HomeReviewsGeneforge 2 - Infestation
Geneforge 2 - Infestation review: bold and great like Baldur’s GateLaptop-friendly roleplaying for the post-Larian age
Laptop-friendly roleplaying for the post-Larian age
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Spiderweb Software
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Spiderweb Software
Like the good works of Calvin Klein, these genes come pre-distressed.Geneforge 2 - Infestationis fresh from the rack, yet looks and functions like the CRPGs of the late 1990s. Where most isometric throwbacks these days offer a forced perspective over 3D scenes,Geneforge2 is the real deal - its flat character sprites gliding across tiled backgrounds, with the elegant shuffle of Shōgun-era ladies-in-waiting.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Spiderweb Software
It’s a setup you might call science friction - oscillating between the highly advanced and the medieval, and lending itself to all sorts of social and moral quandaries. Should Serviles have rights? Try saying yes when your Shaper line manager is listening.
You enter this profound mess as an apprentice Shaper, lowly yet respected, sent to investigate a failed mountain colony and report back to your masters. Right from the off, you’re met with the consequences of genetic meddling gone wrong - rogue creations stumbling about the wilderness and wiry, weedlike trees cracking the foundations of dwellings. As Vogel pithily puts it, “The works of the Shapers consume the works of the Shapers”.
It’s Vogel’s voice that elevates all of Geneforge’s scenarios. He’s something of a shaper himself, bringing life to crude backdrops through text pop-ups that don’t beat around the twisted, misshapen bush yet contribute a sardonic twinkle to proceedings. “This tiny grove is no longer haunted,” he notes at the conclusion of a battle with some swampy ghosts. “Nothing helps exorcise an area of undead like a good, firm application of violence.” It’s the kind of individual flair that would only be diluted on a project with a larger writing team.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Spiderweb Software
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Spiderweb Software
Obsidian’s Josh Sawyer hasspoken beforeabout his preference for gradual turns rather than dramatic twists - a dawning understanding, drawn from exploration and dialogue, that slowly shifts your perspective on the events unfolding around you. On that front, Geneforge 2 is a masterpiece. In no other RPG can you return to the starting town after 30 hours with a new and fundamentally different view of the place and its purpose.
Your investment in this conflict and intrigue is rewarded with the freedom to manoeuvre - dancing around problems rather than carving through them. Battles with groups you’d rather not face can be circumvented through dialogue or snuck around, provided you have the right skills. Many RPGs promise to support stealth and diplomacy, but few deliver so consistently as Geneforge 2. In that sense, it’s more comparable toDeus Ex: Human Revolutionthan its direct peers - at pains to provide you with alternate paths and opportunities to steal and sabotage. Geneforge even has its own take on the multitool - a tiny tentacled creature encased in metal, which can be jammed into locks and mechanisms. In this way, boss fights can be shortcircuited, and entire areas brought under your control through deadly electrical pylons.
As in the immersive sims of old, the cost of all this choice is a certain amount of depth - and you’ll occasionally ram your toes against the bottom of the pool. Stealth is no more advanced than in 1997’sFallout, simply requiring you to keep your distance from hostile NPCs as you zigzag through a map. But the sheer speed of enemy movement lends these sequences an arcade-like tension, forcing you to adjust course quickly or trip into fights you’re not ready for. As inBaldur’s Gate 3, there’s also the option to trigger turn-based battle mode at will - allowing you to strategically steer your way around unaware patrols when the occasion demands it.
Combat at first feels basic, but reveals more and more nuance over time. In keeping with the godless experimentation of the Shapers, you’re able to summon and dismiss creations at will, constructing and disassembling units within seconds to suit your needs. The monsters have a pleasingly cheesy sensibility about them - like the fiery dinosaur Fyoras, who swarm like velociraptors, and the Thahds, who resemble ThunderCats yet punch like Victorian pugilists.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Spiderweb Software
All can be upgraded, to be tougher or faster or covered in exploding boils that burst and wound your opponents. Some monsters are designed to detonate on death, and to be happy about it. But the more powerful your creations, the less control you wield over them. It’s a factor you’ll learn to take seriously once an injured Thahd has turned on you in a high stress situation, delivering a roundhouse punch to your delicately robed abdomen.
