Falling In Line

GREEDFALL understands what makes action RPGs good, but not great.

- Lauren Morton

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 the members of my party. I can assign armor and weapons to my party members, but not manage their skills or combat tactics. And so on. GreedFall contains all the things I like in RPGs. I wish that I could pick even one of them to praise without caveats.

I’m interviewing a grizzled member of a mercenary faction as I investigate the disappearance of a talented young soldier. Sweet-talking and browbeating people with my title is a big part of my job as the ambassador of my own faction, the Congregation of Merchants, in this colonial-era fantasy world. To drag information about a secret training program out of him I choose between three dialogue choices: try to persuade him, pay to 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 slightly off. The mildly uncanny lip movements are a minor distraction shared by many of GreedFall