Greedfall (Sort of) Review
It took 3 months but I have finally wrapped up my stream playthrough of Greedfall, and I have some thoughts. Thoughts about this games story and the various issues it presents regarding Colonization and other issues. So buckle and avert your eyes because there’s going be spoilers after the jump.
To start things off, lets have a quick explanation of the World of Greedfall. Greedfall is set around what’s basically an 18th Century Europe, albeit one where Magic and Monster exists. Initially set on a continent that’s only known as, well The Continent (In game lore gives it the name Gacane but that name is never said aloud), The story involves several of the factions there taking an interest in Teer Fradee an island that is home to many secrets and resources. The factions that have taken an interest are as follows, Theleme, basically an analogue to the Catholic Church albeit one that heavily uses magics. The Bridge Alliance, basically an analogue to the Islamic Nations with their heavy focus on science and Alchemy. And lastly The Congregation of Merchants, a faction based entirely around being neutral and keeping the peace. This is also faction that you the player belong to. There’s also a couple of minor factions as well, The Nauts, who are a seafaring Guild who hold dominion over the seas with their mysterious nautical techniques, and The Coin Guard, a large scale mercenary faction that everyone uses as Soldiers and Guards.
You play as De Sardet, the customizable protagonist and son or daughter of a higher up in the Congregation. At the start of the story De Sardet is sent along with their cousin Constantin to the Congregation’s colony of New Serene on Teer Fradee to serve as Legate and Governor respectively. As Legate, De Sardet’s job to to play diplomat and solve all the problems that may arise with with the many factions on the island. In gameplay terms it’s basically an excuse for De Sardet to be wandering around the wilderness. You’re also there in hunt for a cure to a disease known as The Malichor, a deadly and always fatal virus that has swept the Continent. Legends tell that the natives of the island have great healing powers and you are sent to find out for yourself.
So on that note lets talk the Natives of Teer Fradee. As a group they are modeled after what seems to be a mix of Scandinavian and Native American imagery and who have accents that sound like English Actors trying to do Scandinavian accents with odd results (It’s very bizarre). They’re heavily connected to nature the Island’s Spirit, a godlike entity known an En on mil Frichtimen and the belief of giving back to it, so much so that the people are plantlike themselves, with roots and moss growing on them. The end result of this being their mages, known as the Doneigada their eventual transformation into Guardians, massive mutated monstrosities that protect the islands many sacred sites. And it is for these gifts that the Natives are being exploited by outside forces.
Now this is where it gets rough as we talk about the Natives and their treatment by the outside factions. Both Theleme and The Bridge Alliance are in conflict with the Natives and have been for a long time by the time you arrive. The Theleme’s are trying to convert the Natives to their beliefs via a number of means including coercion, blackmail, threats, and conversion camps. Most of these actions are over seen by the Ordo Luminis who are an Inquisition like organization that are extremely brutal in their methods. Meanwhile Bridge Alliance is in open war with the Natives having suffered a number of kidnappings by the Alliance. The reason as it turns out after some investigation turns out to use them for experiments in treating the Malichor and other things.
The Natives of course are pissed by this with different sub factions and groups wanting to go about it in different ways, some want to fight back and drives the outsiders off the island, some want to make peace and find a way to live in harmony. One village leader Ullan flat out wants to sell out his people to the outsiders for money and can get away with it if you help him.
Now these issues are presented in a serious manner and are given a great deal of attention. However the game has a big problem with not going all the way with that attention. By that I mean you will go through the process of thwarting whatever nefarious situation, condemn it afterwards, and…pretty much just drop the subject afterwards. None of the problems in the story are isolated incidents caused by random people, they’re all minions of the major factions acting on their orders but there’s no real follow up condemnation or effort to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Instead pursuing the matter the characters will just throw up their hands and go “Well what can you do?” And the problem is that most of these threads are not dropped as usually later in the game you’ll discover that hey, it turns out that these people are still doing bad shit. But instead taking steps then to prevent this you just sit around and wait for it to happen again and again.
There’s also the issue of that when one of the major factions does end up condemned it usually gets compartmentalized. By that I mean the blame is assigned to a designated sub group within the each major faction. For Theleme it’s the aforementioned Ordo Luminis and their inquisition. For the Bridge Alliance the blame falls on one Dr. Aslii, a renowned Bridge Scientist who is conducting a large number of heinous experiments and is responsible the Natives kidnappings.
