I first encountered GreedFall in April 2022, on the tail end of the pandemic. I had just received word that, after nearly a two-year 'exile' of sorts, I was finally able to return to Montreal, QC; my island, my city. In some ways, the saga of de Sardet -- the confident, fearless, yet personally rootless legate whose role we assume -- inaugurated the next stage of my life. In other ways, it revealed and accentuated what was already there, and what I was already passionate about. Naturally, I could write an entire novel about my love for the game, but this is neither the time nor the place for a retrospective. This will be a 'proper' review, as the reception of my impromptu piece about GreedFall II changed something within me. Most of my review will be me waxing poetic at a fever pitch, so I will try to get the 'important' stuff out of the way first, just for the discerning gamers.


Probably.

I 100% recommend GreedFall. I cannot recommend it enough, actually. It was created on a budget with a skeleton crew, and the gameplay and mechanics can be exploited, but it is beyond worth it for the story alone. A tech de Sardet with a well-crafted gun can breeze through the game and delete just about every enemy -- which is ridiculously fun -- but if you're more into swordplay, then there's more to pay attention to. The parries are very satisfying! All of this said, though, if you're looking for a very refined gameplay experience, then I'm not too sure you'd enjoy the game as much as I did, but if you want a magical and politically volatile story that presents an unflinching and scathing pronouncement on the folly of man, as well as the consumptive nature of greed and its destructive trappings, then you have met your match.

PROS
+ The characters -- absolute standouts. Every single one of them, from de Sardet themself, Constantin, the companions, the various native leaders...
+ The story itself and the constantly grey morals of everyone involved, including de Sardet...!
+ CHOICES MATTER
+ Gorgeous landscapes and sound design
+ Cape physics.
+ The game encourages exploration and forces you to figure things out for yourself -- your hand isn't held past the combat tutorial
+ Chockful of early modern historical references, and plenty of Shakespeare!
+ You're free to be a horrible person, but you have to live with your choices (and you'll feel guilty about it, too)
+ In-depth and interactive crafting system

CONS
- The combat can be exploited quite easily
- Textures often clip and there are shading issues
- Animations in dialogues are sometimes choppy, but ones that we see in cutscenes are very fluidly done
- Companions can get stuck on invisible hitboxes and teleport off the map
- The cities of the different colonial powers feel rather samey, especially the palaces

In short, most of the hang ups and reservations that I can share about the game have to do with the shoestring budget they had for the first game. I recall reading somewhere that it was only $5mil. If you can forgive that, it's an unforgettable game, and I really can't say enough good things about it.

It's a shame that Steam reviews have a rather paltry word limit, as I could sing the praises of this game incessantly. I'll do what I can to keep it succinct and relevant, though; maybe one day I'll have a whole retrospective series in my group/cult. But very, very briefly, the three highlights I'd like to visit here:

The story
I don't want to spoil a thing about the story, so I'll share a very brief rundown. You assume the role of de Sardet, a member of the nobility in Serene, the capital of the Merchant Congregation. As the legate of the Merchant Congregation, you are to accompany your whimsical cousin, Constantin d'Orsay, to his new position as governor on the faraway isle of Tir Fradi, in hopes of finding a cure for the malichor, an insidious plague that is rotting the old world, and to cement the standing of the Congregation on the colonial stage. Yet, this new world was, of course, not new to its natives...

Political machinations await de Sardet and company at every turn on Tir Fradi. Every choice is meaningful, and they all culminate in a dramatic, morally challenging conclusion that will leave you to wonder 'what if I did this differently...'

The characters
There's a reason why I mentioned my absolute love for the cast of characters in GreedFall immediately. They are all fantastically written and designed. Perhaps one of the most unique bits of the character interaction in GreedFall is that they do not begin as trusting or friendly towards de Sardet, but rather suspicious of them; even your bodyguard, the deceptively gruff and stoic Kurt. Think about it: although you trust him, clearly, you've done very little so far to give him any reason to trust you. The native princess ("you are most confusing, but thank you") Siora treats you kindly but coolly at first encounter, the renegade botanist Aphra has reason to believe you're out for her head and holds you at gunpoint the very second she lays eyes on you, and poor Captain Vasco is obliged to relinquish his position among the Nauts after he is finished transporting you from Gacane to Tir Fradi. You have to earn your companions' trust, and there are consequences if you fail to do so. This said, the romances are expertly done. Before GreedFall I would go out of my way to avoid romances in games, as I usually find them cringing or saccharine. In this case, however, if you do choose to pursue a relationship with a companion -- and you're under no obligation to do so! -- it is in-line with their own personality, arc, and their perception of de Sardet. The treatment of the companions is realistic, and in giving them their own agency, so to speak, the story becomes much more vivid and immediate.

De Sardet is easily my favourite protagonist in just about any piece of media I've consumed. As a born-and-raised member of the nobility and a skillful diplomat, one would expect for de Sardet to be a distant character, someone to whom the player would struggle to relate. But the swagger and bravado belies a universal experience; de Sardet struggles with duty, allegiance, identity, morality. As de Sardet, you inhabit a living, breathing world that you can impact. Yet, you are never given the impression that you alone are changing the world, but changing alongside the world. Just as with the companions, de Sardet's character arc from start to finish is complete and -- hopefully! -- satisfying.

The choices
There is no "good" ending for GreedFall. There is a horrible ending, a few okay endings, and the best ending, but there is no "good" ending. Your choices immediately begin to shape and construct your own fate. Acting on impulse and emotion, no matter how well-intentioned, can ruin your goals. Failing to parliament with your companions and listen to their complaints or worries can lead to absolute catastrophe or result in minor, yet irritating loses. Choices as seemingly minor as taking the low road instead of the high, or entering a hangar from the backdoor versus the front can have massive repercussions for the resolution. In many ways, you are forced to assume the role of a diplomat, constantly assessing, thinking, considering how your choices can impact and influence those around you.

Overall Rating ★★★★★
Story ★★★★★
Gameplay ★★★★★
Graphics ★★★★★
Sound Design ★★★★★
Replay Value ★★★★★
Difficulty ★★★⯪☆
PC Requirements ★★★★☆
Game Length ★★★★★

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The timelines of Mars: War Logs and The Technomancer wrap around each other. This game begins some time before Mars, and ends after its resolution. This dynamism offers the player a new way to experience the hostile existentialism of the Red Planet, and its inhabitants, the struggling, forgotten children of Earth. Among the elites of humanity’s diaspora are the technomancers, a group of super soldiers whose ranks we join as lieutenant Zachariah Mancer. His induction is hounded by Colonel Viktor Watcher, the ruthless authoritarian leader of Abundance’s military state, who believes that the secrets of the cloistered technomancers are the font of everlasting power on Mars.

The Technomancer assumes a high political tone, but never comes off as preachy; instead, it encourages us to think about our own convictions and place in the world. In sharp contrast to the faceless ecclesiastical tyranny of Aurora that we see in Mars, Zach’s saga confronts the propaganda of a recognizable regime. Aurora’s virtue names are replaced by a codified set of professional surnames, representative of the rigid caste system under which Abundance’s society groans. We follow Zach across Mars’ cities and through its ravaged shadow paths on his sacred duty as a technomancer: to preserve the secret, and reestablish contact with the Earth, to return the intergalactic exodus back to its roots. This story of humanity’s perpetual struggle with itself is told through four schools of fast-paced, reactive, and powerful combat, spanning a vivid, surviving, devastated planet whose populace dares to hope for a better future.

It is truly a struggle to articulate the beauty of this game without spoilers, but I owe it to everyone who reads this to let them discover everything on their own. Spiders’ Mars saga doesn’t neatly fit into any genre delineations – it is sci-fi, political horror, post-apocalyptic, and fantastical, all at once – and this diversity does it many favours. The Technomancer is, first and foremost, a roleplaying game, and navigating the finer elements of that genre in such a beautiful muddle is a unique experience.

