Geneforge 2: Infestation is not the old-fashioned CRPG it appears to be

GamesRPGGeneforge SagaGeneforge 2: Infestation is not the old-fashioned CRPG it appears to beWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Spiderweb Software)

A Shaper works his magic on a draconic creature

Here we go again. Another remake of a decades-old CRPG that’s obviously either unable or unwilling to escape the past. There’s the party character portraits running down one side of the screen. There’s the minimap in the opposite corner. There’s the hotbar along the bottom. There’s the squareish area between, filled with tiny pre-rendered sprites just begging to be clicked.

I assumed I knew exactly how Geneforge 2 was going to play. I’d work my way through a slightly awkward character creator and then stumble on a party’s worth of adventurous souls within about an hour, and we’d go and RPG our way across a legally distinct fantasy land until I either found the cackling madman behind whatever god/world/region-ending threat the game had cooked up or I got so lost working my way through sidequests spun off from other sidequests I forgot where I’d left the next main plot thread and gave up.

I was wrong.

Geneforge 2 has no interest in offering up reheated Dungeons & Dragons, token Tolkien, or a sprinkle of sci-fi based on the “-punk” flavour of the moment. This is a world of Serviles and Creations and Shapers, a place where magic, machinery, and twisted biology mix to create something entirely new. This is great, in theory—a genuinelynewland to explore. There’s sinister intrigue, involving various groups I’ve never heard of fighting over made-up politics. There’s got a quirky monster creation system I’m going to have to learn from the ground up, and a whole dictionary’s worth of fictional terms to memorise if I want to make sense of any of it.

I’m not entirely sure all that work sounds like fun if I’m honest, and even if it is I definitely don’t have the time for that sort of high-effort homework. Maybe there’s a reason why so many CRPGs make elves great archers and humans bland all-rounders after all.

But again, Geneforge 2 is different. It doesn’t want to assault my eyeballs with an endless string of Mysterious Nouns and meaningless stats, it wants me to fall in love with its setting as quickly as possible, and it knows I can’t do that if I haven’t got a clue what’s going on.

(Image credit: Spiderweb)

A map of the Drypeak Mountains.

And so every new area brings up at least one fresh, easily digested morsel of flavour text, the game keen not only to explain why its fantasy world’s different, but also why any of it should matter to me, Trainee Shaper Person. In a few short sentences the unknown becomes understandable, and all the typical RPG locations I come across during my adventure—an item shop, an inn, a disused mine—are transformed into something new and surprising. With the information I’m freely given I know a nameless Servile NPC isn’t reluctant to talk to me because they’re shy (or underwritten), they’re reluctant to talk to me because any other Shaper would kill them on sight just for existing—and the game’s flexible enough to allow me to go down that violent path, if the mood takes me.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

(Image credit: Spiderweb)

A well-furnished underground area, with a dinosaur in it.

The same level of care and enthusiasm’s found in Geneforge 2’s practical advice too—always helpful when playing a game that gives me a customisable (and slightly unruly) fireball-spitting lizard as my first party member and frequently goes out of its way to remind me that many of the tools and weapons I use are grown, rather than made.

Tooltips are as present and welcome as ever, but they’re just one minor part of a comprehensive range of genuinely helpful guidance. Generforge 2 wants to make sure I’m always aware of what I can do, how I can do it, if it’s even possible for me to do it, and even which hotkey I could use to do it instead.

(Image credit: Spiderweb)

A pop-up explains the Haste ability.

At one point I discovered a mechanism capable of controlling a dormant network of defensive crystals. The text enthusiastically described what this device looked like and what it was used for, but the part that really caught my attention was this: “You don’t have the control key, and your mechanics skills are too feeble to affect the device. There’s nothing you can do here.” RPGs aren’t supposed to give details like that away, not even if doing so stops me from wasting hours of my free time hunting for something I don’t have and I couldn’t use even if it did, but Geneforge 2 does. It didn’t artificially cut short my time in that area, it gave me the ability to choose whether I wanted to stay because I was actually interested in exploring further, or move onto somewhere new.

Could I have managed just fine without these constant pointers? Of course I could, eventually. Would I have had half as much fun with the game, even if I’d put in twice the effort, if they weren’t there? Definitely not. It’s just better if I don’t have to waste time finding out if the right key for a locked door is something I have to manually pull out of my bag or if it’s automatically handled for me, everything flows that much smoother when I can see on the area map which location I should head to if I want to polish off an unfinished quest.

(Image credit: Spiderweb)

A Shaper and their dino creations enter combat with a giant scorpion.

CRPGs are often judged on the amount of freedom they give their players, and what could be more freeing than being given enough information tochoosewhether I want to be up to my armpits in monsters or poking around a town for fresh gossip? Today I’m exploring as far west as I can, just because I’m curious. Tomorrow I might want to spend hours unravelling the mystery behind an NPC who doesn’t really matter but did catch my eye, or get back on track and make big decisions that’ll shape the rest of the story.

Or to put it another way: proper adventuring. Which sounds like such a simple, old-fashioned thing to do in a CRPG, but Geneforge 2 makes it feel brand new.

More about rpg

A Path of Exile 2 sorceress casting flaming skulls in a hellish landscape

Path of Exile 2 numberlord spends 16 straight days killing rare monsters to prove that a stat that makes loot better makes better loot

Double headed wizard man holding arms up looking sad

LatestThe Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in AprilSee more latest►

Latest

The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April

the last of us season 2 trailer

The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April

See more latest►

Most Popular

The Witcher 3’s now 2-year-old bonus quest is our first taste of the ‘vibe’ CD Projekt is going for in The Witcher 4

2024 was the year updates for old games beat out all the new ones for me

Train like you game with this adventure-inspired workout

‘It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raids

Please join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)

Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual fun

Call of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doing

These are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre

Five new Steam games you probably missed (January 6, 2025)

I’ve seen enough: No more forcing singleplayer studios to make mediocre live service games

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals