GreedFall

First and foremost, I understand that this was a low budget made game by a small studio, but critique is critique, so take it however you will. I bought into the nonsensical trailers hyping this game up and even the reviews saying that this was a Bioware level made game. That statement alone is a tall order and hard to live up. I'll start off with the positives though. -Story is decent. The world building is okay and somewhat fleshed out. You learn more about the world as you progress through the game but the player can usually piece things together rather easily. -Characters are likable. I didn't really find any of them to be dull or boring and actively pursued each individuals story to find out more about them. Kurt has to be the best in my opinion. -Great art. Some places left me in absolute awe. -The musical score is ok. Didn't hate it, didn't love it either though. Think that might cover the positives...On the bad side, and alot of them are glaring. -Copy and pasted buildings. It's horrible. Completely different nations have the same building layout. Just about every building inside and out will be the same with little to no unique features. -The graphics, while beautiful at times, can feel really dated. Stiff animations and only two facial expressions. -Combat is the worst. Questionable hit boxes, boring, repetitive and tedious. Every fight feels the same. This game heavily relies on its combat since you pretty much do this 99% of the game. -God awful pacing. The beginning has you run for roughly four hours, picks up a bit but it can't maintain steam. Felt more like a chore to play at the end of it all. It's not a terrible game, but for the asking price, I think this should be $20 maybe $30. It doesn't stand anywhere near to past RPG titles such as Dragon Age or Mass Effect or Skyrim or The Witcher.

Played this at launch on console, went in expecting Spiders' usual jank, but ended up sinking a solid 50 hours over 2 weeks to 100% everything the game had to offer. Greedfall reworks the classic mid '00s BioWare/Obsidian formula, but incorporates more than a few lessons from the best in the genre since then (i.e. The Witcher). Whereas many modern, open-world RPGs have continuously expanded the size of their world, without questioning if their mechanical and narrative complexity supports it. Greedfall reigns it in, with a world that feels like a middle ground between Dragon Age: Origins and The Witcher 2. The world feels large and interconnected, with diverse environments and some great backdrops, but the action takes place in carefully crafted zones, designed around the quests hosted within them. There's good narrative pacing, plenty of player choice, and impactful repercussions to those choices. Side quests are just as compelling as they can modify major plot events, reveal more about your companions, or follow The Witcher template of going off on unexpected tangents - all of which can affect your political standings with the factions trying to colonise the magical island of Teer Fradee (a diplomacy mechanic that ties into the ending sequence). Combat and crafting is straight forward and more-action oriented like The Witcher 3 (though you'll need to use the pause-and-stack-command function on higher difficulties). All that said, it’s not perfect. Spiders are still fans of annoyingly labyrinthine interiors, bouncing you back-and-forth between NPCs during some quests, and the ending is more binary than expected (think good vs. evil with modifiers). I loved the art design and atmosphere, but it's not the most techncial impressive game if that's what you're after. However, despite those flaws, it was easily my favourite RPG of 2019 and a huge improvement on Spiders' previous games.

It's like the old Bioware RPG's that were good, but with better graphics and a modern combat system. Unfortunately, Spiders didn't tell anyone they were releasing this on GOG and it just decided to pop up one day randomly, so all of us who bought it on steam are stuck with DRM but that's just a small gripe. Easy 5/5 considering the budget and development team size. P.S. Roll mage for win button at level 15

This game surprised me. The story is mature and intelligent, with lots of political intrigue and betrayal, but also dark fantasy elements all around. The characters are well-written and interesting to talk to, with full voice-acting for every encounter. The world is a joy to explore, with a good variety of locales and beautiful environments. The lore is well-developed, with secrets to uncover in unexpected places. I have two complaints about the game. The character progression could be a bit better, with more interesting talent choices/perks. The combat itself has a great foundation but could benefit from more variety in active abilities and less focus on spamming auto attacks + chugging mana potions. Overall, it's an 8.5/10 on my scale which puts an average game at 5. This is a fantastic game, and well worth your money if you enjoyed games like Knights of the Old Republic, The Witcher or Dragon Age series, give this game from a small studio a chance, and it may surprise you.