Curious Expedition 2 ventures forth later this year
We're, like, adventurers
German studio Maschinen-Mensch have announced Curious Expedition 2, a follow-up to the 19th century explore 'em up we declared our favourite roguelike(like) of 2016. The Explorer Clubs will once again be heading out into uncharted (by us) lands to uncover unknown (to us) civilisations and maybe meet a dinosaur or two along the way, inspired by Verne and Doyle and other such vintage sci-fi writers. Due to enter early access later this year, the sequel will bring a new art style and a refresh of the technoguts that generate stories and relationships.
It's to be another procedurally-generated adventure through distant lands, a party-based RPG with a splash of combat and heaps of just plain adventuring, discovering marvels as we travel while stories and relationships unfold. And hopefully another friendly one.
"It's a game you can pick up and play immediately. You don't need to play a tutorial, it has crisp graphics and a simple UI, and a single session can be brought to a satisfying conclusion in 15 minutes," our Graham said in 2016.
"All of which would merely make it admirable if it didn't also turn out to be packed with exciting events, dramatic decisions, and the kinds of consequences to your actions that you’ll want to run around and share with everyone you know. The Curious Expedition is a game that anyone can play. It’s also a great game. You should play it."
The sequel will trade pixellated looks for a "graphic novel" art style, which still looks nice and cheery. Look at this happy dog:
As for the technoguts, Maschinen-Mensch say their improved procedural generation "will provide you with unique endless stories and characters, coming alive through their diverse personalities and relationship features." Multiplayer is planned too, something they've recently experimented with in the free-to-play Curious Expedition: Rivals.
Curious Expedition 2 is due to hit Steam later in 2019. Like the first game, it'll go through early access before launching in full. Thunderful are publishing.
If you're curious about Curious Expedition, the first game is half-price on Steam right now and has a demo too.
Ah gwan, have a song:
