by The Curious Expedition is a “roguelike expedition simulation set in the late 19th century” where you choose a hero, set out for an unknown land, and try to explore faster and better than your rivals from back in London. Once you reach your unexplored area, it’s up to you to find the Golden Pyramid while managing sanity, time, and inventory slots.
It’s also an Early Access success story. From what I understand, the developers had frequent and informative updates, finally delivering the complete game back in October – for which they are to be acclaimed and congratulated.
Unfortunately, after playing this game for an hour I felt no motivation to play further. There seem to be many aspects of this game that interact in interesting ways, but how they work is not presented clearly – or barely at all. And true, this is a roguelike. Having clear explanations is almost unheard of in roguelikes (except for The Ground Gives Way, which has an excellent tutorial). But I think the issue I was having can be explained with another roguelike: Caves of Qud. Play an hour of CoQ and you’ll hear strange tales, see monsters lurking on every screen, die about twenty times, and drown in the atmosphere oozing out of every description. After an hour in The Curious Expedition, I barely understand how to accomplish my goals – much less care about beating my rivals (whom you never interact with). Every Expedition takes place in one of four biomes, and each time your goal is a Golden Pyramid somewhere deep in the continent.
If you’ll allow me another comparison, I’d direct your attention to Renowned Explorers: International Society. If you look at the description and screenshots, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s the same game with slightly less pixelated graphics. And you know what? You’d be right. In fact, many of the same mechanics are present in Renowned Explorers. You choose an explorer, head to an unknown land, and try to find the quest items while managing time, inventory, and friendly relations. The difference is that Renowned Explorers presents the information you need clearly and precisely – explaining its mechanics in about five to ten minutes of tutorial-ish gameplay. Your team members are distinctive and lovable – making you care. Your rivals actively try to sabotage you – giving you motivation. Your combat options are more dependent on resource management rather than RNG – giving you options.
Again, I’m saddened to relegate this to Tier Three because The Curious Expedition could have been an entertaining foil to Renowned Explorers (though CE came out first). The Curious Expedition is an interesting example of a game with what I’d call an imbalance of flavor and mechanics. If it had more flavor, I’d be interested in the story. If it had purer mechanics, I’d be interested in the challenge. Unfortunately, the elements don’t quite come together for me. In my opinion, good games (or more specifically, good roguelikes) limit the RNG that directly affects your character – much like D&D. The RNG should come entirely from the world you interact with, while your character – or party, in this example – is entirely under your control.