Spiderweb Software is a largely one-person Seattle studio run by Jeff Vogel, who describes himself as American indie games’ “Crazy Old Uncle in the Attic.” Vogel has made a living for almost 30 years through making his own particular style of fantasy CRPGs. They weren’t that retro when he started, but they definitely were by 1998. Then he just kept making them.
Vogel’s latest release is Geneforge 2: Infestation, a crowdfunded remaster of a 2003 game. It’s a dense, sprawling turn-based CRPG set in a memorably twisted fantasy world, which plays almost exactly like it used to. GF2, then and now, requires you to keep notes, read absolutely everything, save compulsively, and occasionally get merked by a threat that you could not possibly have anticipated.
I’d imagine that when you hear “remastered Western PC RPG from 2003,” you already know whether you want to play it or not. Either you grew up slamming your hand in this particular car door, and you associate that pain with better days, or you didn’t and you want nothing to do with this. If you’re in the latter category, I can’t blame you, but Geneforge is an indie cult classic for a couple of different reasons, and there’s actually a lot here for a modern audience.
In the Geneforge series, human society is dominated by the Shapers, a society of magic-users who have the ability to create and mold new forms of life. Their conjured servants serve humanity as bodyguards, weapons, beasts of burden, or handheld tools.
In GF2, you’re an apprentice Shaper who’s been sent to the failed colony of Drypeak to figure out what’s gone wrong. The Shapers wanted to terraform a barren mountain valley into a thriving city, but the project’s gone dark.
When you and your mentor arrive, Drypeak is barely clinging to life. One of its overseers is visibly incompetent and the other is missing, presumed dead. Worse, many of the areas outside the city are under siege by hostile “rogues”: Shaper creatures that aren’t under anyone’s direct control.
Your mentor proceeds to drop much of the investigation directly in your lap. After its introductory levels, GF2 sets you loose in Drypeak to explore in any direction you like, collect quests, cozy up to various factions, and eventually decide the fate of the region.
GF2 plays out as a choice-based, open-world RPG, where you’ve only got one character under your permanent control. However, as a Shaper, all 3 available classes have the option to create guardian monsters as permanent bodyguards. This does lower your available Essence rating, which also fuels your spells, but lets you flood the zone with expendable meat shields. On the other hand, you can name them, which goes a long way towards creating an attachment; I was surprised how fast I got attached to my fire-breathing snake buddy once I named him Dave.
Like most of Spiderweb’s games – Vogel himself will tell you that his games look like crap – no one’s going to accuse GF2 of visual splendor. The remaster has overhauled the graphics and UI, but now you’re zoomed so far out from the action that it’s often difficult to tell what’s going on. Finding loot on the ground in front of you requires a pixel hunt, and I’ve often had to roam around for a couple of minutes to figure out why I’m still in combat.
Instead, you’re playing GF2 for the worldbuilding, tactical depth, and challenge. Vogel often comes off like a fantasy novelist who got knocked off course when he learned how to code, and GF2 is a further exploration of one of his weirder settings. If you’re looking for an interesting Western fantasy premise that isn’t simply warmed-over Tolkien, Geneforge’s homemade monsters, living weapons, slowly evolving slave-golem underclass, and ethically compromised wizards have you covered.
GF2 has a couple of different difficulty settings for accessibility, but also has an odd overall power curve. The map’s wide open almost from the start of the game, but you don’t have to get that far away from Drypeak before you start running into monsters that are a little too tough for you to handle.
You can’t grind your way past those challenges, either. The first few levels come easily in GF2, but after that, you start getting increasingly less experience from simple fights. Items can give you a big leg up in several early fights, but money’s surprisingly scarce.
Don’t be surprised if you have a couple of false starts, or if you end up stuck after the first few hours. That’s all part of the experience. GF2 is part of a rich tradition of western RPGs that require a certain amount of trial and error before you can get through them with any degree of confidence. It’s easy to pick up, but even early on, many encounters have a couple of unpleasant surprises for you.
I cut my teeth on games like Geneforge 2, so there’s more nostalgia than frustration in the overall experience. Playing it reminds me of just how many quality-of-life bonuses have crept into modern games, like quest markers or in-game hints, and how I take them for granted until I go back and play something that doesn’t have them.
It does look like garbage, though, and I can imagine GF2 would wear out its welcome a lot faster if you aren’t going into it with your rose-colored glasses on. It’s a niche product with a niche appeal. If you’re looking for something that defies a lot of the time-worn fantasy cliches, however, there’s a lot in Geneforge 2 to chew on.
