Curious Expedition Review

"Hexagonal Expansion!"

Campaign

March 22, 2020 at 7:23pm
By Jason Stettner

This is a procedurally generating experience about colonialism. The goal is to pick a special adventurer of the time and head out to seek glory or fortune. This is a race of sorts between various special adventurers to gain the most possible loot from the territories they visit.

You of course want to come out on top, and need to build a team to handle the loads of treasure that you might come across. That is of course, if you survive these hazardous journeys. There’s death at every corner, and you’ll have to start a fresh trek if you perish. At the end of every round, which can conclude in a number of ways you’ll get a medal perk to choose from.

On top of that, you’ll be able to choose whether you want to donate for glory, or action out for profit. After that’s done, you’ll go on yet another adventure. It’s always fresh with the procedural generation, and you never know what sort of hexagonal terrain you’ll tackle next. There’s not really much of a narrative here, as you’re just venturing through and trying to win.

Gameplay

This carries a pixel art that actually has a lot of detail and quality to it. You’ll venture around distinct biomes as you meet local tribes, head into dark caves and choose to steal from ancient shrines. All sorts of events happen, and these increase greatly if you don’t keep your group’s sanity bar filled. It’s all about safe travel, having the right gear to traverse and dealing with any problems.

There’s combat which is handled in turn based battles. You’ll roll dice to gain abilities, combine them for better damage and use your squad. You’ll face a wide range of opponents through chance, or seeing them on the map. You’ll have a team that can level up, go insane or be helpful. You may also have animals such as a dog or say an ox to use for carrying your loot.

Inventory management is important, having food resources as well as what you need to profit from. It’s a very simple game to play as you dash across hexagon spots, yet one that has many complex options and choices within it. You’d be surprised at how much replay value is here, and just what sort of strange events might happen. That being said, some elements can feel repetitive or slow after some time with it.

The Conclusion

Curious Expedition delivers the full colonial experience with lots of replay value through its well designed procedural generation. You’re always seeing different places, dealing with a wide range of terrains and meeting many interesting parties. It’s all about glory and profit as you attempt to survive long enough to choose between the two.

It’s an interesting title to learn about as you handle treasure and essential supplies. Making hard choices is important as you’ll either have the resources you need to survive, or the loot required to win this grand race across the globe. It’s a neat idea for a game concept, and it works wonderfully against these hexagonal plates you travel across.

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Curious Expedition Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by Thunderful Games

Rating Overall: 7.6