A Guide to Greed

Overview

This guide contains a little bit of everything. There’s tips, recommendations, a build, a minimal walkthrough, my review, and more.

Intro

Skip to the section you see fit because there is a lot of random information.

Please note that I ONLY beat the game soloing as a Marine on Normal. I played the other two classes for 10 minutes each to get a feel for them and make my judgements. The game took approximately 11 hours to fully explore and beat.

Tips

• You can pick a name for your character upon creation. I only mention this because I didn’t notice it until later.
• You can teleport to the merchant every 5 minutes after the tutorial. This is done by using the item on the bottom right of the character sheet.
• You can bind skills by hovering one in the skill menu or the bottom skill bar and pressing 1-9.
• You only need ONE of the prerequisites to learn a skill. This is very different than most games where all prerequisites must be met.
• Dot abilities do not stack on the same target. You can however fire two different dots on the same target.
• You shoot slightly closer than max range when not holding shift. In other words, hold shift to fire if you want a slightly more range. This is mostly useful for Pyros who have terrible range.

It’s not very helpful but there’s an online manual here.

Classes

For solo play, I highly recommend the Marine. The Sniper is a decent second choice.
I do not recommend the Pyro, but I have read that the Sniper and Pyro make the best duo pair. However, according to a recent comment the Pyro is just bad due to his range.

Marine Build

50% Shield
50% Energy

This gives you enough energy to cast Nuke Projectiles and enough shields to prevent taking health damage in a single strong hit (bosses included).

1 Frag Grenade (prerequisite)
1 Energy Metamorph
5 Regeneration (or Energy Split)
5 Furore
5 Nuke Projectile

1 Regeneration
1 Furore
1 Frag Grenade
1 Energy Metamorph
4 Furore
5 Nuke Projectile
5 Furore
5 Regeneration

• Energy Metamorph is extremely useful because it will refill your shield instantly. This allows you to get through most of the game without the need to wait for shield regeneration or using medkits. You shouldn’t need more than 1 point in this.
• Nuke Projectile will nearly double your DPS. It will also do damage to you if you are near it, so be careful. This should be your only damaging ability in your first playthrough due to high energy costs.
• Hyperarsenal doesn’t seem worth it. It has as a cast time and requires you to stand in it during its duration. Maxing Furore is a much better option. It might be worth using Hyperarsenal in the late game if you’ve maxed it out.
• I never tested Energy Split because Regeneration is so powerful early on. I think it could work as a replacement to Regeneration and give you a far bigger healthpool. If you decide to use as an alternative to Regeneration then you should should focus your stats into Energy.

• Kite and avoid damage as necessary.
• Use Energy Metamorph to fully heal your shield.
• Use Nuke Projectiles to improve your damage output.

Equipment

• Your equipment consists of a Helmet, Body Armor, and a Weapon.
• Each type of item has a unique type of mod.
  Helmets have a diamond, armor has a shield, and weapons have a circle.
• Each piece of equipment comes in 3 tiers.
  Tier 1 items drop from Chapter 1, tier 2 from Chapter 2, and so on.
• Tier can affect more than just the visual style of an item. For example, the Marine’s weapon will fire more bullets for each tier.
• Item stats are randomized on a range of values. The same quality and tier item can have different stats.
• There is no way to remove/replace an item mod.
• There is no way to unequip an item slot. You can only replace items you are wearing.

• well-worn
• basic
• upgraded

• well-worn
• basic
• laminated
• hardened
• superior

Tutorial (Walkthrough)

Completion Time: 1.5 hours

Keep heading north east. You will need to destroy doors, travel through wind tunnels, and avoid laser walls.

When you get to the elevator you will figure out that it isn’t working and you must get the power started.

Completion Time: 1 hour

There is a room just east of the elevator with the stopped engine. To get there head north. Start the engine place the Fuse found in this room on the nearby device. Now start each of the 3 pistons so that they are perfectly synchronized with the neighboring set. This is actually fairly difficult.

The light on the device will turn green. Go back now and ride the elevator.

Chapter 1 (Walkthrough)

Completion Time: 2.5 hours

You can buy/sell from the beginning of this chapter.
I highly recommend buying a new weapon.
You can teleport back to the merchant (see tips).

