PC Gaming Weekly - Borderlands 3

9/19/2019





After finishing off my review of Borderlands 3, I started playing a pair of more traditional role-playing games – Spiders’ Greedfall (which pulls inspiration from games such as Dragon Age: Inquisition) and Queen’s Wish: The Conqueror, the latest in the unrepentantly old-school games from Jeff Vogel’s Spiderweb Software.



Besides having “spider” in their name, both studios share some design philosophies:






  • A strong narrative

  • Lots of choices

  • Crafting

  • Multiple sidequests

  • Deep character progression






I’m about 20 hours into Queen’s Wish, and I’m digging its central idea – your mother, the Queen, has decided that you (a spoiled prince/princess) need to get into the family business of of ruling the kingdom. She sends you overseas to a colony that’s seen better days. Vassals have left the empire, and you need to bring them back. You take on quests to rein in these rebels, rebuilding forts as you explore this new land. I’ve rebuilt a pair of forts, and I passed the tests of one of the first dungeons, crawling with arachnids and slimes. It’s the same turn-based combat of Vogel’s past games, and I’m enjoying the comfort of its simple approach that’s deep in tactics as you develop your skills and spells.



I’m not as deep into Greedfall as I am with Queen’s Wish. Part of that might be because I did all of the quests in Serene, the starting town. I haven’t left for the island I’m supposed to help manage. (Yes, both games have your party moving on to manage another land.) I’m already seeing some of the political intrigue that stems from the relations between your city and two others, one focusing on science and learning, another that’s a land of religious zealots. I’ve gained a few levels, and I’m enjoying the quests – smuggling, saving people, and learning about the cultures in this world. The combat has some issues so far – my character feels too slow to deal with the real-time pace of the action.



You can read more about Greedfall in our review coming soon.



Speaking of RPGs – Dungeons & Dragons just released its latest storyline, Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus. It starts in the city made famous by BioWare and its saga about the Bhaalspawn. So to mark this, I’m giving away the alternate cover copy of the adventure. Either email or tweet us about what RPG you’re playing right now (on PC or console) and how you feel about it, and I’ll pick a random winner for the book.