of which will introduce a new chunk of the experience into the mix.

Isber was quick to add that "Saves won't be compatible between the various updates," which means players will be starting the game anew over and over again as Greedfall 2 moves from one stage of Early Access to another. This is difficult to fault, considering the apparent complexity of the game and, be??sides, Early Access is supposed to be used for testi??ng in the first place, broadly speaking.

Now, if all of this sounds somewhat familiar, you're on the right track: it's almost impossible that Spiders' decision to rely on Early Access for Greedfall 2 isn't at least partially fueled by the success of Baldur's Gate 3. Larian Studios' seminal hit is conceptually similar to what Spiders is trying to do with The Dying World, and it too kicked things off with a relatively large chunk of Early Access ??content for players to peruse early on.

In other words, this could be a winning move for Spiders, who already managed to deliver a very interesting and engaging ARPG in the original Greedfall. Things could go either way as the development continues, of course, but there's no reason to doubt the team's heart is in the right place. Greedfall 2: The Dying World wil??l be released in Steam Early Access in Q3 2024, and more information about it should be dropping in over the coming weeks and months.

The post Greedfall 2 la?unches for Steam Ea?rly Access later this year appeared first on Destructoid.

She's a good girl, loves her mama

With over two million copies sold, the role-playing game GreedFall is getting a sequel. Spiders and Nacon are circling back for GreedFall 2, a prequel set three years before the rough but charmin??g original game, and ??it's launching for PC and consoles in 2024.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_HS1Kb31UE

Today's announcement trailer sets the mood (and I fear for those hounds), but there's also a more detailed summary of what to expect from GreedFall 2. It's a POV swap.

"This time you play as a native of Teer Fradee, uprooted by force from your island and taken to the continent of Gacane, where the colonists are from."

"In this old world ravaged by war and scarred by the Malichor plague and the pol??itical scheming of the different factions, you must regain your freedom and control of your own destiny. Using diplomacy, cunning, or combat, as well as help from? allies you make, it's up to you to end one man's ambitions of conquest, which could spell the end for the continent and your island."

Meaningful player choices in a not-that-common RPG setting from a studio that isn't afraid to punch above its weight? Yeah, GreedFall 2 should be another interesting one.

Rising expectations

If the original game ends up feeling like a proof-of-concept compared to this hopefully tighter, more confident sequel, then that's a win-win. It's great that there's still a place for big, rough, memorable RPGs that don't need to reach triple-A sales figures. Whether you're into these kinds of RPGs or n??ot, I think we can all agree that it's nice to see something try and stand out from the polished-to-"perfec??tion" big-budget crowd.

[caption id="attachment_322564" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{The Lewolans are back for GreedFall 2.}[/caption]

Now, hold on a sec �aren't these developers busy with Steelrising? Well, yes.

"While we were working on Steelrising, our love of the GreedFall universe never faded, and so we are thrilled to be returning to it," Spiders founder and director Jehanne Rousseau said?? in a press release. "In this new chapter, players will explore the old continent with its bigger and more diverse environments. They will meet new companions and new factions, and I hope they will have unforgettable adventures?."

It's an early announcement given the launch timing, but 2024 sounds like a reasonable bet. Nacon hasn't committed to specific platforms yet beyond PC and "consoles," so we'll have to see where GreedFall 2 lands. For context, the first game was playable on Steam, PS4, and Xbox One. By the time 2024 rolls around, ??who knows what the subscription service and?? PC storefront landscape will look like. I'm sure Nacon will crunch the numbers.

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And I'm Greed, GreedFallin'

Spiders and Focus Home Interactive announced today that GreedFall's big expansion, dubbed the "De Vespe Conspiracy," is launching next week on June 30 alongside its update for PlayStat?ion 5 and Xbox Series? X|S.

The return to Teer Fradee will open up a new area of the island to explore, with a conspiracy threatening the current state of things on the island. The De Vespe Conspiracy will be available as a standalone purchase for current GreedFall owners, or as part of the GreedFall: Gold Edition, which contains both and goes live on June 30.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmqWaDwKS6M

The next?-gen update, meanwhile, will have save compatibility and a free upgrade f??or those who already own the game on PS4 or Xbox One. It'll bump the game to native 4k, target 60 FPS in performance mode, and have fast loading.

2019's GreedFall was a little all over the place, but for those looking forward to more questing around Teer Fradee, they'l??l have a shiny new section of the isl??and to explore soon.