There is a door to the far south.
Hint: Right is prime. Middle is 2 less than right. Left is sum of right and middle.
Code: 4 1 3

The next door is east.
Hint: Member of the Alliance, Moons of Tarvos, Seasons of Annea
Code: 5 4 1

The last door is north.
Hint: The man’s list of girlfriends.
Code: 3 2 5 (I think)

There is an optional stash to the north.
Hint: Image from the blue man’s corpse.
Code: 2+4, 3, 1+5, 3, 2+4

Go to the bridge and then go down the elevator.

Defeat the Gigantic Battle-Mech.

Strategy:
Destroy his mines he sends at you by shooting at them. Strafe to dodge his guns and plasma balls. Heal as necessary. As a marine you can practically stand in one spot, soak his attacks, and use Energy Metamorph to regenerate your shields.

Chapter 2 (Walkthrough)

Character Level: 14
Completion Time: 1 hour

The ship has crash landed on the planet and you will be stranded and out of fuel. Follow the direct path north east.

Completion Time: 1.5 hour

Head north to the room with red floor panels. Press the button and walk across the correct panels.
Head to the room with turrets. Press the button in the room so that the turrets fire randomly and then follow the south wall to the door.

Now head east to the Depot. There’s no ikarium, but there’s some readings further on.
Travel east through the grinding gears. See teleporting robot insect.
Be very careful of the pit scorpions in the rock tunnels to the south if you explore.

Head north, get the keycard in the building, and then travel through the big gates.

Defeat the Mutant Carrion Beetle.

Chapter 3 (Walkthrough)

Character Level: 18
Completion Time: 1 hour

Head north. Pass through the red “slimy” tentacles area.
Keep heading north east until you reach the Alien Lair.

Character Level: 20
Completion Time: 1.5 hours

Head straight north east to the inner part of the lair.
There are pads with crystals next to them in this area.
Activating pads that are linked will generate a light beam between them.
Use the pads again to fast travel between them.

Character Level: 21
Completion Time: 1.5 hours

Go to the chamber with 6 exits. This is the first area you will see giant gold chasms, blue floor panels, and a crystal statue in the center.

Collect the Red Cube in the W/SW passages.
Collect the Purple Hexagon in the NW/N passages.
Collect the Yellow Triangle in the E/SE passages.

Travel up the NE passage.
Open the Temple door with the 3 artifacts and enter it.

Collect all 6 blue Ikarium crystals.

Defeat the Alien Queen.
Collect the epic loot and teleport out.
Watch the ending and credits.

Congratulations on beating the game! Enjoy hard mode if you dare.

Review

The game is good in many respects. I put this game above the Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing and even Torchlight 2 in some respects. However, I’d recommend Path of Exile (free) or Diablo 3 over it. Honestly, even though it’s not the same genre I’d recommend playing Alien Swarm (free) over this.

• It has good graphics. It isn’t top notch but it’s definitely good.
• It runs smooth and loads fast, which is more than I can say for Torchlight 2.
• There are interesting puzzle mechanics like avoiding fire, laser, moving gears, tentacles, walking on treadmills, etc. Note that this is actually what some people dislike about the game.
• The environment is destructable.
• The game balance and scaling is about right. I think this is because it scales with you, so the game will never be too easy.
• There are rewards for exploration. There are boxes with 3-4 items in most optional paths.
• It has a half decent story compared to most others I’ve played.
• There’s roll dodging, albeit pretty useless.

• The combat isn’t very exciting, difficult, or fast paced.
• The equipment and stats in the game are linear and minimalistic.
• Money is basically useless. Most of the equipment is cheap and there’s also no way to use excess money such as gambling.

Questions

Perhaps somebody can answer these in the comments.

• Is the damage your shields take affected by your armor? (No)
• Does the marine’s Hyperarsenal give the whole team a buff? Maybe it only gives marines buff? (Unanswered)
• How do damage bonuses stack (additive/multiplicative)? For example, a passive gives 40% damage bonus, and a weapon mod gives 25%. (Additive)
• Are the enemy’s levels scaled to yours? How is this handled in multiplayer? (Yes, enemies are scaled in level based on your level. In multiplayer other stats are increased.)