Geneforge 2 - Infestation review: bold and great like Baldur's Gate
Laptop-friendly roleplaying for the post-Larian age
Like the good works of Calvin Klein, these genes come pre-distressed. Geneforge 2 - Infestation is 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, Geneforge 2 is the real deal - its flat character sprites gliding across tiled backgrounds, with the elegant shuffle of Shōgun-era ladies-in-waiting.
This look is less a nostalgic affectation than it is simply practical. Geneforge 2, like all of Jeff Vogel's games, was made in the spare bedroom of his Seattle home with the help of his wife, Mariann Krizsan - plus a handful of artists spread more broadly. It's the latest in a long line of low-budget Spiderweb Software RPGs to achieve sprawling scale and reactivity by leaning on cost-effective and old-fashioned production values. Here there is no voice acting, nor any ambient noise that cannot be sourced from royalty-free soundbanks. In pastoral areas of the map, the impression of grazing livestock is conveyed entirely through a free sound effect called 'Eating a rusk.wav'.
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By the time you've begun to appreciate these nuances and story synergies, you'll have long since seen past Geneforge 2's visual shortcomings, the UI that fails to upscale with higher resolutions, and the goofy main menu with its frankly teenage animated cursor. Even if Baldur's Gate 3 triggers a renaissance age for the western RPG, Spiderweb Software's output will be unignorable so long as it delivers such a distinct flavour of wry, complex, and open ended roleplaying. Long may Vogel be in vogue.
