After the surprising success of GreedFall in 2019, Spiders is back with GreedFall 2: The Dying World. However, it’s opting for an early access period starting September 24th for PC at $39.99 (with the price increasing later). What should you expect from the sequel, and what is the current state of early access? Join us as we dive into 15 things you should know before picking up GreedFall 2.
Available Regions
Early access offers a pretty sizable portion of the game to explore. Per the Steam listing, it represents approximately 30 percent of the final product, including the beginning of the main quest. Players will explore three regions – Teer Fradee, Thynia, and Uxantis – with different quests. The initial six companions are also included, with more to be added throughout early access.
Character Customization
At the start of your adventure, you can customize your character’s gender, voice, skin color, hair, and hair color, with several presets available. Though it looks sparse based on what we’ve seen thus far, Spiders will add more options as early access progresses.
Skills
Classes return, and while Spiders hasn’t ventured into detail about each one, it did indicate multiple playstyles, from melee warrior and alchemist to engineer and spell-casting. Six skill trees will be available when early access launches.
Thus far, options include Reinforcement, which increases damage dealt and restores some health points to the caster, and Power Shot, a ranged attack which deals 440 percent of your weapon’s physical or magical damage. Overall, you can invest in defensive and support-based skills, Bows, destructive talents, and even Teer Fradeean Bracelets. Choices can be reset, allowing for some experimentation.
Attributes
Alongside investing Skill Points to unlock new skills, you can also put points into Attributes like Strength, Agility, Perception, Will, Physique, and Concentration. The benefits depend on the playstyle – Will increases the damage inflicted by bound equipment and magic damage to armor per level. Physique increases max life and resistance to various status effects. However, they also have tiers based on investment. Physique’s Novice tier will unlock 100 percent of the armor on bound equipment, and the Master tier makes you immune to movement effects.
Companions
GreedFall 2 heavily emphasizes its companions, and there are plenty to go around, starting with Nilan, a Teer Fradee native and childhood friend to the protagonist described as “somewhat stubborn and awkward” (though he’s deeply devoted to the land). Fausta hails from Thélème and portrays herself differently depending on those she interacts with, making her very good at diplomacy.
Sybille has ties to de Vespe (which appeared in GreedFall 1’s DLC), and though initially wary of new people, she’s dedicated to her friends. Then there’s Alvida, defiant yet still adhering to the Naut’s way while having a “will of steel.” Finally, there’s Ludgwig, a sarcastic former soldier who “doesn’t believe in heroes and refuses to be portrayed as one,” per the developer, which could mean some interesting shades of grey.
Companion Skill Trees
That’s not all, as your companions have their own skill trees. Some of these may overlap with the protagonist but also possess unique options. For example, Nilan can unlock skills in Bows and Paths of Support alongside Nilan’s Path. Further details are pending, but there is potential to lean into specific companion playstyles to augment your own.
Tactical and Real-Time Combat
Perhaps the biggest shift for GreedFall 2 from the previous game is the addition of Tactical Pause to the previously real-time approach. Tactical pause allows for queuing up skills and actions, taking a wider view of the battlefield. All characters can be controlled, though you can also let the AI manage them during real-time combat.
Action Points and Orders
Of course, you can also issue orders to companions during combat, consuming Action Points in the process. It’s ideal for combining attacks, prioritizing threats or leveraging the environment – like explosive barrels and high ground – to deliver death. While Action Points recover with basic attacks, you can recover them by resting or utilizing potions.
Crafting
As such, you can find various resources through exploration (which Survival talents can help with) and craft potions, which can also be used for healing. Other options include items that can restore magic deflection points, a small amount of armor, or even set deadly traps that inflict statuses like Bleed, Poison, Curse, etc. The current options look extensive, though weapon and armor crafting will seemingly be expanded later.
Equipment
Speaking of equipment, you have slots for equipping capes, necklaces, rings, boots, chest armor, gloves, and whatnot. Equipment can boost your physical armor and magic deflection while offering additional perks. These include increased critical hit rate, damage and resistance to status effects. Regarding weapons, rifles, claymores, sabers, morning stars, axes, and more are at your disposal and offer their own perks. Both equipment and arms have rarities, with Common, Uncommon, and Rare tiers spotted thus far.
Diplomacy and Stealth
You don’t always have to go blow-for-blow with everyone you meet. Diplomacy is just as important given the various warring factions, with a chance to succeed indicated next to key decisions. Players also have options for stealth, as exemplified in a prison escape scene, and lock-picking, with the freedom to specialize in the same (though, once again, we’re yet to see exactly how).
Choices and Consequences
Of course, there are choices and consequences to your decisions and actions. How this will affect the different factions and how they view you remains to be seen, but choices can also determine how much closer you get to companions. Conversely, they can go from trusted allies to enemies if you make the wrong decisions.
Difficulty Options
If combat proves too overwhelming, GreedFall 2 allows for tweaking the difficulty options. There are three modes – Story, Normal, and Difficult – but also an option called “Untouchable” to reduce all damage taken to zero. You can also separately customize Team Damage and Recovery and damage to enemies, though the preset modes have their own parameters for AI aggressiveness and enemy numbers.
PC Requirements
Windows 10, DirectX 12 and 30 GB of installation space are required for every configuration when early access launches. For minimum specs, which delivers 1080p/30 FPS at Low settings, you need an Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X, 16 GB of RAM, and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8 GB.
Recommended specs include a Core i7-10700K or Ryzen 5 5600x, 16 GB RAM and an RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB or Radeon 6700XT 12 GB, which delivers 1080p/60 gameplay at High settings. Though performance may be optimized over time, saves won’t carry over between updates.
Early Access Roadmap
Though it doesn’t have a fixed duration for early access, Spiders has provided an initial roadmap. This Fall features a new companion and quests, a new region and hub, two new skill trees, and main story additions. Winter sees another companion joining the ranks, alongside new companion quests, regional quests in Teer Fradee and Uxantis, a new skill tree and abilities, and crafting (though it’s unknown how this expands on the current system).
The developer will continue adding to all of these aspects while extending the main quest, and there are plans to introduce new faction quests, a higher level cap, Photo Mode, and more. Throughout all this, Spiders is committing to balance updates and acting on community feedback (which includes adding new content).
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