GreedFall

The pitch

GreedFall is Spiders' third-person action RPG set on Teer Fradee, a newly discovered island where several colonial factions compete for resources, influence and a cure to a plague ravaging the mainland. Players take on the role of a diplomat navigating that politics with a party of companions, a sword, a pistol and a growing set of magical abilities.

"Two games inside GreedFall"

The single most consistent framing across this game's review corpus, spanning both positive and negative reviews and multiple years, is that the opening hours vastly outperform what follows. "There are two games inside GreedFall. One is the first area of the game, which is an amazing RPG, full of role-playing options that rivals the best in the genre. You will spend 1-2 hours there, and your standards will be set very high," reads one detailed review. Another, more blunt: "I finished Greedfall (40+ hours) and for half of that I kept asking myself why I'm still playing." This isn't a minority complaint — it's close to the default shape of a GreedFall review, regardless of whether the reviewer ultimately recommends the game.

Quest design: the specific, recurring complaint

What drives that decline, according to this corpus, is quest structure rather than story quality. "There is a quest where you go to the attic to talk to a dude, go to the basement, go back to the attic, talk to a woman, fast travel to talk to another person, then repeat that process... twice. That's Greedfall," reads a 565-vote review, one of the most-cited single examples in this game's negative-review history. A 717-vote pros-and-cons review lists "Boring and unfun sidequests" and "A lot of sidequests" as leading complaints. Notably, several positive reviews recommend installing community mods specifically to address this: "Okay, so there's a stipulation in getting this game. MODS!!!" reads one, while another describes deliberately researching known issues beforehand and using quality-of-life mods to make the pacing bearable — an unusual, hands-on workaround this library doesn't see recommended nearly as often for other games.

What the game gets right

Set against the pacing complaints, the setting and story draw real, specific praise. "GreedFall starts solid, walking on old Bioware paths reminiscent of Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Jade Empire," reads a 625-vote review, crediting the game's ambition even while noting its budget limitations. Faction politics, the colonial-fantasy premise and voice acting are cited repeatedly as standout elements — this is a small studio's RPG that reviewers judge generously for reaching as far as it does, rather than dismissing outright.

Combat: satisfying early, more contested later

Combat draws mixed but specific feedback. Early encounters are frequently described as engaging, blending melee, firearms and magic; more recent reviews raise a specific technical complaint about enemy targeting in group fights. "The combat is terrible. When you fight groups of enemies, your [...] character will repeatedly aim for the wrong enemy when shooting because the game mistakes your positioning as a targeting override," reads one 2026 review — a distinct, mechanical complaint rather than a general difficulty gripe.

Where sentiment sits now

Recent English review sentiment — the 100 most recent reviews, spanning June to August 2026 due to this older title's lower review volume — runs 65% positive, well below the 75.7% lifetime score. That gap likely reflects a smaller, noisier recent sample for a six-year-old release rather than any new controversy; the complaints in this window match the same repetitive-quest-design pattern found throughout the game's history. Achievement data shows a real completion cliff: the median across 63 achievements is 14.5%, with even the earliest story milestones capping around 60-67%.

Value

At NZ$59.99 with only two modest DLC packs and no in-app purchases, GreedFall is fairly priced for its content volume; the value question in this corpus is about pacing and repetition rather than price, and several reviewers specifically recommend waiting for a sale given the uneven experience.

Verdict

GreedFall is a small studio's ambitious swing at a BioWare-style RPG that connects hardest in its opening hours — a distinctive colonial-fantasy setting, real faction politics, and a genuinely strong main story — before repetitive, fetch-quest-heavy side content wears down a meaningful share of its audience in the back half. Reviewers years apart describe the exact same pattern, which makes this a known, well-documented trade-off rather than an inconsistent one. Worth playing for the setting and the opening act; go in with realistic expectations about the pacing that follows.