The post GreedFall’s new expansion and next-gen upgrade go live next week appeared first on Destructoid.

Travel the world, catch a disease, kill monsters

Focus Home Entertainment has announced that its dark colonial RPG GreedFall will be journeying onto next-gen platforms in 2021. GreedFall for PS5 and Xbox Series X will brin?g the dramatic adventure to the new consoles in its entirety, along with brand new, undisclosed content.

Developed by Spiders (not literally) and released on PS4, PC, and Xbox One back in 2019, GreedFall tells a turn-of-the-century story about a group of explorers who ??travel to uncharted land in search of the cure for a grim virus. Arriving at the mysterious locale of Teer Fradee, our protagonists fi??nd a people at war with both invading armies and a slew of vicious monsters. It is up to the player to earn the trust (or ire) of the encountered characters, keeping the party alive whilst searching for a cure to save civilization.

No release date was announced for the PS5 or Xbox Series X release. We wil?l keep you informed when more details ar?e forthcoming.

GreedFall has sold over one million copies worldwide. Thank you so much for making the journey this incredible 💖!

Following our community's feedback, Teer Fradee is now coming to next-gen consoles and getting new additional content. Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/hM4lcoR5Pn

— GreedFall (@greedfall) November 26, 2020

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'Thank you for making this journey incredible'

Focus Home Interactive has announced that its dark colonial RPG GreedFall has passed a new milestone, having garnered one million global sales since its launch on? PS4, PC, and ?Xbox One back in September 2019.

From French gaming studio Spiders, GreedFall is an action-adventure that follows a group of explorers who travel to the uncharted waters of Teer Fradee, hoping to discover the cure for a noxious plague that is engulfing the rest of the world. Players explore the mysterious new land, (which is mired in a violent civil uprising), breaking and forging alliances with the locals, while fending off threats from in?vading parties and strange?, undiscovered creatures.

GreedFall launched to modest scores, praised by critics and fans for its unique storyline and environment, as well as its solid combat and character building, but lamented for its cumbersome skill tree and "rough around the edges" visual design. Overall, however, GreedFall is considered a solid mid-tier experience.

Spiders is currently at work on the recently revealed SteelRising, a robotic take on the French Revolution, which I'm very excited to see more of. GreedFall? is available now on PS4, PC, and Xbox One. It was also recently added to the PlayStation Now service.

🂠@greedfall has sold over one million copies worldwide. Teer Fradee has b?een welcoming a lot of new Renaigse?!

Thank you so much for making the journey this incredible! pic.twitter.com/BV17Bb9iAi

— Focus Home Interactive (@FocusHome) August 5, 2020

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The creed is greed

I've never played a Spiders game before. People always say they're "rough around the edges" or use the term "Euro-jank" to describe them. These games tend to fulfill that B-level game that seems to b??e so elusive these days (outside of Japan that is, thanks CJ!). Ideally, though, every project by a team gets better, right? Learning from what has and hasn't worked and improving skill sets across the board are natural occurrences over time.

I think Greedfall is a solid game for RPG fans, but I worry that its downfalls are too great to igno??re.

Greedfall (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows [reviewed])
Developer: Spiders
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Release Date: September 9, 2019
MSRP: $49.99

Greedfall is an interesting bag. On ??the one hand, I quickly fell in love with its world and quests, but on the other hand, I am absolutely bored with its RPG elements and all-too-simple combat mechanics. It's at times a fantastic romp through a mysterious world, and an ugly, buggy, mess at others. In other words, it's a Spiders game.

??While the story itself is nothing to write home about (various lands trying to cure a mysterious plague called the Malichor), there are enough interesting sidequests and settings to carry the game. I often found myself pursuing these optional activities not because I thought I needed to level up more but because I was genuinely interested in how things would play out. Many of them, impressively, have a couple of different ways to approach completion and cater to different play styles.

My preferred style of play in RPGs is almost always to level up the charisma stat and charm my way through the plot, and I wasn't going to change it up for Greedfall. As soon as I saw charisma on the skill tree, I leveled it up every single time I could. As a result, I saved a lot of money (bribing) and avoided plenty of combat. This isn't Deus Ex though, as there will be combat at times. But in general, many missions allow players to talk their way through, sneak around, or grease the hands of the important people. It felt nice knowing there were always options, even if I picked the charisma option every time. Greedfall also displays the percentage chance of ??success for persuasion dialogue, which is appreciated.

