I have middling hopes for Spiders' upcoming RPG Greedfall. On one hand, it's built on a conventional but still risky concept—colonization—that could lead into genuinely interesting and morally complex stories that haven't really been told before. But on the other, Spiders is one of the most consistently 6/10 studios in the business, with stuff like Technomancer, Bound by Flame, Mars: War Logs—Gray Matter bucked the trend, but it's an adventure. Its games aren't bad, generally speaking, but they're "rough," as Fraser put it, and typically "don't live up to their ambitions."
We'll find out if Greedfall can break that pattern on September 10, which Spiders announced is when its latest effort will go live. There's also a new trailer that lays out some dramatic visuals and teases the inevitability of conflict between the old world and the new, brought about by a disease that's ravaging the motherland and the promise of a cure—maybe—on the mystical island of Teer Fradee.
"Joining your cousin, governor Constantin D’Orsay, along with various factions with their own directives and hidden agendas, journey into a new world seeping with magic. Will you align yourself with one of the new colonies, or join the natives in their struggle for liberty?"
The video is combat-heavy, but Spiders said that stealth, diplomacy, dialog, and even your choice of companions can all have an impact on outcomes. "Player freedom and choice are core to GreedFall, as your decisions will build friendships, break alliances, diffuse conflicts and shape the future of the island," the studio said.
So I hope Spiders can deliver off an engaging tale laced with difficult, complex moral choices, and by not actually expecting that it will, I'll be very pleasantly surprised if it does. It's a win-win! September 10 is when it all happens, and before that you can dive deeper at greedfall.com.
