Expeditions conquistador leveling guide. Native hunting camp

Some periods of history are especially popular with developers. For example, among the players with experience, few people did not run along Omaha Beach to the German machine gun crews (in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Call of Duty or Company of Heroes). Other eras, on the contrary, are undeservedly ignored. The more interesting are the exceptions. A young independent team of Logic Artists invites us to participate in the conquest - the conquest of South America by the Spaniards. Virtual natives, however, are not an example more courageous than real ones, and the gunpowder in the local guns seems to be some kind of damp, but a true conquistador will overcome even not such difficulties.

Expeditions- a mixture of tactical and role play. From tactics here - battles, squad management and diplomacy. From RPG - the ability to have intimate conversations with subordinates and the need to pump the commander. You will not see him on the battlefield - a bird too important to be exposed to arrows. However, the characteristics of a brave caballero will often help you in combat, and in some cases will allow you to avoid combat altogether.

The game crashes regularly random events that require you to make a decision. How to punish a thief? What to do with an unexpected find? What to do with a captive Indian? Expeditions lets you play as a hardened racist, a religious fanatic or a benevolent general - the choice is yours.

Soldiers will be satisfied with some actions of the commander, and not with others, but even the most loyal and hardened veterans without timely delivery of supplies quickly lose their presence of mind. The supply problem is especially acute on long-distance expeditions thousands of miles from their native shores.

First of all, to fight, you need weapons. it the most valuable resource, which in Expeditions simultaneously acts as upgrade points, spending which you can improve the equipment of the squad. It's funny that the gunpowder itself is endless.

The Indians often use poison against the armored Spaniards.

Unlike the patience of your people. Fighters periodically suffer from diseases that require medicines to treat, get tired and starve (especially while your hunters are just learning and only scaring away game). You will also need secondary resources, such as ropes and wood, otherwise, for example, the wheel of a wagon will break - and that's it, we crawl at a snail's pace.

All of the above goods can be bought in a Spanish fort or an Indian settlement. In the case of the Indians, however, one can resort to violence. The burden of the white man, sung by Kipling, in Expeditions looks like a heavy bag of loot.

The tactical part of the game, alas, is rather weak, and the battles are rather monotonous. Whether you're a fan of the genre or a fan of tabletop D&D, the battles in Conquistador are nothing new. We have already seen all this more than once, but in fact, in such an unusual setting, the game really asks for original mechanics. Indie is for that and indie to think differently. Launching the game about the war of the conquistadors with the Indians, I want to see in it ... the war of the conquistadors with the Indians! The battles must reflect precisely the tactics of the 16th century, which are very different even from the tactics of the 15th century, not to mention subsequent centuries. At the same time, in Expeditions, it is quite possible to replace the Indians with elves, and the Spaniards with some kind of space marines, and nothing will change. It will be the same castrated D&D third edition.

There are no horses here, which the natives considered monsters and were terrified of. The concept of fear itself is also not in the game, although in real history it was much easier to put the Indians to flight than to kill them. The Spaniards had much better weapons, thanks to which they defeated even many times superior enemy forces. Immediately, the bare-assed savage in terms of "strength" is often not inferior to a soldier in a cuirass.

Even the great equalizer - firearms - does not differ from a bow in terms of damage or rate of fire. What is there, contrary to history and common sense, gunpowder weapons are inferior in efficiency even to a dagger. On top of that, the conquistadors' squint will be worse than the Imperial stormtroopers from " star wars". With all the desire to repeat the fate of Kurt Cobain, your henchmen will not succeed - they will miss. An arquebus can only be of any use in the hands of a hunter, and then only when he is at least a little pumped.

Not all expeditions are successful. For many, a long voyage ends in a storm, a tropical disease, or a poisoned dart ambushed in the back. The creators of Expeditions seem to have reached the goal, but instead of countless treasures, they brought only a small chest. The question is: was it worth it?