Unfortunately, a lot of the spending of skill points falls into the worst RPG trap of them all: small percentile increases. There are three t??rees in which you can spend points: Skills,?? Attributes, and Talents. Skills in the main tree and dictates how the player approaches combat. There are six different starting points like firearms, one-handed heavy weapons, traps, and some magic ones. There are certain points of the tree that grant actual skills, like a roll or a new magic ability, but there are so few of them and every node in between is either a damage boost, cooldown reduction, or some other boring change that is more or less unnoticeable. 

Attributes focus more on the tried and true areas like strength, agility, accuracy, endurance....you get the picture. Literally, all of these are small number changes. Worse yet, they are identical every time. Every additional point to accuracy adds 10% damage and 10% armor damage. Neat. Why does this tree exist? These increases are at times identical to the n??odes in the S??kills tree! I'm bored just talking about it.

Finally, the Talents tree. These mostly affect things outside of combat like charisma, lockpicking, and craftsmanship. There are six in total, all with three levels of improvement. And guess what? THEY'RE ALMOST ALL IDENTICAL. They literally just change the adjectives in the description for most of them. Instead of "Slightly increases the chance of success in dialogue options," you can have "Significantly increases the chance of success? in dialogue options." Woof.

All of this needed to be streamlined and simplified. I rarely looked forward to leveling up. I sometimes didn't even spend points for a while because I couldn't be bothered to open up the m??enu and click on the nodes. Generally, if the story starts to fall flat, looking forward to character progression is something to inspire the player. Not here. Once the story starts to lull, it can be hard to push forward with nothing interesting in sight. 

To compound this, combat is a mostly uninteresting mix of mechanics. It isn't bad, just incredibly standard. It's likely players will fall into a combat routine early and have very little reason to stray. On normal difficulty, it feels rather routine. There are definitely fights that kicked my butt, don't get me wrong, but they are few and far between and some are essentially level blockades from treasure or some side path. I'm generally pretty stubborn when it comes to losing a fight I feel could be won with some cheesing, but it just never felt worth it -- I'd?? rather come back later when I've earned stat points to increase my percentages by enough so these dudes die easily. Part of it is the very mediocre AI, but mostly it just never feels worth it. 

Players have a melee weapon and a gun, though depending?? on how the character is specialized there could also be magic or traps. I started by focusing on guns and traps, but traps are super uninteresting so I started to spec into magic. The biggest benefit of the skill tree is how much freedom the player has; no one is ever locked into a path. Firearms and magic felt better to play with, though melee is always necessary for combat as ammo and MP are limited. So it's hard to justify not spending points in strength and goddamnit I'm talking about the skill tree again!

Okay, that's a lot of negativity about the mechanics of Greedfall. Despite it all, the game has a strange allure to it. I couldn't get enough of the world. It feels...colonial. Firearms are old-school rifle and pistols, sabers are a heavily featured melee weapon -- I feel inspired to charge the Loyalists on horseback and curse out King George III. Despite the fictional setting, Greedfall is a period piece for t??he 1700s. Outfits have coattails and tons of characters we?ar tricornes unironically. 

The theme is also about colonization. It's a bit on the nose, but the player is given the chance to interact with an array of different peoples and experience how they are being affected by the events of the plot. The politics, in general, failed to win me over but the humanistic side of things was constantly at the forefront of my m?ind.

It's a time period with untapped potential, especially combined with the types of enemy designs present. A lot of the fodder enemies are straight-up boring (bears, humans, winged whatevers), but then something bigger comes your way and it's straight out of some Eldritch horror. It's a harsh juxtaposition that feels incredibly intentional. It doesn't quite make the boring enemies feel les??s boring or justify them, but figh??ting the big bads is still exciting!

Other than the design, the visuals are...a bit rough. In general, things are fine, but when the camera is in close during conversations, oh no it's not good. Human faces are not a visual strong suit for Greedfall. When people say Spiders games are "rough around the edges," a lot of those edges are polygonal in nature. Again, many of the enemy designs are re?ally great, which only makes the humans' ugliness that much more noticeable. 

It's hard to peg just what Greedfall&?nbsp;is. I can easily say the best thing about it is its world. It's one I would jump at the opportunity to explore again in the future, hopefully with some systems? that are equally as impressive. What's here is a very competent game, and it's easy to get lost in many of the quests thanks to some great storylines, but the gameplay incentive to continue is essentially zilch. 

