Right from the off, through something as simple as fulfilling some last-minute preparations for your big sea voyage to The New World, Greedfall shows you the lengths to which you have to go to fulfil a quest. Everyone wants to set off, but the governor still hasn't shown. You start asking around for hints on the missing nobleman and visit the places where he was last seen. In a tavern, you first have to either settle his tab or repair the furniture he broke in a drunken stupor before you get the next hint.
Having acquired information on a kidnapper, you need to pass the time until he will appear at the tavern next, from where you sneakily follow him to his lair. There you can poison the guards at the door with sleeping potions, sneak past them or attempt to kill them. Several hours pass this way. GreedFall may look like an adventure filled with dashing explorers wearing capes, but at its heart, it's a detective game - and a very, very good one at that.
Your character De Sardet - it's up to you whether they're male or female - is part of the Congregation of Merchants, one of three factions colonising the island of Teer Fradee. Together with the religious zealots of Theleme and the scientific-minded Bridge Alliance, the Congregation travelled to Teer Fradee to find a cure for a mysterious plague-like illness called the Malichor. As a legate, De Sardet does a lot of, shall we say, legwork for their cousin Constantin. As Constantin is the new Congregation governor on the island to establish diplomatic relationships, there's a lot of jogging from one end of the island to the other.