BioWare is one of the most storied studios in the games industry. Some of the studio's biggest releases redefined what an RPG could be and how great of stories and relationships video games could explore. Its history includes massive releases like the Mass Effect trilogy, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Jade Empire, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. However, some of BioWare's more recent releases have left fans disappointed, while there is likely still a long wait until the release of the new Mass Effect and Dragon Age games.
Thankfully, the works of BioWare have inspired many other developers to incorporate elements of the BioWare formula into their own titles. Recently, one of those studios is the French-based Spiders. In recent years Spiders has done a lot of underrated work that has flown under the radar for many players. The studio's older titles like The Technomancer, Faery, and Bound By Flame all have their own qualities to offer, but the its recent efforts show that BioWare fans should check out GreedFall while getting excited for and following SteelRising ahead of its release.
Why Players Love BioWare RPGs
What makes BioWare's catalog so great will obviously vary from fan to fan, but there are some big tenets to the studio's design philosophy that stick out in contributing to its success. A large part of this is the companion systems that are present in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series. Mass Effect in particular is often lauded for its companion system, with players often connecting with one or more of the sci-fi series' various characters that players learn about and explore throughout the trilogy. Making these connections with deep, well-thought-out characters is a big part of what players love about BioWare titles, especially when it comes to the likes of Garrus or Varric.
BioWare games are also well known for their proficiency at story-telling. BioWare's biggest titles boast some of the most detailed and vibrant worlds in the games industry. The worlds are incredibly defined and each houses hours of lore and history for dedicated fans to explore if they wish. The stories tend to mix elements of an epic fantasy tale to save the world with the more intimate and personal stories that are created through interactions with the deep characters that populate that same world. Combining these two elements allows BioWare to craft game narratives that inspire players as well as encouraging them to get invested in the events of the world and the effect that they can have on it.
How GreedFall is Similar to BioWare RPGs
GreedFall was originally released in 2019 with a next-gen version and expansion released earlier this year. The game follows the colonial efforts in Teer Fradee, a small island the natives of which are protected by supernatural powers and creatures. To combat this, players can build their character to wield a combination of firearms, melee weapons, and magical abilities. GreedFall is often compared to Dragon Age, because of how much it seems inspired by BioWare's classic RPGs. One large part of this is the game's detailed world and how large of an impact players can have on it. Players can decide whether to side with the colonists or the natives of Teer Fradee, with the decision having a sprawling impact on how the story plays out across the playthrough.
GreedFall is also similar to Dragon Age in its companion system, which sees players teaming up with a variety of different characters that each have their own class, proficiencies, and skill to benefit the player. These party members are further detailed as the player builds their relationships with them and learns about their backstory and personality. GreedFall players can also romance nearly all of the party members, which is a big feature that players have come to expect in RPGs developed by BioWare. For BioWare fans who are pining for more interesting fantasy stories as well as character relationships to explore, GreedFall has plenty to offer them, plus more.
Why BioWare Fans Should Be Excited for SteelRising
The most recently announced title from Spiders is SteelRising, which does seem a bit different from GreedFall, but could instead satisfy a different kind of BioWare fan. SteelRising seems to be a much darker title that features more fast-paced combat as well as a war being fought between humans and an army of automatons in a fantastical interpretation of the French Revolution. What has been shown of the game thus far has looked very promising with SteelRising's setting looking unique and diverse alongside some flashy and satisfying combat.
While there is still a lot about SteelRising that remains to be seen, what has been shown has some comparing SteelRising to BioWare's Anthem. Of course, the story of Anthem is not a very positive one, with the game failing to find an audience at launch before it received scattered updates that failed to gather more traction. The game eventually was eventually abandoned by BioWare, but there are still many that think the game's industrial robotic setting and gameplay could have been something very special if it had had more time. SteelRising could very well capitalize on these similar elements while improving on or altering the looter shooter elements in Anthem that were less successful. SteelRising could also likely incorporate the companion system and details that helped make GreedFall so successful, which many BioWare fans found unfortunately absent in Anthem.
Having games to fill the void while BioWare works on their titles is great for their fans, and Spiders seems like it is more up to the task to fill that role. GreedFall may not satisfy every BioWare fan, but there are quite a few players who tried the game and found a lot to love in its world and characters. Hopefully, SteelRising will be able to find more success for Spiders by being more than just GreedFall with robots. So far, it looks fantastic, however, so hopefully, fans will get some more news on it soon.
GreedFall is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. SteelRising is currently in development.