Our reviewer Lauren Morton called Greedfall “adequate” when she reviewed the RPG from French studio Spiders, saying the systems “mimic those of successful RPGs, but are all a bit flimsy.” The studio has higher hopes for the sequel, which is scheduled to appear in summer 2024. For the first time for Spiders, it will be released in Early Access.
“Greedfall 2 is certainly a much more ambitious game than the first,” said producer Reda Isber in a recent interview Live broadcast as part of Nacon Connect. “That’s why early access seemed to be the right path. We rely heavily on Early Access to gather player feedback and see if we’re heading in the right direction.”
Jehanne Rousseau, CEO of Spiders and lead writer of Greedfall, explained that Greedfall 2's new combat system, which allows you to control all of your companions, inspired the decision to release in Early Access. “It's not turn-based, but you still have that kind of control over your team,” she said, “and that's why it was very important to have the player's feedback – because it's something new. We have never done this kind of controls.”
“At launch,” Isber said, “players will have access to the entire beginning of the game. You will be able to explore new environments. And then we schedule updates at regular intervals. To be clear from the start: save games win.” It is not possible to be compatible between the different updates.
A cinematic story trailer for Greedfall 2 accompanied the announcement, showing the protagonist being captured and enslaved before fighting for her freedom. So often games in colonial-era fantasy settings like this skirt the boundaries of their themes, but based on this, it seems like Greedfall 2 won't do that. It suggests a game about slavery where you play an escaped slave rather than, say, a friendly outsider doing a few side quests where you have the opportunity to help free a slave here and there.
Plus, the boss at the end looks like the concept of war has just come to life, emerging from a pile of dead battlefields. So maybe it will be a double whammy with some “war is bad” and “slavery is bad.” I'm being flippant, but I'd rather have an RPG that deals with its themes so directly than another where they add background color to a story full of prophecies and lost artifacts or whatever.
Greedfall 2 will be available steam when it enters Early Access later this year. According to Rousseau, the playable portion is “probably a quarter of the total game content.”