Game: Platform: Mac, PC Genre: strategy, rpg Release Date: May 30, 2013 RF: September 2013 Developer: Logic Artists Publisher: bitComposer Games RF Publisher: New Disc / Hunt games. Like, this one will be similar to the newest mass effect in the steampunk world, but that one - on Silent Hill without puzzles. So, since the time of the successful Kickstarter campaign, it has been customary to say that this is King's Bounty, only about the deeds of the Spaniards in the New World. But in the end, we got a completely unique, unlike anything tactical RPG.

Certain similarities with King's Bounty, and with "Heroes of Blade and Magic", of course, there is. But in the main, only the outer ones: here we also move along global map on a stallion and collect resources. And when it comes to the fight, the action moves to rough terrain, where you need to control your subordinates in turn-based mode and storm opponents. But there is practically no construction and development of cities, and you do not need to go around your possessions, collecting new portions of "units" - much more like a full-fledged role-playing game with elements of survival and even text quests.
On the global map, during stops, some random actions are constantly taking place: your people can, for example, come across a cave with treasures or get into a fight with an unknown animal and get injured. Not bad for everyone ... will you?

It all starts with the creation of the main character, the dispersal of his starting traits and the choice of a team that, together with us, will have to survive in the tropical thickets of La Espanola, the first Spanish colony of the New World. Here lies the key difference from King's Bounty and "Heroes", bringing closer to games from bioware and Obsidian Entertainment: at our disposal are not faceless swordsmen, archers or griffins, but certain personalities. They, of course, have their own specializations: everyone is divided into warriors, doctors, shooters, scouts and scientists (shamans will be added a little later in the story). But with all this, each character has a first and last name, a biography, and even features of temper and worldview - one likes to wage war, another considers himself a pacifist, someone is tolerant of Indians, and some seemingly sweet, fragile doctor turns out to be a true racist . Your subordinates can also be measured or passionate, altruistic or selfish.

And all this was introduced into the game not just like that, but is really involved in gameplay. The fact is that the morale of the expedition members is one of the main reasons for success. And the story campaigns constantly force you to make decisions that affect the mood of the wards in different ways. Having just arrived in the New World, we immediately find ourselves drawn into a showdown between the official authorities and the rebels, between the colonists and the natives. Well, it’s just that we are constantly required to help, save, cure, find, etc.

Almost every such task is a text quest, where we read long descriptions and decide for ourselves how to behave in the next second, which cue to choose. Wait, eavesdropping on the conversation of the rebels, or cut them off; intervene in a fight between 2 groups of opponents or wait until they kill each other; destroy the shaman who has flown off the coils, or listen to him to the end and make a journey into the world of dreams, stimulated by local miracle mushrooms - each decision will affect the morale of your wards. So, if you behave friendly, then the born warriors in your team will feel slighted, and if you accept the 1st Indian on the expedition, then the aforementioned doctor will be dissatisfied.
It is better to find six fighters in advance who will take part in the battles, and specifically spend precious equipment on them that increases power and protection. Moreover, just like in dragon age or mass effect, many members of the expedition have their own individual quests. One may suddenly ask to be released into little trip, the other will begin to remember the past and his relationship with his dad. How you behave in such a situation also affects the character's loyalty.

stay alive

In general, developers Logic Artists go further bioware. They consider cases with wards more comprehensively. Moral problems here concern not only some of the deepest issues, but also completely everyday ones - for example, who, for example, is now, and who better tighten their belt. It's a survival game after all. On the global map, the action continues for days, and at the end of each turn it is necessary to set up a camp for the night. And this is not some kind of automatic action, but an important part of the gameplay.

In addition to the means of our expedition, food, medicines, and equipment are needed. All this can be purchased in large settlements, but during long journeys around the map, supplies are rapidly depleted. If your wards begin to starve, their morale will also begin to fall. If the wounded do not receive help from doctors, their condition may worsen right to the death ending. Therefore, during the overnight stay, you must decide who to give food to, and who else can endure; whom to send on a hunt to get the freshest meat; who will cook this meat; who and whom will be cured; and who will go in search of healing herbs. In addition, the camp can be ruined - it is very important to put up a good guard and appoint patrols.

