GreedFall 2 Early Access Launches Amid Worker Discontent at Spiders Studio

Spiders Studio, the team behind the cult favorite GreedFall, has just dropped GreedFall 2: The Dying Land into early access. While this might sound exciting for RPG fans, the launch comes against the backdrop of internal tensions at the studio, where employees have voiced dissatisfaction over working conditions. But before we dive into the drama, let’s talk about the game.

A New Journey in the Old World

For those unfamiliar with GreedFall, the first game was a colonial-era fantasy RPG that saw players exploring an untamed, magic-infused continent, battling both monsters and morally gray factions. GreedFall 2, however, flips the script: this time, you play as a native taken against your will to the "old world," a reversal of the original game’s colonialist perspective.

The early access release offers the "beginning of the main quest," according to Spiders, with future updates set to expand the story over time. For now, players can explore three distinct regions, recruit six companions, and level up through six skill trees. The promise of future updates, including new companions, side quests, and a crafting system, should keep fans engaged as more content trickles in later this fall and winter.

Turmoil Behind the Scenes

While the game may be starting its journey, the studio has been navigating some rough waters. Earlier this month, about half of Spiders' employees signed a letter threatening to strike. Their grievances? "Global mismanagement, turnover and recruitment problems, unacceptable delays in achieving gender equality, lack of transparency, and blocked negotiations" were among the listed issues. The workers felt that the studio’s management had failed to address these concerns, leaving them with no choice but to take action.

In response, studio management denied the accusations, calling them false and damaging to the company's reputation. They emphasized that Spiders remains fully committed to creating "quality games" and that the claims did not reflect the reality of day-to-day operations.

However, after talks with the Syndicat des Travailleurs/ses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV), the French union representing the workers, there have been some positive developments. The union reported that management agreed to conduct an audit of working conditions and promised a performance-based bonus tied to the success of GreedFall 2’s early access launch. It’s a small victory, but it shows that collective action can yield results.

The Spiders Reputation: High Ambition, Middling Execution

For those following Spiders' track record, GreedFall 2 faces a familiar challenge: living up to its promising concept. The original GreedFall wasn’t exactly a smash hit. In fact, it got off to a rocky start, with early reviews like Astrid’s, who bluntly said, "The first three hours make you want to astrally project out of your body and float away to do literally anything else," before begrudgingly admitting that it improved somewhat after that.

Spiders has a habit of crafting games that look visually stunning with intriguing settings, only for the gameplay to end up being... well, mediocre. Steelrising, their steampunk Soulslike set during the French Revolution, had a killer premise, but the execution left much to be desired. Older titles like The Technomancer and Mars: War Logs followed the same pattern—great ideas, underwhelming execution.

As Richard Cobbett once said in his Bound By Flame review, Spiders’ games "dream of being epic, but end up just feeling slight." He summed up their RPGs as aiming to sit alongside giants like The Witcher and Dragon Age, but ultimately landing somewhere closer to Game of Thrones: The Game—a game that exists, but not one that people are clamoring to revisit.

Can GreedFall 2 Break the Mold?

Despite the studio’s past missteps, GreedFall 2 presents a real opportunity for Spiders to rise above their "so-so" reputation. With a compelling role reversal in its narrative and a decent framework in place for a deeper RPG experience, this could be the game that finally pushes them closer to the BioWare heyday they’ve been chasing.

Whether GreedFall 2 will manage to shed the studio's reputation for underdelivering remains to be seen. With more content on the way and a bumpy start in early access, only time will tell if Spiders can finally hit their mark. Until then, we’ll be keeping an eye on both the game and the ongoing situation at the studio.