Expeditions: Conquistador

 PC
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 220 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 155 out of 220
  2. Mixed: 51 out of 220
  3. Negative: 14 out of 220

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  1. Morrandir
    Aug 20, 2013
    7
    I liked it.
    I really love the games general idea. Haven't seen anything like this before.
    In the beginning hours I was a little overwhelmed by the necessary micromanagement of my expedition, but after some time it's really fun. I liked the turn-based battles and the exploration in general. You won't get much eye-candythough, all events (except the battles) are presented in text form,    I liked it.
    I really love the games general idea. Haven't seen anything like this before.
    In the beginning hours I was a little overwhelmed by the necessary micromanagement of my expedition, but after some time it's really fun. I liked the turn-based battles and the exploration in general.
    You won't get much eye-candythough, all events (except the battles) are presented in text form, leaving a lot to your imagination.
    But I think there is a lot more potential in this game. For example there could be more events tailored to your companions, even something like personal quests, modifying the companions morale. The story isn't that interesting, quite predictable.
    All in all, I enjoyed and would recommend it.    … Expand
  2. Beanbag
    Jun 3, 2013
    6
    Expeditions: Conquistador is a decently entertaining indie endeavor, but unfortunately suffers from a feeling of being just a little shallow. The overall concept is a great idea, but is not executed in-depth. Exploration was not exciting and offered little reward for the player. Combat is (uninspired) standard turn-based fare. Some of the redeeming qualities are the initial party creationExpeditions: Conquistador is a decently entertaining indie endeavor, but unfortunately suffers from a feeling of being just a little shallow. The overall concept is a great idea, but is not executed in-depth. Exploration was not exciting and offered little reward for the player. Combat is (uninspired) standard turn-based fare. Some of the redeeming qualities are the initial party creation system, which does give you the opportunity to learn about your crew in some detail, as well as finding your own strengths and weaknesses. The attributes you choose here will potentially impact the rest of your game. For example, choosing a leader with strong leadership and diplomacy but weak tactics may allow the player to talk their way out of violent confrontations, yet leave them vulnerable to ambush situations. Your crew also has specific traits such as proud, pious, cautious, or even racist. A racist and pious crew member may not take kindly to your allowing natives to perform pagan ceremonies and suggest that you exterminate them instead. Your decisions will have impact on many different characters beyond yourself in this manner. There is also some crew member management to put up with (how much do you feed them, what should they do at night), though the system feels a little half-baked and eventually tedious. The story itself is well developed, but is unfortunately buried in walls and walls of text that the vast majority of casual gamers will not be interested in reading.

    A truly solid effort, worthy of a high 6's (I'd say 68) score. For the price of a DVD, it's worth checking out and having a few hours of fun with, IF you don't mind lots of reading and a steep learning curve with poor tutorials.    … Expand
  3. Kluge
    Jun 10, 2013
    7
    Mixed feelings on the game. It basically plays like a HOMM-type "dungeon crawl," except you're a Spanish explorer, and there's more might than magic... HOM would be more appropriate a comparison, I guess.

    The difficulty curve is absurd it starts excessively difficult, then becomes pointlessly easy. I screwed my first adventure up pretty severely. After that, I switched ironman-mode on    Mixed feelings on the game. It basically plays like a HOMM-type "dungeon crawl," except you're a Spanish explorer, and there's more might than magic... HOM would be more appropriate a comparison, I guess.

    The difficulty curve is absurd it starts excessively difficult, then becomes pointlessly easy. I screwed my first adventure up pretty severely. After that, I switched ironman-mode on and played through the whole game with very little in the way of challenge. Even the very few battles some others noted as difficult (the revolters at the city on the first map, for example) were already too easy, being able to wipe out the enemies before the ten-turn survival timer. The difficulty sliders don't seem to create much more challenge unless you let the enemy combat AI blatantly cheat, which is just silly and immersion-breaking.