PROS
+ Predictably – the characters. Many mainstream, modern games lean heavily on the action aspect, to keep the player excited and engaged. Spiders’ games, however, acknowledge the importance of the character drama. It is hard to get someone to care about the piece of media they are consuming if they are not connected or engaged with the protagonist and their friends. While the overarching narrative of The Technomancer is much larger than Zach himself, we only care about it because we care about Zach and his companions. It is this humanizing impulse that runs through all of Spiders’ games that make them so endearing.
+ The story is a strong assessment of power, humanity, and all its subsequent trappings.
+ Easily has the best combat of Spiders’ generational run of RPGs. The staff is unbelievably fun to play with, and its animations are satisfying and beautiful. You feel its every hit as Zach gracefully pirouettes with it. The nail gun and dagger are satisfying and fluid, and the animation for the Guardian’s shield unfurling scratches my brain.
+ Every class – Warrior, Rogue, Guardian, and of course Technomancer – plays and handles differently. You can swap between the melee classes with a quick keystroke, and use your technomancy in any stance.
+ Reactive combat.
+ The crafting system. Being able to see each modification and understand how it benefits you in the game has always been a hallmark of Spiders, and it is in The Technomancer where this truly comes into its own.
+ Your choices actually matter. Your companions remember what you say and what you do, and you can lose them, befriend them, or fall in love with them(!). It’s up to you.
+ An atmospheric masterpiece; environmental storytelling takes the starring role as you navigate abandoned colonial ruins, discover desiccated corpses, and scavenge supplies, and the engaging electric-yet-rustic soundtrack is by none other than the Olivier Derivière.
+ Iconic Spiders monster design.
+ Satisfying exploration.
+ The karma system is intriguing. You can fall victim to your want for serum – water, currency – but at the cost of human life… and it will affect your path.

CONS
- It can refuse to run on certain multicore computers. I have an i7 processor and never had an issue, yet other people couldn’t get it to stay open.
- Similar to Spiders’ other works, the camera can be a bit finicky at times when you lock onto an enemy, especially in a confined area.
- Cameras in dialogues are likewise awkwardly placed – we are close to Zach, but his companions are metres away, yet sound like they’re right by his side.
- While the combat in The Technomancer is the most approachable of all their games, it is also the most luck-oriented, especially on higher difficulties; you can handily deal with some groups of enemies, while other groups of those same enemies will bum-rush you and force you to reload.
- Act 1, while important for establishing the story and introducing us to Zach and his circumstances, feels a little protracted compared to the other acts.
- The penultimate boss is underwhelming, from both a game-play and story standpoint.

After I finished The Technomancer for the first time, it haunted me. The horror of being stranded so far from aid, at the mercy of megalomaniac corporations whose currency is water and secrets, unlocked some sort of primal unease deep within me. Even those characters whose loyalties splintered from the corporations only served themselves and their own interests. While I personally find the gameplay of every Spiders installment to be great, the story and its dramatis personae are what I always tend to remember the most.

Zachariah is a sharp contrast to Roy. Instead of a renegade, we are a young officer, struggling to find our role on the seismic political stage of Abundance. We approach this world not through the point of view of a jaded POW, but through the fresh eyes of a cadet, who is discovering the rot and ruin of his childhood home in real time. Experiencing this disenchantment with Zach, rather than inheriting it as we do with Roy, we are privileged to see another side of Martian society. This is in no way a denunciation of Roy’s story and character, but rather a testament to the dynamism of Spiders’ storytelling. The overlapping of Roy’s journey and Zachariah’s struggle offer a better understanding of the lay of the land. That Zach is impacted by choices that Roy made thrusts us into an environment that is living and unforgiving. The flora and fauna of the rolling Martian wastelands may be alien to our eyes, yet the underpinnings of the perpetual struggle for power and our morally cannibalistic impulses is laid bare. This game is fast-paced. engaging, and an unforgettable journey that serves to reflect on the realities of human nature. In sharing Zach’s disillusionment, we are encouraged to think about our own beliefs, and how we would navigate injustice and hopelessness while trapped in a cage. The themes and ideas that undergird The Technomancer are close enough to our own reality to remain confronting.

Overall Rating ★★★★★
Story ★★★★★
Gameplay ★★★★★
Graphics ★★★★★
Sound Design ★★★★★
Replay Value ★★★★☆
Difficulty ★★★★☆
PC Requirements ★★★☆☆
Game Length ★★★★★

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