Title: Curious Expedition 2
Publisher: Maschinen-Mensch
Developer: Thunderful Publishing
Genre: Turn-Based Exploration RPG
Official Site: https://curious-expedition.com
Release Date: Jun 17, 2020
Available on: PC
Where to Buy: Steam
Curious Expedition 2 is the followup to 2016s award-winning roguelike late 19th-century expedition simulator of the same name. In both games, players take on the role of explorers and set out into mysterious lands in search of fabled beasts, golden temples, and more to gain fame and treasure.
Furthermore, in the pursuit of fame and treasure from forgotten corners of the world, players meet with an onslaught of supernatural phenomenon, countless enemies, and perilous dangers. To face the countless threats, players must manage their sanity through various sanity boosting items such as meat, alcohol, and chocolate, while also managing their expedition party.
Now today, we’ll be taking a look at how well the sequel Curious Expedition 2 changes and revises that which was built upon by the first Curious Expedition. In addition, we’ll also determine how well the game is fairing in its current stage of Early Access. That said, pack your bags my dear readers for it is time to embark on a journey into the unknown. Perhaps we will meet some lizardmen or even some mole people?
The Journey Begins in Curious Expedition 2!
As a fan of the previous game let me just say I was highly intrigued by the prospect of a sequel to the first Curious Expedition. This was in part due to the resounding success of the first game and how skillfully it captured the spirit of late 19th-century adventure. The first game was also a masterful creation that was a joy to play each playthrough. So with that in mind, I was excited to see how the developers Maschinen-Mensch would build upon the groundwork from their previous title. Overall, I must say the sequel Curious Expedition 2 by no means left me disappointed. However, there is still much to be done in terms of development and bug fixing, which we will get into more later.
To start, Curious Expedition 2 makes several improvements upon that of its predecessor, the most obvious being a graphical upgrade. However, despite being arguably vastly improved from the previous game, I feel it came at a large cost to the overall simple charm the first Curious Expedition had. You see, instead of a comic-book, storybook style, the first game had a pixel art style that when combined with its soundtrack just worked in conjunction comparably as a well time orchestra.
But that is not to say the new revisioned art style is inherently worse, for it has its charm and I do enjoy how certain characters, enemies, or tribal people now look. But I am of the mindset that sometimes, less is more. The pixel graphics of the first title helped to energize a player’s imagination. Again this is just my personal preference and overall I have to say the graphics do look nice and in the end. They will probably appeal to a larger audience.
Treacherous Jungles and Scorching Deserts
But not just the graphics have received an overhaul, as several improvements and changes were made to the fundamental mechanics. The most prominent that stood out to me as a long-time fan of the previous game was with that of how we choose characters. Instead of choosing from a small roster of famed explorers and more as they unlock, you now choose from two and then from a choice of three random ones when an expedition fails.
There are also new character classes revolving around the explorers you play as, which I feel is an interesting and great improvement. I also really approved of the new system where when your expedition fails, it is not the end of your game and you can continue as a new explorer. I think the addition of this system was a nice improvement as it is nicer than having to start a brand new game every time an expedition goes awry.
Furthermore, there are more new additions such as Explorer clubs that players can dedicate expeditions to, and earn several rewards such as items, and new party members. This again is an interesting and a mechanic I liked fairly well as it gives more things for the player to do in between expeditions. Also, there’s a new tavern hub where players can buy equipment using both gold and expo tickets (a new currency), and hire party members. The sequel also adds a new story campaign which helps add in the end to further differentiate this game from that of its predecessor.
However, beyond the features I just mentioned, the other portions of the game feel largely similar and same to that of the first Curious Expedition. Again, there isn’t anything inherently wrong with that, as the game is still under development. Despite that, I can not escape the feeling that there is an overall lack of content in its current stage of development.
But despite the lackluster level of content in its current state, I feel what is currently present is solid. The new additions that are present are enough to shake up and add flavor to the overall format. Everything from the expeditions and various encounters is quite enjoyable as they were in the previous game. In the end, I would say that they nailed the gameplay elements down, and however, this sequel is currently being plagued by some annoying bugs.
Golden Temples and Elephant Graveyards
Overall, the game largely remains bug-free and things function as intended, but when it doesn’t it can ruin an entire expedition. The most annoying of these bugs that I have encountered so far is when I ran out of sanity boosting items. When this event happened, the game prompted me into a menu and kept stating that I had to use some sanity boosting items because I ran out of sanity.
However, the problem was that I didn’t have any items to do so, and the game wouldn’t let me leave this menu at all. So, in the end, I was forced to restart the game. Moving on, the next error I encountered was when a named character had to join my party because of the story campaign. When this happened I was forced to remove one of my party members because the game kept telling me I was past the limit. This was despite the fact that the named character had in their stats that they didn’t take up a party member slot.
The final errors I encountered were more or less on the mild side compared to what I encountered beforehand. These errors were mostly just hiccups in regards to character animations, and the most hilarious of them was all a duplicate spider monster boss. Although these bugs ranged from game-breaking to humorous, the game is ok for most of the time. But in the end, it still needs a bit more time to iron out all these errors.
Final Verdict: In the end, I feel Curious Expedition 2 is a decent sequel that captures the charm and enjoyment of the first game with updated graphics. The game largely plays exactly like the first Curious Expedition, and so fans of the first game will find themselves at home here. Beyond that, I find it a little hard to recommend in its current state because of the numerous errors. But despite its faults, I believe wholeheartedly that Maschinen-Mensch has built a solid foundation for an amazing follow up to its grand success in 2015. If you are willing to look past the current errors and are a fan of roguelites, Curious Expedition 2 might be for you.