With all this, it is necessary to focus on the properties and specializations of the characters. It is clear that warriors are more suitable for protection, shooters are great at hunting, and doctors are the best at herbalism. Especially valuable are those who know how to craft something. As in any modern game about survival, there is "crafting". During the overnight stay, one can be instructed to make traps and barricades, so that later they can be used in fights, the other can create an advanced tent that will make the parking more safe and increase the morale of the group. Or make a wagon that increases the length of the course on the global map. All this requires materials, namely wood and stone - we mainly find them by exploring the area. And to collect more, you have to make advanced tools.
The game has multiplayer that allows you to fight team by team. Tell me who your friends are...

All this forces us to take a very painstaking approach to the choice of the individual composition of the expedition. Your group should always have those who can go on patrol, stand guard, heal a friend, do something with their own hands or shoot a wild boar. And later, gaining experience, you should wisely spend it on "pumping" your wards. In other words, relatively speaking, it is stupid to develop the abilities of herbalism or hunting in warriors. And vice versa. With all this, it is better to have characters in the group with approximately the same outlook, corresponding to your style of play.

The main properties of the main character, or rather, the entire group, specifically depend on how many professionals of various profiles are on the expedition. For example, the more scientists - the higher the skill of diplomacy, the more warriors - the stronger you are in strategy, etc. And all this, in turn, directly affects the variability of our actions in quests. Here again we have to remember the traditional party RPG. If in dialogue there is an opportunity to disperse peacefully, to convince opponents to surrender without a fight, or to ambush them, then the success of such options will depend on the level of the corresponding abilities - in this case, diplomacy and strategy.

Just in teaching - hard in battle!

Behind all this depth and richness of abilities on the global map, at first, the tactical component of the fights fades into the background. The fights seem very easy and simple. The fighters cannot change their position (crouch, lie down), point-shoot opponents in the hands or heads, checking the possibility of hitting in percentage, the cartridges never run out and the muskets do not jam. In fact, at first everyone can only shoot from afar or hit with something sharp, switching between various types tools.
The game is quite difficult, but if this is not enough, you can turn on the Iron Man mode, where only one save is available. But the complexity of the fights is constantly increasing, and all new abilities are gradually appearing, without which it will be very difficult to survive. Firstly, by gaining levels, your fighters unlock not only passive perks (+20% to health, doubling critical damage, additional turn points in battle), but also active abilities that significantly deepen the tactical component of fights. So, doctors will learn to raise the fallen right on the battlefield, warriors - to send enemies into a temporary knockdown, shooters - to create two swift, but the least clear shots in a row, and scientists will be able to coordinate an attack, increasing the damage of all allies. And this is only a small part of the special abilities.

Secondly, barricades and traps will begin to play a huge role. They will allow you to slow down the opponents and prevent them from reaching the shooters while they systematically hold back the attack on the camp. Later, it will still be possible to put nets on enemies, launch smoke screens and throw vessels with flaming oil - the fire will spread evenly, touching both your own and others.
The experience gained is the same for the whole group: if you decide to “pump” the 1st character, then the second “exp” may no longer be enough. You have to painstakingly choose and think. *** It's hard to find flaws. Well, except that it’s not the most comfortable camera on the global map, and from time to time the AI ​​does not behave quite correctly: enemies, for example, can shoot your fighters for a long time, stubbornly and to no avail, instead of changing the gun and moving closer. Otherwise, this is an almost flawless tactical RPG that took almost everything from its colleagues, but was able to add it all into a completely unique, deep and all-encompassing game.

Pros: interesting story; nonlinearity; wealth of quests; fascinating role system; difficult fights; the need to constantly think about survival and make fundamental decisions.
Minuses: not a very comfortable camera. about the rating system of games

First Audience
To figure out why they took away all our unbearably acquired things from us and detained our team, we go to the governor of the island, his residence in the west of the city, you definitely won’t miss this very large building. Governor Bernandino de Monsanedo will report that in order to restore command, we need to find Quartermaster Umberto il Rosso.
The first quest is over reward 25 experience. Opens the quest - "Take back the command".

Take Back Your Command (Earn Your Command)
Near the fortress to the south of Monsanedo's residence we find Umberto il Rosso, to regain command you will need to go through a training battle, the battle is quite simple. Reward +75 experience. After talking with Umberto and fighting, we go to the governor. Joins the team new character Isabela Yruenes.
Unlocks quests - "Reclaim Your Cargo", "Drums in the Jungle"

Quartermaster Umberto il Rosso

Reclaim Your Cargo
We go to the docks where we find out that part of our cargo has been stolen, there is nothing special to do, we return what we have.
Reward:
+500 gold, +70 rations, +40 medicines, +18 equipment.
If we left the guard at the cargo, we get a little more:
+800 gold, +70 rations, +40 medicines, +20 equipment.

Drums in the jungle (Jungle Drums)
Rosso says that a certain cult operates in the jungle nearby, trade routes with the nearest city to them are in danger, we are required to figure out what's wrong. After talking with the governor, the location of the Indians will be mapped. We follow the indicated course, we can either kill the Indians, or negotiate with them.
Reward:
+50 experience, +1000 gold, (another +500 gold if you tell the governor that you need money to buy good equipment).
Unlocks the quests - "Craft", "Esteban" and "The Threat of the North Shore".

Craft (Tinkering)
The governor asks to find Umberto in the market, after breaking through we will learn how to build barricades, for which we will have to go through a training battle.
Reward:
+100 experience

Priest Brother Karo

Word of God (The Word of God)
We receive a task from the priest in the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Menor, our task is to deliver the bible to the market in Santiago.
Reward:
+50 experience, the monetary reward depends on the dialogue options and can vary from 1500 to 2500 gold.

Twilight (The Gloaming)

Brother Caro of the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Menor asks us to find Dr. Pedro Bermudez to treat the Bishop. The doctor went to a fishing village to treat the Indians. Arriving in the village, we learn from a shaman named Atl that Dr. Bermudez is dead, but perhaps the shaman Orokobish can help us. We go to the shaman, we find the shaman's house, an event occurs - "Mad Shaman". Orokobish gives us herbs with which you can cure the bishop, as a doctor we take with us Atl from the fishing village. Upon returning to the cathedral, the task is completed.
Reward:
+2000 gold, +100 experience.

Rebel Captain Leandra Vizcaino

Shipwreck (Flotsam)
Moving east along the northern coast, we find a shipwreck, a still living sailor says that they were attacked by Indians in canoes and killed everyone. We go further east along the coast and meet a group of Indians. A difficult fight for an unprepared team, so be careful. After winning the quest is completed.
Reward:
+100 gold, +50 experience, +3 equipment, +30 food, +10 medicine.
Menace of North Coast
Speak with the captain of the city of Santiago, Leandra Viscanio, about the whereabouts of the rebels. Leandra will point to a peninsula near the city. We won’t find anyone on the spot, but there will be an event on the shore - “Half Buried Treasures”. Upon returning from the peninsula, we will be attacked by rebels who were waiting for us in an ambush, the event is “Rebel Ambush”. After the ambush, we go back to Santiago and find that Leandra has fled and turned out to be a traitor. We return to Santo Domingo and report the news to the governor, the quest is completed.
Reward:
+150 experience.
Opens the quest - "Tournament".

Santo Domingo Captain Juan Noriega

The Tournament
The Governor asks you to visit Captain Juan Noriega. The captain announces his desire to hold a tournament, you need to defeat his soldiers in three battles.
Reward:
As a reward we get gold, the amount depends on your success in the tournament.

The Medallion
In the next house from the residence of the governor lives Mr. Chosereau, who asks us to find his wife, who went with a detachment somewhere to the west. We can recognize her by the medallion. During the search, we will find an event - "The Lost Squad". As a result, we will find the corpse and the medallion of Louise Chocero.
Reward:
+800 gold, +50 experience.

