GreedFall

GreedFall from the French studio Spiders places players in the colonial fantasy world of the island of Teer Fradee, where the protagonist travels as a diplomatic envoy amid tensions between European powers, the native inhabitants, and the island's mysterious magic. The game combines real-time action combat with RPG elements such as character progression through skills, crafting equipment, and an extensive dialogue system where the player's choices affect relations between factions as well as the final shape of the story. It also features a group of companions with their own storylines, who accompany the player on expeditions and react to their decisions.

On Xbox One the game lived up to its ambitions despite the limited budget of a smaller studio, which showed in simpler textures and animations, but it nonetheless offered a surprisingly elaborate world with convincingly written factions and their politics. The atmosphere is rounded out by music inspired by baroque and colonial seventeenth-century aesthetics, which together with misty forests and Victorian-styled towns creates a distinctive visual style. Contemporary reviews praised the ambition and inventiveness of the world, though they pointed out technical shortcomings befitting the studio's size. GreedFall thus became a pleasant surprise for fans of Western RPGs looking for an alternative to big-budget titles, and it is still valued today for its fresh colonial fantasy setting and its well-thought-out faction politics.

The island of Teer Fradee is steeped in mysterious magic and nature spirits, with whom both the colonizers and native inhabitants must somehow coexist, and the game uses this supernatural layer as a source of both conflict and resolution, from healing rituals to a mysterious curse afflicting the main character. Players can choose between diplomatic persuasion, bribery, or force, with each faction — whether a trading company, a scientific academy, or native tribes — reacting differently to the player's dealings and opening different paths through the story. This interweaving of politics, exploration, and companions' personal relationships makes GreedFall one of the more honest smaller-scale RPGs of its generation.

Why play it: For fans of smaller but honest RPGs, GreedFall offers a blend of politics, exploration of a mysterious island, and companions' personal relationships, where the choice between diplomacy, bribery, and force genuinely changes the story.