Greedfall

GREEDFALL HAS THE ELEMENTS OF GREAT RPGS BEFORE IT, BUT NOT THE EXECUTION.

GREEDFALL’S SYSTEMS PARROT those of successful RPGs, but they’re all a bit thin. It has a tactical pause system that lets me queue up an action for my protagonist, but not other party members. I can assign armor and weapons to my party members, but not manage their skills or combat tactics. I can pursue a romance with my companions, but it takes the form of three personal quests followed by the makeout-time dialogue button and a quick bedroom cutscene. GreedFall contains all the things I like in RPGs. I wish that I could pick even one of them to praise without caveats.

In one bit, I’m interviewing a grizzled member of the mercenary faction, the Coin Guard, as I investigate the disappearance of a talented young soldier. Sweet-talking and browbeating people with my title is a large part of my job as the ambassador of my own faction: the Congregation of Merchants. To drag information about a secret training program out of him I choose between three dialogue choices: convince him with my charisma, bribe him, or allow my companion, Kurt, to do the talking. I’ve invested my attribute points in charisma, so I’m able to persuade him.

I like that I have multiple options in each interaction, but as always in GreedFall, something is a little off: His mildly uncanny lip movements are a distraction shared by many of GreedFall’s characters, and the quality of the voice acting varies, with one of my favorite merchants constantly belting his lines out.

GreedFall is not the heir to the Dragon Age throne, but it is, in a word, adequate. Rather than planting its flag in one truly standout, unique system, it spreads itself thin across all of the systems one might expect from a Dragon Age- type game. If Dragon Age is a veteran gone on sabbatical, GreedFall is keeping its seat warm without making a mess of the office in its absence. It’s a decent RPG, but not the new darling of the genre by any stretch.