It's a shame that a good game is held back by incredibly boring design decisions. I think Greedfall is on the verge of greatness but falls short in too many areas to really go down as a?? must-play. It's absolutely an enjoyable r??omp, just one plagued by the thought of what could have been.

_{[This review is based on a retail build ?of the game provided by the p??ublisher.]}

The post Review: Greedfall appeared first on Destructoid.

New World Disorder

Focus Home Entertainment has released a launch trailer for Spiders morose RPG Greedfall, which launches today on PS4, PC and Xbox One.

The 17th century drama?? is the story of a band of explorers, who venture to the uncharted land of Teer Fradee, searching for a cure to a plague that is wiping out humanity. Upon arrival, the party becomes mixed up in a violent conflict with the island's citizens, a roaming band of invaders, and the strange and paranormal inhabitants of the mysterious locale.

Greedfall bases much of its story events around the player's choices, alliances and actions, with fragile relationships built and lost in the blink of an eye. The player will be accountable for their actions toward the people of Teer Fradee, their enemies, and even their own party members. To hear more about Greedfall, you can check out Patrick Hancock's Review-in-Progress right here.

Greedfall is out now on PS4, PC and Xbox One.

The post Greedfall launch trailer sets sail to Teer Fradee appeared first on Destructoid.

This game has Spiders making it

You know, I've never played a Spiders game. I've been interested in a couple, like Technomancer, but never got around to actually buying or playing them. They've m??ostly received lukewarm reviews with plenty of uses of the word "jank."

Greedfall seemed particularly interesting to me, though it's hard to pinpoint why. I guess I've just been hankering for a solid RPG to come by and satisfy a hole left by Divinity Original Sin 2.

While perhaps not up to that same level, Greedfall has made a pretty great?? imp?ression on me so far.

Greedfall (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows [reviewed])
Developer: Spiders
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Released: September 9, 2019
MSRP: $49.99

Greedfall's ?first area, which is essentially a tutorial, does a great job of introducing the player to the various approaches to playing the game. There is combat, opportunities for deception??, charisma checks, lockpicking, and essentially all the basics that will surely permeate the rest of the game. It also gives the player time to get used to the chonky controls, at least on PC using a mouse and keyboard.

This game is definitely designed for use with a controller, and I'??ll probably switch over from now on. While I enjoy having a huge hotbar available to me, as of now it's useless (there are not many things I can do in combat) and isn't wo??rth the trade-off of funky character movement. If you've ever played a third-person action game on a mouse and keyboard, you know what I'm talking about. 

In terms of plot, your character is sent on a variety of quests before setting sail to an island where it seems like everyone is ready to explore and get a ??new start. These little quests introduce the player to some of the factions at play, as well as the main characters. Honestly, in the first handful of hours there isn't much plot to write home about.

The combat, on normal difficulty, is also braind???ead easy at this point. It's early, so I'll reserve judgement, but every battle thus far has been a cakewalk. The player can spend skill points in a variety of areas that affect how they approach combat like melee, firearms, traps, and magic. I've been dumping points into firearms and just shooting the crap out of everything -- it seems to work pretty well! Who knows though, perhaps enemies will start dodging soon or be more resistant to particular types of attacks. 

It would be nice if enemies were marked on the compass with a red dot or something. Plenty of times I've been walking in an area, and the entire party draws their weapons with no enemies in plain sight, leaving me very confused. Then I'll pan the camera around and see a bear slowly meandering my way from super far away. It's not always obvious who you're fighting, in other words. It's also not obvious as to why you're fighting at times. I was walking around the starting town once and then just found mys??elf killing some dudes. Alrighty then, they're dead...moving on? I still have no idea why they wanted to fight me.

All that being said, I am constantly enticed to play more. The skill points are so completely boring (more damage! better chance?? at succeeding a charisma check!) but there are at least some additional abilities that can be unlocked. The main characters are interesting enough to keep me chugging along with the plot, even if it means that I have to watch more of the horrendous facial animations. 

Is Greedfall janky? Yes. Does it detract from the overall enjoyment of the game? Not yet! The framerate also chugs more than I think it should, but I haven't played around wit??h the options too much yet to find out the perfect selection of options. For now, I will continue to max out my charisma as much as possible and (hopefully) talk my way out of just a??bout every encounter I come across. 

_{[This review in progress is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review in Progress: Greedfall appeared first on Destructoid.

Keep your friends close etc...

During this week's gamescom event in Cologne, Germany, French developer Spiders gifted us a new trailer for their upcoming RPG GreedFall, an interesting and dramatic-looking adventure set in an alternate 17th centur??y.

