Curious Expedition 2, the follow-up to developer Maschinen-Mensch’s rather splendid 19th-century-inspired rogue-like exploration adventure, will – having just completed six months of closed alpha testing – launch into Steam Early Access next Wednesday, 17th June.
The original Curious Expedition, which released on PC in 2016 (and on consoles earlier this year), casts players as late 19th century explorers, packing them off to distant climes in search of fame and glory – with the ultimate goal being to score the highest number of points against AI rivals and be crowned the finest adventurer of their time.
In gameplay terms, all that manifests as turn-based bouts of exploration across a procedurally generated (and hex-shaped) wilderness, offering a compelling blend of food and resource management, dice-based combat against deadly fauna, and pulpy choose-your-own-adventure-style narrative action – with expeditions constantly at risk from hunger, madness, or one of your own party members if their negative personality quirks finally get the better of them.
Curious Expedition 2 Steam Early Access Announcement Watch on YouTube
Curious Expedition 2 takes that engaging core and expands it in a range of new ways, this time tasking explorers with investigating strange islands appearing in the Atlantic and bringing back treasures to be exhibited at the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris. Check out the announcement livestream above, at around the six-minute mark, for some gameplay footage.