Crewmen, pack your equipment well, say hello to girlfriends, wives and children, pray to your gods: a journey beyond the sea awaits us, a journey towards new discoveries, towards a new world, towards the island of Teer Fradee, an uncontaminated paradise perfect for experiencing endless adventures.
Leave fears and doubts aside, arm yourself with your spirit of adventure and go with us to discover the game that will allow you to live this fantastic experience: GreedFall, find out everything in this review of the last effort of Spiders.
An epic adventure
If you are fond of games that allow you to explore in great freedom imaginary worlds full of challenges, secrets and great adventures, then immediately know that GreedFall is one of them.
Set in a fantasy world from the setting very particular, a fantastic version of the era of the Great Discoveries, Greedfall is an action-rpg with areas in which we will play the role of Mr. / Mrs. (depending on the sex you choose for the PG) De Sardet, diplomat of the Congregation, one of the main factions of the game world.
Young and from a good family, De Sardet will have to go to Nuova Serene, the main colony of the Congregation of Teer Fradee, to assist his cousin Constantin, designated governor of the city. Unfortunately, the task will not be easy: the island is, in fact, rich in resources to exploit and, in addition to having attracted the attention of two other factions of the continent, it is already inhabited by a native civilization which seems determined not to let foreigners occupy and exploit the land of their fathers.
Our weapons in the big business
To complete our task, in GreedFall we will have to move within the game world by completing quests given by the NPCs and making our character grow through a very varied progression system, in a game scheme that in part seems to take as a reference that of a classic of the genre, that is Dragon Age: Inquisition. In fact, our exploration will not be solitary, since on its path we will bring with us three other characters, a group of allies who will help us in various ways during the adventure and with whom we will be able to interact in various ways, exactly as it happened in the BioWare game. .
To equate GreedFall to Inquisition there is also the choice of the authors to structure the game world as a set of large explorable areas and reachable via fast travel: un semi-open world which manages to convince thanks to the beauty and variety of the playing areas. The maps are indeed large, full of locations and present and places funny to explore; getting lost in the woods, the rugged mountains or the glittering cities of GreedFall is a satisfying pleasure, which is enough to entertain the player for hours.
The dynamics of the game more or less follow those seen in titles such as the aforementioned Inquisition: the combat is simple enough to be easily accessible and only rarely tiring, while allowing us to experiment with different tactics and to convince is also the use of "mental" and "diplomatic" characteristics for the resolution of different situations. From this point of view, everything will depend on how we decide to specialize our PG; In fact, GreedFall presents a branched and dense tree of growth, and there will not be few times in which some specialization choices will preclude us some quests of the game or will simplify our life in others; a feature that it gives the idea of really being in control of the character's destiny, although it will sometimes be frustrating to see some roads barred for our low rank in some characteristics.
Turning to the clashes with the enemies, the threats on our way will obviously be linked to our rivals in the domain of the island and to bands of unscrupulous marauders, but to rule it are the myriads of fantastic creatures that populate the island, a bestiary born from the pen of the creatives of the development team, varied and absolutely formidable, which will give rise to some fights that to define "spectacular" would be an understatement: just imagine what it means to face a giant several meters larger of you using only yours humble foil of representation..
A vintage painting
From a technical point of view GreedFall gives the best of itself for what concerns the colonna sonora: to accompany us on our journey we find in fact a majestic soundtrack, which while lacking truly "memorable" themes manages to make the gaming experience unforgettable. On the one hand, in fact, we have orchestral pieces capable of photographing the solemnity of the setting, playing on our sense of wonder, on the other hand more exotic rhythms inspired by the indigenous music of Native Americans able to perfectly rhythm the action sections.
As far as graphics are concerned, the question becomes more interesting. Let's start by saying that, being made with a much lower budget than that of other blockbusters, GreedFall presents a visual apparatus that is certainly not avant-garde; animations, for example, do not have the accuracy or fluidity that we would have expected, showing unnatural or jerky movements. The models, on the other hand, while presenting a certain "narrow-mindedness" in the modeling, strike for the attention to detail both in the realization of the expressions and those of vintage weapons and clothing, which immerse the player in a very evocative atmosphere.
The icing on the cake, however, is the creation of the locations which, in addition to having an attractive level design (as mentioned above), also present truly breathtaking views.
We are not talking about the perfection of some locations of a Red Dead Redemption 2 (for example), but the melancholy forests and the decadent and majestic cities of GreedFall, with their bright colors, and the care in the search for a refined design, combine to make your trip full of unforgettable moments.
A brave game
Summing up, GreedFall is what they say "a courageous job".
Her structural flaws are various, some of which also annoying, perhaps: more than once we have had bugs that have confused us and made gaming sessions particularly tiring, forcing us to waste time understanding what was the thing to do due to an indicator or of an unclear quest -bug that we hope will be corrected as soon as possible by a patch. Not to mention, of course, the graphic aspect, which undoubtedly does not have the ability to rival other products of the same kind.
But if we think of the ambitions of GreedFall, that is to build an epic based on the discovery of a world born from the mind of the screenwriters, and the determination with which Spiders wanted to make his work, then we owe all our respect to the project, above all. because of the final result: living the adventures of De Sardet will take you to wonderful places and will have you confronting fearsome opponents, meeting well-defined characters, and even reflecting on what happens when distant worlds and conflicting values meet and collide, with a truly memorable sense of the wonderful.
A great story, a brave epic that is worth experiencing firsthand.