Expeditions: Conquistador Preview

I’m not quite sure why the writer calls it a review and gives the game a score given that, by his own admission, it’s based on a preview build, but however you’re gonna call it, PopMatters has some written thoughts on Expeditions: Conquistador, and they lean decidedly on the side of praise:

The biggest threats come from the game’s very difficult combat. Friendly and enemy forces are arranged opposite to one another in hexagonal spaces in a large map. Often, the result of a conversation just before the fight will determine which side is given more advantageous positioning. Before the fight begins, the player and the AI lace the battlefield with traps and barricades to restrict and dictate enemy movement. The player chooses up to six combatants from their party and then each side takes turns moving and attacking.

The ten distinct overworld classes perform uniquely in combat. Units can attack with melee or ranged weapons or use one of up to five abilities (depending on the unit’s level). No class can win a fight alone. Even the best equipped and highest leveled member is subject to strict strengths and weaknesses. Every class has their role, and depending on the degree to which they’re allowed to carry it out, can be devastating or completely worthless.

That being said, the AI is excellent at disrupting the player. Most of the challenge doesn’t come from how strong enemies are, but rather from how they’re able to tactically pick the player apart. Enemy teams strategize in very human ways: they hide traps in choke points, they target medics first, they burn down the melee-only scout with ranged attacks before he can break their lines, and they stun, isolate and surround your tanks away from your squishier units. As your team gets stronger and gets better equipped, more encounters begin with your team outnumbered or surrounded to nullify your advantage.

Combat is always risky. If you lose a fight, the enemy raids your supplies and injures (or outright kills) members of your camp. Moreover, experience is rewarded through progressing quests, not from winning battles, so the risks associated with fighting are not always worth the rewards. Because combat has such deep implications on exploration, it’s never undertaken lightly. The fighting is well designed, simple while being extremely difficult, very risky, and always meaningful. It’s an elegant balance that Logic Artists have managed to maintain with impressive results. Each member of your team is vital to the whole and putting any one of them at risk is never something to take lightly. Because each has skills necessary to explore and balance resources, even characters that will never engage in combat contribute in camp.