I first played GreedFall: The Dying World at Summer Game Fest 2024, almost two full years ago. The following September, it entered Early Access and sat with mostly mixed reviews. Unfortunately, with 18 months in Early Access under its belt, developer Spiders has still launched a game with a frustrating combat system that is full of bugs. However, that doesn’t mean the title is completely unredeemable.
GreedFall: The Dying World is a beautiful game at first glance. The world is lush and full, and the character creation tool can be as simple or complicated as you like. For me, I spent a lot of time on one character, but chose a combat style I ended up hating. I sat through what felt like endless tutorials to learn to use it (I opted for a bow the first time), and it felt like I would be slaughtered every time I went into battle. Because of this, I went back and switched to a sword, and ended up sacrificing the character I spent so much time on for the sake of moving forward.
Unbeknownst to me, the fighting in GreedFall: The Dying World is unsatisfying all around. Luckily, Spiders has implemented a scaling system where you can customize your gameplay difficulty all the way down to not taking damage if you want. I didn’t go that far, but because the system was so flawed, if these options weren’t there, I would consider the game unplayable.
“GreedFall: The Dying World is a beautiful game at first glance.”
In theory, GreedFall 2 has an interesting skill and ability system, with different “Paths” for weapon types: Paths of Protection, Paths of Destruction, and Paths of Charity. These would be your tanks, DPS or healers. You can choose multiple paths over time, with different weapons like bows, swords, two-handed weapons and bracers for magic. Switching between them, though, was a frustrating experience.
I tried several times to create an individual talent bar for each weapon, but found that when I switched back to the other, some abilities would change while others wouldn’t. On the Xbox controller, there is the option to hold the trigger and use XYAB for a second skill, but it is all on one bar. You can absolutely bind one set of skills for weapon one to one section and weapon two to another, but then you are wasting the fact that you can have a second bar.
I tried probably ten times to sort out why my skills were moving or disappearing between the two weapon bars, but eventually had to give up for time’s sake. If that were the only issue with combat, I could survive, but it is just janky and unresponsive overall. Several times, I would hit a skill, and it wouldn’t press, or it would completely change targets, forcing me to run around a mass of enemies to stab one in the back (no, the skill was not meant to backstab), resulting in time lost and usually a lot of pain for me.
Usually, that would be the end of a game for me, and if I am honest, I could probably find even more flaws, but I think it is enough to prove my point. Since you can tweak the damage taken and damage caused, these issues can be mitigated, but it turns combat into nothing more than button-mashing. You can also control your party in GreedFall: The Dying World, allowing you to stack skills or choose who is attacking whom, etc., much like in the Dragon Age games. You don’t have to, but you can. I personally prefer a more automatic system for my team, with a dash of control, but I like that you have the option to do either.
With that comes upgrading your team, and again, I usually prefer a more hands-off approach with the option to auto-upgrade. GreedFall: The Dying World does not offer this; instead requiring you to manually upgrade yourself and several party members. Not completely a negative thing, but there was a period of time where I was getting new points to spend after every mission. It became slow and tedious, especially since there were so many companions.
You’d think, “I’ll just avoid the ones I am not using,” if you’re like me and find it tedious, but GreedFall: The Dying World also requires certain party members at certain points in the story, so often I would be locked into one I didn’t bother with, forcing me into it. I felt like I was levelling up more in GreedFall 2 than I had in any game. Normally, that would be exciting, but since the weapon bars weren’t working the way they should, it was more annoying than anything.
That is a LOT of issues with just the combat. There were also small graphical errors that didn’t really affect gameplay, but after nearly two years of a playable build, they just shouldn’t be there. NPCs would walk into frame and stand in front of me during dialogue. Once I was completely vibrating for an entire dialogue scene, and occasionally my companions would be inside one another, or I would be standing inside the floor. Kind of like that good ol’ Bethesda jank I thought about during the Starfield review period. Luckily, most of the time I think it is funny.
As I said, though, GreedFall: The Dying World isn’t completely unredeemable, but whether or not you find it playable is completely dependent on the notes above. The game itself is quite beautiful. The story feels tense, with some depth, and is surprisingly poignant given the current world we live in, but I would like to leave that to players to explore themselves. There is a moment when you move from one location to the next where I literally said “Whoaaaaa!” out loud, that’s a good sign for the story.
There is plenty of depth in exploration, with sneaking capabilities, and a mode dedicated to uncovering information or things you can search. Talents like Craftsmanship, Survival, Diplomacy, Stealth, Alchemy and Mechanisms will determine how you are able to play through the game. There is even an interesting storage system which sends overstock to your home storage, though I don’t know why your potions, etc., need to be limited if you don’t have a weight restriction.
Enemy models, especially bosses, are creative and interesting, and there is so much world to explore. With that, though, there come some other issues. While questing, there came a point where the game told me to go to an area to speak to someone, but then, when I got there told me it was restricted, and we would be attacked, so I tried to sneak around, only to realize I would not be attacked and the note was incorrect.
Another time (twice, actually), there was a quest marker that required you to search an area, but the actual location was just outside of the search area. Again, not the end of the world, but just needlessly making things complicated when they shouldn’t be—especially after time in Early Access.
“GreedFall: The Dying World should have been the kind of game I absolutely loved.”
I say again, at least, unlike Steelrising, GreedFall: The Dying World was an enjoyable experience thanks to failsafes that Spiders put in place to let you essentially cheese all the broken parts (or most of them). However, should we need to say in 2026, after years of the game being playable, that this is an acceptable state for a game to be released? Or that a company should need to put in ways to essentially make the game tolerable, rather than fixing the issues? Probably not. And for the record, second opinions were received from my coworkers and partner; I am not the only person who saw these glaring issues.
Had I paid the $79.99-$89.99 CAD for this game, I would be very displeased. Since it was supplied as a review copy, it is something I could probably go back to when I am looking for an easier RPG, since I would choose to turn off any strenuous combat due to the issues above.
GreedFall: The Dying World should have been the kind of game I absolutely loved, with a beautiful world and compelling story to explore, but instead was a pretty messy experience overall. I am lucky and get to test a lot of games without forking out money, so I would be fine jumping back in to explore more of this world, but that isn’t the average person’s experience. Spiders is asking full price for a game that still needs so much polish; I just can’t let that go. You’re better off jumping into one of the many great RPGs already available.
