New colonial fantasy RPG Greedfall 2: The Dying World hits early access in September 2024
And here's a trailer full of axeplay, spellcraft and pullquote
Spiders and Nacon's new fantasy RPG Greedfall 2: The Dying World will launch into early access for PC via Steam on 24th September. Find beneath these words a trailer's worth of folk in facepaint glowering at burning battlefields, garlanded with preview excerpts along the lines of "ooh, I like what they've done with the curtains".
In a flagrant travestying of the whole sequel concept, Greedfall 2 actually begins three years before the first game's events, and casts you as a grizzled native of the island of Teer Fradee, who has been uprooted and taken to the continent of Gacane. In this rotten imperial heartland ravaged by plague, war and factional disputes, you'll fight, talk and scheme your way to freedom while trying to head off some arsehole who wants to conquer the universe.
"Experience the unique world of GreedFall again by exploring the old continent!" expounds Monsieur Press Release. "Travel across new landscapes, from Olima - the city of stars of the Bridge Alliance - to the shores of Uxantis, and uncover the secrets of these ancient lands." New cities aside, there are fresh companion characters to accessorise, befriend, seduce, turn into rivals, and play as during combat. We can also expect "an even deeper RPG experience" with story paths ranging from being diplomatic to being manipulative to being a sneaky mass-murderer.
I didn't play much of the original Greedfall - I think I got as far as boarding a ship for Teer Fradee and being sat on by a very unreasonable tree. RPS reviewer Astrid Johnson (RPS in peace) likened it to BioWare's creations, especially Dragon Age and Mass Effect, but found that it wasn't on par with either. She was moderately tickled by the game's real-time-with-tactical-pausing combat, and confessed herself a fan of the outfits, too, despite the "unforgivable crime" of not being able to pop a feather in her tricorn hat.
Asrid was much less sold on the setting, however, commenting that "it's either standard historical fantasy, or it's so bogged down in cultural stereotypes that it all just feels a bit overdone." Khee Hoon Chan had more to say on the subject in a piece for VG247, observing that Spiders are trying to have their cake and eat it by critiquing European colonialism at the level of the writing, while nonetheless inviting you to make the entire island your oyster. (An oyster cake, yes.) I'm cautiously interested to learn how Spiders might address that by recasting you as a Teer Fradee native, hollowing out the imperial centre. I suspect the same old contradictions are in play, but let's see.