I have a friend who is a massive BioWare fan who has forever tried to get me to play their games. For some reason, they never really appealed to me. When I told that friend about Greedfall and how much I loved it in 2019 and they played it, they literally screamed at me that this is basically a BioWare game.
While I went on to play some of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, it didn’t click with me quite like Greedfall did. While Greedfall lacked some of the polish of bigger AAA RPG’s and its combat was average, I connected with its world and characters on a deep level.
I loved the game so much that I was actually kind of disappointed that Spiders didn’t immediately return to the series, instead working on another new IP in Steelrising. Not to say Steelrising didn’t look good, I just wanted more Greedfall!
Thankfully, Spiders loved the Greedfall series as well and returned to it after Steelrising, launching Greedfall 2 into early access on PC in 2024. Players on PC were able to get a taste of the game with the first chapter being playable.
With a revamp of the combat system, players had mixed reviews as most actually complained about the combat system. With it being early access, Spiders spent a considerable amount of time taking the feedback of players to revamp things further as they geared up for the full release.
Now, on the eve of Greedfall: The Dying World launching as a full game on consoles (it released yesterday on PC), players will finally be able to get their hands on this prequel and fall back in love with Greedfall’s incredible world and characters.
Before its release, I had some time to chat with Jehanne Rouseau, creative director of GreedFall: The Dying World, as we got to chat about the revamped systems, the decision to go with a prequel, and much more.
The big thing with early access is getting feedback from the community for the full release. Is there maybe 1 thing in the full release that you hadn’t thought of, but after listening to the community, is now in the game? And going the opposite direction, is there something that you removed or tweaked from the game because of the community feedback?
When we began the development of The Dying World, we took some time to look at the feedback of our players regarding the combat of the first game, and a lot of players wanted to be able to have control over the companions. That’s why we decided to propose a different type of combat – a little more tactical. Of course, during the early access period, as it was something new to us, we had to make a lot of adjustments, and we learned a lot from the players’ feedback.
Now you can choose from different playstyles: one more tactical, one very similar to the real-time with pause we had in the first game, and one in-between. As we think the players’ agency is really important, we also added more ways to customize your character with different “profiles” and bigger skill trees to choose from at the creation but also during its progression. We also added more ways to customize difficulty.
Switching to the game itself now, Greedfall 2 is a prequel rather than a sequel. Was that always the plan or did you have ideas for both a prequel and a sequel, and if so, what made you decide to go with a prequel first?
It was a choice from the start to have The Dying World take place before the events of the first GreedFall. It should also be noted that in the first game, the ending is set and therefore didn’t necessarily allow for a sequel, strictly speaking. As a result, the story of GreedFall: The Dying World is set three years before the events of the first game, which allows the player to discover the conflicts taking place on the Old Continent, and what led to the story as they knew it in the first installment.
This go-around players will play as a native of Teer Fradee who is captured and taken back to the mainland of Gacane. Can we expect to learn a lot more about the natives because of this choice, or because the settings is the mainland will it be more so focused on the colonizers in terms of an origin story?
In GreedFall: The Dying World, the entire first part of the game takes place on Teer Fradee, where the player will have the opportunity to learn a lot more about the Shining Scales clan, understand the differences between the native clans, their way of life, their language, their social relations, and more. Since some factions from the Old Continent are also present on the island, the player will have the opportunity to understand, from the natives’ point of view, the conflicts that can arise from the exploitation of the island’s resources and inhabitants by the people of the Old Continent.
Afterward, the majority of the story will unfold on Gacane, the Old Continent, where the player, as a native, will discover these lands plagued by war and disease. Contrary to the first GreedFall, where we discovered a new world (the island of Teer Fradee) through the eyes of a legate from the Merchant Congregation, in GreedFall: The Dying World, the player will experience the ancient lands of Gacane through the eyes of a native. In a way, it’s a mirror effect that invites adventure and discovery, and this is what will allow players to learn more about the stakes between the different factions.
Will players of the first game run into any characters that they will be familiar with?
Without spoilers, the player will indeed have the opportunity to cross paths with characters from the first GreedFall. Since the events of GreedFall: The Dying World take place 3 years prior, but the timeline will overlap with the events of the first game, it will be quite common to find some easter eggs and even get more context on iconic stories or characters from the franchise. We can’t wait to see the players’ reaction to this.
Romance and connections with your companions played a massive role in Greedfall. It looks like with Greedfall 2 you have expanded on those relationships even more. How will those relationships, good or bad, affect the overall story within Greedfall 2? Can players expect different story beats or how things play out depending on relationships with their companions?
With GreedFall: The Dying World, the objective is to offer even more choices to the players. We are less about holding the player’s hand and we let them immerse themselves more deeply in the story to discover all its subtleties. They forge relationships with their companions and the various factions present.
Each decision influences the progression of quests and therefore has an impact on the story. We wanted players to be the masters of their own adventure, rewarded for exploring the world and discovering for themselves the different possibilities and resolutions to the quests.
I always try to talk about a physical release when I get to talk to developers. As you know digital is growing more and more these days and physical media is slowly dying off. Thankfully Greedfall 2 does have a retail release, which has a gorgeous steelbook by the way. Is that important to you as a developer or not really? I’ve got to think the idea of being able to physically hold something you worked so hard to create would mean a lot to a developer?
As for physical editions, it’s a broad subject that is generally discussed and established with the publisher beforehand, as we are not the sole decision-makers. That said, NACON places great importance on physical distribution, and for us, it is indeed a form of celebration and pride to be able to physically hold our own creation in our hands.
I’d like to once again thank Jehanne for taking the time to talk Greedfall The Dying World with me. The game releases March 12th on Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 5. It is also out now on Steam.