Rebel Esteban

Esteban
Having reached the place indicated by the governor, we meet Esteban's detachment at the mines of Maguan, with whom we enter into battle. The fight is not difficult no matter which option we choose. After the fight, Esteban escapes, and we can return to report to the governor on the situation. After the report to the governor, the quest is completed.
Reward:
+600 gold, +4 equipment, after completion we will learn how to make traps with stakes (Spike Traps).
Triggers an event - "Abduction"
Starts the quest - "Sacrifice"

Sacrifice
The quest starts the first night after the quests "Esteban" (Esteban) and "Threat of the North Coast" (Menace of North Coast) are completed, as well as the battle "Split in the enemy ranks" (An Enemy Divided) has taken place. Your companion Isabela Yruenes is abducted (if she is not in your team, any random character will be abducted) if you do not reach the Carib ritual site within 13 days ( marked on the map as "Ritual place" ), then they will sacrifice it (if we do not have time for the allotted time, the character will die, but the quest will still be completed). We get to the ritual place where we meet again with Esteban. After the fight with him, we kill Esteban, who, before dying, tells that Lendra and his soldiers are planning to capture Santo Domingo.

Reward:
+1500 gold, +50 rations, +20 medicine, +10 equipment, +200 experience.
Starts the quests - "Defend Santo Domingo" and "Stop the Marauders".

Stop Marauders Stop Marauders
Save the village of Higuey from the rebels, by our arrival the village has already been plundered, we are attacking the forces of the rebels.
Reward:
+1750 gold, +100 experience, +30 rations, +30 medicines, +2 equipment.

Shaman Atl

Defend Santo Domingo
After Esteban, before his death, reveals to us the plans of the rebels, we return to Santo Domingo. Having entered the governor's residence, we begin the battle, a very difficult battle, perhaps the most difficult in our adventures in Haiti, our task is to hold out for 10 moves. Before the battle begins at the governor's residence, Isabela Yruenes asks to be sent to the market to help Umberto and other soldiers. If we don't let her go, Umberto will die. If she is not in the squad (she died, was not taken at the beginning of the game), then the same thing will happen
Reward:
+2000 gold, +100 experience, +100 rations, +40 medicines, +20 equipment.

After completing the quest - "Defend Santo Domingo" we are left with last Stand with Leandra in the port after which we can go to Mexico.

Quests for the study of lands. To complete these quests, you need to find and visit a certain number of places on the map. For visiting one place we get +10 experience, for assembling a common map we get +50 experience. All the necessary places are marked on our map of the area in Haiti, there are only 3 such quests:

Map the mountains– visit 10 places.

Map the coast– visit 8 places.

Map suburbs- visit 4 places.

Events, for the most part, are combat missions that have names, some of them are inextricably linked with quests, some are not.

Half-Buried Treasure
The location of the event is indicated on our map, we are attacked by a group of soldiers who tried to steal a chest of valuables.
Reward:
+3600 gold, +2 equipment, +100 experience.

Rebel ambush
When returning from the peninsula, we are attacked by a group of Leandra's rebels and we learn that she is a traitor. Included in the quest - "The Threat of the North Shore"
Reward:
+150 gold, +6 equipment, +8 rations.

The Lost Detachment
There are many corpses on the map, here we find the corpse of Louise Chocero, we are attacked by a group of Indians. Included in the quest - "Medallion"
Reward:
+600 gold, +5 equipment, +50 experience.

Mad Shaman
Fight with your own shadows, the result of the "magic" herbs of the shaman Orokobish. Included in the quest - "Twilight"
Reward:
+30 medicines, +50 experience.
Abduction
Esteban steals a member of your squad Isabela Yruenes, the fight takes place at night in a campground, Isabela is kidnapped regardless of the outcome of the battle.
Reward:
+400 gold, +5 equipment.

An Enemy Divided
The battle between the troops of Leandra and Esteban, you can intervene and fight with both, or wait and join the battle after the winner of the fight is determined. Activated after completing the quests - "Esteban" and "The Threat of the North Coast".
Reward:
+1000 gold, +100 experience, +10 equipment, +15 rations.