If you play your cards right both groups will be brought to justice in the end. The Ordo Luminis will get disbanded with most of its upper leadership punished and Dr. Aslii can be brought to trial and executed for his crimes. But the main bulk of their factions don’t really get punished or condemned for their actions. There are many non-Ordo Luminis priests who commit a number of heinous activities in the name of converting the locals, like provoking the wildlife into attacking a village or lying about an agreement they made in exchange for their help. The Bridge Alliance meanwhile is all too willing to wage war on the Natives, even after discovering the reasons for their hostility. Even up to the very end of the game Governor Burnham, the leader of the Bridge Alliance holds the Natives in a sneering contempt.
At no point can you really call out any of these groups out without suffering consequences for it. Much is made about the Congregations adherence to neutrality and this is reflected in the gameplay. The best outcomes are the ones where the peace is kept and both sides are appeased.
This gives the game a kind of half-assed feel to it as it rather easily points to a thing to say it’s bad but then doesn’t spend much time on why it’s bad. Its like they didn’t want to spend too much time on the ugly side of things (It’s worth noting at this point that as far as Race goes that every faction including the Natives is very evenly spread on color and no comments are ever made on that front, just on the Natives practices) Instead choosing to have the best solution be everyone getting along in the end. There’s nothing with that mind you but the way the game arrives their doesn’t feel like the majority of the people involved have started to change for the better.
And on that subject there’s De Sardet & The Congregation itself. The game never really dwells on De Sardet’s role in things as they responsible for manipulating the games various factions in whatever direction they choose. This includes choosing the direction the entire Native people ends up going by playing Kingmaker at one point late in the game. Basically after killing the previous King due to a misunderstanding your character must help elect a new one as they need a King’s blessing to meet En on mil Frichtimen. To this end they must help one of three possible candidates. Derdre, who’s one of the vocal about going to war with the outsiders and driving them out, The previously mentioned Ullan who’s willing to trade and sell out his people, and Dunncas, who wishing to make peace and find balance between the Natives and the outsiders. Guess which ones the best option?
The game draws very little focus to this role your character plays, just saying what a great diplomat your character is. There’s no real acknowledgement that this outsider is shaping the future of the Island for good or for ill. It’s possible to read them kind of trying to do away with this by revealing that your character is actually from the Island originally (More on that later), as shown by De Sardet possessing a mark on their face like the Natives, ergo making your character not actually an outsider but one of there own and as such not really worth much scrutiny.
Then there’s Congregation who in spite of being a major presence on the island, is actually kind of a non-entity in the games events. There’s only three major NPC’s representing The Congregation on the island, two of whom are mostly there for exposition and the third is Constantin whose storyline has almost nothing to do with his being Governor. And aside from trade disputes between them and the natives and an issue with a certain are being used for lumber they play no real role in anything that happens on the Island. And while they may have stayed out of the broader events on the Island, their very presence means that they are taking part in colonizing it. They built a city there after all, they are mining for ore and cutting down forests, and trading with the Natives (It’s worth noting that Ullan spends his arc dealing with the Congregation but like most things not much attention is paid to this). There’s also the reveal that the Congregation had attempted to colonize the island previously, long before everyone had shown up. During this time they managed to draw hostility from the Natives to the point that they were driven out, but not before they kidnapped the woman who was De Sardet’s mother and brought her back with them. When she died De Sardet was raised by the noble family that had taken her prisoner. Aside from being a big reveal and a sub plot regarding De Sardet’s blood family none of this ever comes up again or plays any part in what comes after. Its all very disappointing.
When I first heard about this game I was intrigued because the original trailer suggested that the game was going be about the player character fully engaged in colonizing the island and having to pay the consequences for their actions alongside everyone else and, well it was half that. De Sardet and The Congregation pays no price for anything they do on the island. And the Bridge Alliance and Theleme don’t pay much of one either.
Don’t get me wrong I do like this game, it’s not a favorite but I enjoyed my time with it. I just wish it handled things better when it came to the story, then maybe it would have been a favorite.
