Greedfall II: The Dying World Review

Developed by Spiders and published by Nacon, Greedfall II: The Dying World is the next chapter in the Greedfall series where greedy colonising comes head-to-head with native magic driven by nature. Set in a time where there is a desire for resources between those that have to preserve them, and those that want them and will use force or trickery to obtain it.

                Having played I was intrigued to see how the next game would fair considering how much time and advancements were made in the industry. Although it didn’t stand toe to toe with the big hitter RPGs, the original Greedfall did have a fascinating lore and story, with interesting twists and compelling emotional moments. The combat was real time and passable but it was not massively memorable. Although one thing that was memorable (maybe in a bad light) was you and your comrades shouting the same line in combat over and over – amusing at first, it did eventually grow weary.

                Graphically there are definite improvements in Greefall II. Its not the highest tier presentation out there, but its enough to appreciate the art style. The voice acting in the first game amused me a lot with either some of the accents and or the repeated phrases. But although this game has less repetition in the dialogue the accents are incredible. To me it seems they took the strongest Irish accent and smashed it with the strongest South African accent which occasionally leans towards the Caribbean at times. Although the dialogue in their native tongue can be a bit much at times meaning needing to read a lot of subtitles.

                Rather than being a Legate of the Congregate with strong ties to Tear Fradee the land of the natives, you play as a native with native companions who are being acknowledged as key figures in their tribe, and are trying to improve their situation with the colonists nearby. Some of the colonists are friendly and understanding but others are just careless and greedy. So, what starts as just trying to handle the greedy colonists to correct their harmful actions to your tribe end up having their worlds turned upside down. You are captured and torn away from your tribe and land escorted as cargo for those that wish to use you and sell you. But not all non-natives are the enemy and some are helping fight back and want to help gain justice for the natives.

You get to customise your own character with a vast array of options to style the game with how you want to play. This series is known for having different ways to solve the same problem. This is enhanced by certain skills in sneaking, combat, demolitions and diplomacy. But not everything is a given either. You may be good at mechanisms to be able to lockpick chests and doors, but just because you have a high skill doesn’t mean you can just do it. It just means you have a higher percentage of it working in your favour. This is the same for all skills so if you want to convince someone with diplomacy and you may only get a 65% chance of it succeeding. If you fail it just means you get a different outcome and you may need to change your strategy. It’s the difference between paying a few for an unsavoury character’s help, or trying to fix it yourself and making things worse which ends up with your friend breaking their leg.

             The storyline has carried on some of the decent lore from the first game. However, the twists and secrets are already revealed. Magic is now accepted in the world and its not just the natives that can wield it. There are those who can wear magical bracelets and fire projectiles at enemies. As this is set around the 17^th century there are the standard weapons of swords, maces, axes and daggers. You also have bows and rifles to choose from too so you can customise your character into different builds.

The combat is the main change which will please some but not others. It was passable in the first game but it did become a bit repetitive and bland. Whereas now, Spiders have decided on using the Real Time with Pause style as seen in the Dragon Age games. So, it only becomes real time action combat if you let it flow and you can switch on AI to allow your companions to fight independently. But its strongly encouraged that you pause the game and queue the different actions for your companions so they fight exactly how and against who you want them too.

The game is not too combat heavy either and the different maps although a decent size have a linear feel to them, and also allows you to fast travel to speed things up. Greedfall II has a crafting system too so its good to keep looting where you can to upgrade your gear. But its not just you; you have to maintain and upgrade the gear for the whole team, and sometimes that could be 5 people even though you can only have a party of 3.

There is a good amount of playtime in Greefall II and plenty to explore so its always good to have something to get your teeth into. The plethora of side content means you can stray from the main quest line often to enjoy all the different areas you can explore. It would probably help if you knew a little about the previous story, but only understand some of the lore. Playing it fresh is absolutely fine as the storyline doesn’t continue from the original but the overall vibe is still there.

Conclusion

Greedfall II had a big ask to follow on from the original which I enjoyed a lot even if it had its annoyances and limitations such as repetitive dialogue choices. Greedfall II feels much more refined in terms of graphics, story and dialogue. The new combat system was a bold choice but it’s a risk, allowing players to try their hand at both real time and tactical styles. Returning players will find a lot to enjoy here, but newer players will be able to pick things up easily enough as well.

This game was reviewed based on the Xbox Series S/X release played on Series S|X. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. The reviewer purchased the title.