Cornered
The final battle in our adventures in Haiti, as a result of victory, we kill the rebellious captain Leandra.
Reward:
+600 gold, +100 experience, +10 equipment.

Jungle Hunters
An optional fight with the Indians usually takes place in the forest area, near the village of Higuey.
Reward:
+250 gold, +100 experience, +2 equipment, +30 rations.

Mountain Raiders
An optional fight with the Indians takes place in a mountainous area next to the mines of Maguana.
Reward:
+340 gold, +5 ropes, +6 medicines, +13 rations.

Rebel Assault
Optional fight, night attack, the task is to hold out for 10 turns.
Reward:
+800 gold, +100 experience, +6 equipment.

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In 2013, my faithful frigate reached the shores of the New World. Once on land, the band of conquistadors under my direction began to smoke potatoes, gobble tobacco on both cheeks, and rub shoulders with the natives. I am considering the possibility of building a resort on this coast and below I will explain why you must pay to come to our cozy abode. However, when booking a room at our hotel, keep in mind that you may want to leave home earlier than you plan to…

The fact is that when you start a new campaign in Expeditions, among the characters that can join the leader you created on his journey to the shores of the New World, there is a monk with racist inclinations. The game is similar to many other examples of the genre, in particular King's Bounty and Oregon Trail, but the theme and the quality of the script make it stand out from the crowd. A band of pioneers, heretics, misanthropes, and other rabble have little in common with noble clerics, savage orcs, and half-naked barbarians. The members of the group possess and are themselves part of a series of stories that the Conquistador undertakes to explore. And the player, making his way through the story exposition and impenetrable jungle, eventually finds out that these stories turned out to be very worthwhile and unpredictable.

After playing the first of the two campaigns for quite some time, I was almost convinced that Conquistador was about to prove itself to be an amazing game, so it was a bit of a disappointment to find that it turned out to be just fine in the end. It gives many reasons for delight, but at the same time, all the diminishing periods of genuine pleasure are side by side with boring and repetitive episodes, the fascination of which is melting away every minute. But the Conquistador, for all its flaws, is extremely entertaining at best.

At its core, the game is divided into four components: map exploration, turn-based combat, team management, and role-playing. The latter is the best, because contains serious dilemmas that directly affect the game world, are resolved during well-designed dialogues and affect nothing less than the problems and relationships of the characters. RPG aspects are present in team management, but resources for leveling, equipment and skills are taken from the general basket, which reduces the personal progression of each character by an order of magnitude. In particular, with the improvement of equipment, it turns out the strangest thing. Weapons and armor that are in the general basket can be spent on points, from which, in turn, the upgrades themselves are formed. Thus, they are not mined during forays into the jungle and are not bought on the side, unlike the "raw materials" from which they themselves are composed, i.e. from weapons and armor. Then these improvements are applied, in fact, to the equipment itself in accordance with the profession of the character.

This is true for most objects - the traps and barriers that are used before the start of the battle can only be constructed by learning certain techniques. Medicine requires herbs and the ability to mix them. Food, as it is not surprising, is sent to the stomach to protect the colonialists from starvation. Some of these resources can be bought or found during the journey, and some can be created and prepared for future use during a halt.

While moving through the wilderness, a team can make a limited number of moves before it becomes necessary to halt for the night. A screen then appears where each character is given a task, whether it be setting up a campsite, guarding, exploring, or hunting. Depending on the type of terrain, the chance of finding certain items and the difficulty of guarding the camp vary.

At first, this system seems quite exciting, the kind of component that adds realism and interactivity to the management of the team, turning the wilderness into something more than just a territory to be traversed. Unfortunately, task selection and resource balancing quickly become a chore—a tool to create the necessary inventory that could be put on autopilot if automation worked well enough.