GreedFall is the the story of a band of explorers, who set sail for uncharted land in a desperate quest to find the cure for a miserable illness that is plaguing their homeland and threatening to wipe out all of humanity if left untested. Arriving on the mysterious island of Teer Fradee, people poli??tics quickly come into play as the explorers find themselves confronted by the island's natives, a separate band of invaders, as well as some strange, m??ythical beings and beasts, all of whom are out for blood from someone or other.

Over the course of the adventure players will be required to play human chess with these characters, using social interactions and - indeed - physical actions in order to maintain a fragile relationship with those who would help or hinder your efforts. Characters you come across can become you companions, with their actions dictated by your own interactions with both them, and those you encount??er during your time in Teer Fradee. Will you be able to convince people to assist you? In a pinch, will you use brutality if democracy fails? and - give the urgency of your quest - will the needs of the many overrule the needs of the few?

Another release in Focus Entertainment's efforts to publish ??mid-tier, lower-budget, high quality games, I will admit to be quite intrigued by GreedFall. I think it has a unique setting, a style all of its?? own and, i??f the companions system proves effective, could make for some emotional and dramatic decision-making. Hopefully, the final product will do just to the developer's ambition.

GreedFall launches September 10 on PS4, PC and Xbox One.

The post How will you treat ??your companions in the new f?rontier of GreedFall? appeared first on Destructoid.

Oh, also, there's a gross disease kicking around

Focus Home Interactive continue on their noble quest to bring interesting mid-tier titles to the masses, releasing a new trailer (alongside a release date) for GreedFall, an upcoming action-RPG from French develo??per Spiders.

Set in an alternate 17th century, the player will step into the boots of a colonial explorer, who travels to the uncharted isle of Teer Fradee in a quest to discover a cure for a deadly illness that is threatening to wipe out humanity (Focus Home are real big on their disease-based narratives it appears). Upon arriving at Teer Fradee, the explorers will become? entwined in a war between the natives of the island and a party of invaders, while also unearthing ancient secrets and encountering mysterious spirits, determined to ward off trespassers. That includes you, bucko.

En route to a remedy, players will encounter a variety of other characters, friendly and otherwise, and may have to form fragile alliances in order to further the cause and find success. Will you help the invaders brute force their way into this new civilisation, or will you stand alongside the natives, in hopes of earning their trust and guidance? Focus has stated that conversational choices and your approach to GreedFall's missions wil??l shape your party's reputation, the island's future, and civilisation itself.

GreedFall launches September 10 on PS4, PC and Xbox One.

The post Brave the new frontier and its dangers in Focus’ upcoming adventure GreedFall appeared first on Destructoid.

Mutant deer

Every role-playing game and its grandma claims to change drastically based on decisions made in game, yet almost none of them live up to it. French developer Spiders (The Technomancer, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes) makes a similar claim in its announcement of GreedFall, a fantasy RPG designed using a 17th centu?ry aesthetic coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

This darker-toned fantasy will have the typical RPG fanfare of magic and a large explorable world filled with secrets as well as characters to interact with. It will also feature? "diplomacy" and stealth mechanics as alternative means ?to complete quests along with combat.

"Diplomacy" may possibly just be a fancy word to explain dialogue systems that can be utilized to convince or manipulate others like in Knights of the Old Republic, but it would be interesting if there is some sort of Civilization-style inter-tribal relations to manage.

Spider CEO states that along with affecting relationships with characters, in-game decisions ranging? "from seemingly trivial choices to the most important political decisions, will influence and affect its course." That sounds great, but forgive me if I'm a little skeptical after decades of games that promise as much but ultimately change little beyond a few lines of dialogue.

Realistically, games hardly have enough time or budget to make even a single complete game, let alone develop a significant amount of alternative routes. The closest I've seen is Heavy Rain, where character deaths and decisions ultimately determine if yo??u catch the?? killer or not and which of of the various endings you get.

Nevertheless, GreedFall looks and sounds neat. I mean, a colonial soldier dude is chasing a Khajiit-l??ooking cat woman before getting jumped by a giant mutant deer thing. It's hard no?t to want to see more of that, so I'm looking forward to seeing gameplay.

GreedFall is a ?Fantasy RPG with Combat, Diplomacy, and Deception [PlayStation Blog]

The post New Baroque-style RPG GreedFall announc?ed, claim??s choices will matter appeared first on Destructoid.