GreedFall 2 Doesn’t Quite Break One Long Tradition of Spiders’ Games

GreedFall 2 Doesn't Quite Break One Long Tradition of Spiders' Games

The French studio Spiders is best known for making mid-budget action role-playing games, and its next big title, GreedFall 2: The Dying World, doesn’t stray too far from the company’s formula. As its name suggests, GreedFall 2 is a successor to the 2019 action RPG GreedFall, which takes place in an 18th-century colonial setting that features fantasy elements. Both games have relatively similar gameplay, but GreedFall 2 takes more direct inspiration from early BioWare-style RPGs, particularly in terms of combat. The one aspect of Spiders’ upcoming game that differs significantly more from its predecessor, however, is its plot.

Even though it is technically a follow-up, GreedFall 2: The Dying World doesn’t directly continue the narrative of the original GreedFall. Instead, it’s more of a prequel than a proper sequel, much like Red Dead Redemption 2 is to Red Dead Redemption 1. The game has an entirely new cast of characters, and with the exception of some occasional references to the plot of the first game, it features a standalone narrative that can be enjoyed without any prior knowledge. GreedFall 2, in that sense, isn’t exactly the direct successor that some may have been hoping for. This approach continues a trend that has been present in all Spiders’ games so far.

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The Biggest Differences Between GreedFall 2 and the First Game So Far

While GreedFall 2 does its best to maintain the franchise formula, it’s not without a handful of changes that improve and build upon its predecessor.

GreedFall 2 is Not a Proper Sequel to the Original GreedFall

Spiders Has Not Developed a Direct Follow-Up to Any of Its Games

Despite being a company with less than 100 employees, Spiders has a fairly decent repertoire. In the 15+ years since its establishment, the studio has launched a total of 7 different games and ported a handful of third-party titles to consoles. Interestingly, though, it has not once released a game with a “2” in its name; at least, not until GreedFall 2. For whatever reason, Spiders has a habit of creating new IPs instead of focusing on its existing franchises and, because of that, it has never developed a true sequel to any of its games.

Some of Spiders’ Games Have Received Prequels and Paraquels, But Not Sequels

Although a few of Spiders’ titles have spawned short-lived franchises, there are catches to each situation. The first Spiders game to get a successor of some kind was 2012’s Of Orcs and Men. This action RPG, which was co-developed in collaboration with fellow French studio Cyanide, received two well-received prequels called Styx: Master of Shadows and Styx: Shards of Darkness in 2014 and 2017, respectively. These games were created not by Spiders itself, however, but by Cyanide.

One other Spiders game that received a continuation of sorts was the cyberpunk space RPG, Mars: War Logs. Just three years after this game’s 2013 launch, another Spiders-developed RPG called The Technomancer was released. Given how drastically different their names are, one might think that the two titles are part of their own individual franchises, but that isn’t the case. As Spiders itself put it, The Technomancer is actually a “paraquel” to Mars: War Logs. It’s set in the same universe as the 2013 RPG, takes place simultaneously alongside the events of the other game, and much like GreedFall 2, features a new cast of characters.

It Would Be Great if Spiders Made a Sequel to One of Its Games Someday

At this point, the fact that Spiders has done practically everything except release a sequel is somewhat surprising. The studio has made prequels and paraquels, of all things, but it has strangely refused to do a regular, straightforward follow-up. Even GreedFall 2: The Dying World, the one game from the company that actually sounds like it would be a sequel, isn’t a sequel. While there are some benefits to avoiding direct successors and giving each game its own self-contained story, it would be nice if Spiders were to make a proper follow-up to one of its RPGs someday. The current GreedFall 2 does look promising, but a GreedFall sequel that had directly picked up where its predecessor left off, depending on the ending that players chose in the original game, would have been great.

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