In general, one way or another, the map still becomes just a territory that you need to cross, simultaneously looking for new tasks and finishing the current ones. Settlements are more interesting than the unexplored corners between them, if only because they are inhabited by people with whom you can talk. And consequently, the ability to make more important decisions - random events that brighten up boring camping, as a rule, do not entail serious consequences, with the exception of the appearance at the disposal of the team of extra (or reduction of not superfluous) resources.

The situation is aggravated by the jungle, which is never interesting to contemplate. And also the camera, which seems to be sewn to the team, which makes it difficult to get a clear idea of ​​the scale of the surroundings. It's rather annoying that in a game that beckons with a step into the unknown, the world can seem like a series of checkpoints, and not an endless landscape with a life of its own.

Battles gradually become similar to each other, but do not lack originality. The game provides opportunities for skillful application of tactics, especially with the advent of new skills and equipment, and many fights feel very painful, because. can get you in big trouble. While the Heroes of MM-style exchange of blows between units may seem comical, there is always a risk of serious injury or death. Characters cannot be replaced, so over time I got used to even the worst of them. The combat screen also has a kind of visual touch that the map usually lacks - watching the first skirmish (massacre) with the Indians, you become confused, because. you see ordinary townspeople grabbing with trembling hands for knives intended more for cooking all kinds of cooking than for killing.

Although both the script and the description of the characters (both American and European) are not shy about the horrors of the situation, they are complex enough to avoid generalization. Of course, the game uses fantasy tropes - mysterious shamans, forbidden rites, abandoned temples - but then turns them on their head. The writers avoided the temptation to create innocent and noble natives who were unfortunate enough to face terrible Europeans. People, no matter what culture they belong to, are flawed, interesting, and often very unusual.

Characters and story are such a strong point of the game that even after being overwhelmed by wandering, camp management and combat, I still wanted to continue to find out what happened next. In its description of the theme and era, the script finds a happy medium between historical accuracy and flexibility, which allows female characters play a much more significant role on the front lines than one might expect, as well as make decisions peculiar to our era, based on a look into the past and an anachronistic worldview.

You can be the last bastard to sow confusion and discord, not only because the events are believable and based on history, but because games often focus on an individual or family member. Conquest may be dictated by ideology or greed, but elections are a personal matter. Several times I realized that I was obeying orders that should not have been obeyed, justifying my decisions as necessary for the good of my group, or trying to win back the loss of time by acting blindly.

And while I didn't realize it until I finished the game, part of the problem was the freedom that was offered to you from the start. As long as the members of the group have personality traits, the leader does not. The leader is just you. And you probably do not consider yourself better than the people of those distant lands? I hope you don't think you're so superior to them that you have the "great" idea to enslave or kill them.

However, the decisions that are present in the game may cause you to have similar thoughts or at least sympathy. As you experience tragic events with horrific consequences, you experience the same feelings as your team. The jungle is a home for an unfamiliar people who honor a foreign religion. Hiding in the forest, away from the lights of cities, they become real invisible. It's more than reasonable to be afraid of them, especially given the stories you've been told. But it is difficult to accept this role. The game doesn't try hard enough to convey a sense of unease by letting him stay on the other side of the screen. It was very easy for me to step back from the events that had passed hundreds of years ago.

I felt like I was making MY decisions, ie. for their own purposes, only with the almost condescending gaze of the least anachronistic game characters. I've often wished - and this is very unlike me - that in the early stages of the game there was less freedom in favor of fiddling with character creation. Perhaps a few early decisions that define the personality of a leader, as well as limiting my ability to act like a 21st century citizen by eliminating some choices and adding others. A kind of passage in the style of Fallout, where the consequences are formed by empathy and rationality, not abilities.

It would be unfair to end this review on a negative note. Expeditions: Conquistador is much more than a reworked King's Bounty. This is a game that explores a historical era with confidence and professionalism. Combat system effective and while some aspects of the controls become a chore, the emphasis on story and characters means that almost always you will be involved in at least one interesting history. If you start the game again, the cards will be the same, so I'm not sure if I would like to participate in these adventures again. However, if there are new Expeditions in the future, I will immediately pack my backpack again and be one of the first to jump on board.

Release Date: May 30, 2013 Publisher: BitComposer Developer: Logic Artists Genres: RPG / Indie / Multiplayer / Strategy Platform: PC Rank: 389 Editors' Rating: 60 %

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Some periods of history are especially popular with developers. For example, among the players with experience, few people did not run along Omaha Beach to the German machine gun crews (in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Call of Duty or Company of Heroes). Other eras, on the contrary, are undeservedly ignored. The more interesting are the exceptions. A young independent team of Logic Artists invites us to participate in the conquest - the conquest of South America by the Spaniards. Virtual natives, however, are not an example more courageous than real ones, and the gunpowder in the local guns seems to be some kind of damp, but a true conquistador will overcome even not such difficulties.

Expeditions- a mixture of tactical and role-playing game. From tactics here - battles, squad management and diplomacy. From RPG - the ability to have intimate conversations with subordinates and the need to pump the commander. You will not see him on the battlefield - a bird too important to be exposed to arrows. However, the characteristics of a brave caballero will often help you in combat, and in some cases will allow you to avoid combat altogether.

The game regularly throws up random events that require you to make a decision. How to punish a thief? What to do with an unexpected find? What to do with a captive Indian? Expeditions lets you play as a hardened racist, a religious fanatic or a benevolent general - the choice is yours.

Soldiers will be satisfied with some actions of the commander, and not with others, but even the most loyal and hardened veterans without timely delivery of supplies quickly lose their presence of mind. The supply problem is especially acute on long-distance expeditions thousands of miles from their native shores.

First of all, to fight, you need weapons. This is the most valuable resource, which in Expeditions also acts as upgrade points, which you can spend to improve the equipment of the squad. It's funny that the gunpowder itself is endless.

The Indians often use poison against the armored Spaniards.

Unlike the patience of your people. Fighters periodically suffer from diseases that require medicines to treat, get tired and starve (especially while your hunters are just learning and only scaring away game). You will also need secondary resources, such as ropes and wood, otherwise, for example, the wheel of a wagon will break - and that's it, we crawl at a snail's pace.

All of the above goods can be bought in a Spanish fort or an Indian settlement. In the case of the Indians, however, one can resort to violence. The burden of the white man, sung by Kipling, in Expeditions looks like a heavy bag of loot.

The tactical part of the game, alas, is rather weak, and the battles are rather monotonous. Whether you're a fan of the genre or a fan of tabletop D&D, the battles in Conquistador are nothing new. We have already seen all this more than once, but in fact, in such an unusual setting, the game really asks for original mechanics. Indie is for that and indie to think differently. Launching the game about the war of the conquistadors with the Indians, I want to see in it ... the war of the conquistadors with the Indians! The battles must reflect precisely the tactics of the 16th century, which are very different even from the tactics of the 15th century, not to mention subsequent centuries. At the same time, in Expeditions, it is quite possible to replace the Indians with elves, and the Spaniards with some kind of space marines, and nothing will change. It will be the same castrated D&D third edition.

There are no horses here, which the natives considered monsters and were terrified of. The concept of fear itself is also not in the game, although in real history it was much easier to put the Indians to flight than to kill them. The Spaniards had much better weapons, thanks to which they defeated even many times superior enemy forces. Immediately, the bare-assed savage in terms of "strength" is often not inferior to a soldier in a cuirass.

Even the great equalizer - firearms - does not differ from a bow in terms of damage or rate of fire. Why, contrary to history and common sense, gunpowder weapons are inferior in efficiency even to a dagger. On top of that, conquistadors will have worse squints than Star Wars Imperial stormtroopers. With all the desire to repeat the fate of Kurt Cobain, your henchmen will not succeed - they will miss. An arquebus can only be of any use in the hands of a hunter, and then only when he is at least a little pumped.

Not all expeditions are successful. For many, a long voyage ends in a storm, a tropical disease, or a poisoned dart ambushed in the back. The creators of Expeditions seem to have reached the goal, but instead of countless treasures, they brought only a small chest. The question is: was it worth it?