    The combat is very flavorless... I liked three soldiers, two scouts, and a highest-rank doctor. There's basically one enemy... tan man. Some walk a little faster, some are obnoxious and shoot, then run back behind combat lines, but they all die with a few clicks. Between the combat and the ease (excluding cheating for the AI), there's really no replay value in E:C except maybe to look at the different pieces of dialogue, and I can't imagine justifying the time investment for that.

    The aesthetics are pretty, and background music decent (being an indie game, there apparently wasn't enough in funds to really expand on the music where it needed it lots of looping, but it was good). As many have mentioned, the lack of transparent foliage in the "world map" was a horrible decision, and the camera angles are far too zoomed in. Yes, the foliage looks good, yes I appreciate it.... now quit making me stare at it, I want to play the game! Traveling on the "world map" is actually pretty horrible. Clicking interactive objects frequently fails to work correctly, and I have to mention AGAIN how non-transparent foliage makes travel extremely tedious.

    I actually liked a lot of the side dialogue (though I've already forgotten the overall story something about wanting to explore the Americas and getting stuck with a bunch of unhappy Spaniards, and then you get dumped into Aztec territory and you're helping the tribes there out because.... Idunno, you're there?). The way actions in-game shaped dialogue were occasionally not shallow and made a real, logical, satisfying impact on the way the game played out. Some of the events in the game are absurd and didn't match the overall tone of the game... some just seemed really slopped together and added just to make something interesting happen, which ended up not being very interesting at all.

    The game managed to make skills relevant in dialogue without doing something silly like having a message pop up saying you need 8 more points in spelunking to swing from a rope, but also without being obtuse.

    The game overall feels very solid. I can think of a few significant flaws, nothing too horrible to ruin it, but I can't think of anything spectacular. It was a great opening for a new dev team, and hopefully they'll expand on this.    … Expand
  4. LeonidasRex
    Jun 5, 2013
    6
    Expeditions: Conquistador combines an exploration game, a tactics game, and a lot of writing. The tactics game is a fairly simple turn-based system on a hex grid, with various classes and special abilities. The exploration game includes a camping simulation in which you assign party members to various tasks. Both games are fun to learn, then they become tedious and repetitive as you findExpeditions: Conquistador combines an exploration game, a tactics game, and a lot of writing. The tactics game is a fairly simple turn-based system on a hex grid, with various classes and special abilities. The exploration game includes a camping simulation in which you assign party members to various tasks. Both games are fun to learn, then they become tedious and repetitive as you find the one best way to win.

    The writing is terrific. Somebody really put their heart into it. The text is where you'll find most of this game's imagination and variety. Don't skip it.

    This game is not a history lesson on conquistadors. Half the available characters are women. Many of the story options involve politically correct concerns about racism and colonial oppression. Maybe some people enjoy "historical" games full of modern sensibilities; I would have preferred to learn how the actual conquistadors saw themselves and their world.

    The tactics game also fails to deliver much history. I was expecting small numbers of well-equipped Spaniards versus large numbers of poorly-armed natives. But this game's battles involve equal numbers of men on each side, where a metal-clad steel-wielding Spaniard is equivalent to a leather-clad obsidian-wielding native. It's not a fatal flaw, but it's certainly an opportunity missed.

    Expeditions: Conquistador is a fairly good game that could have been so much better. If you don't mind your video games giving you lots to read and not much historical accuracy, then this title is definitely worth $10-15 on sale.    … Expand
  5. ArminW
    Jun 3, 2013
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. As one of the original Kickstarter backers, I had pretty high hopes for this game, now having finished both campaigns I have to say, some were realized, some weren't.
    The difficulty development is not very well done, the game can be incredible tedious and frustrating in the beginning, where minor mishaps and random events can make your life hell, and it becomes pretty trivially easy once you enter the second campaign and your soldiers gain experience. In the endgame, it's a proverbial walk in the park.
    Quests and scripted events can destroy motivation, as there are events triggered randomly that can make a quest unfinishable without telling the player. Would be nice if I hadn't wasted 3 hours trying to find a place that I was unable to reach in time from the very start...
    Exploration can be fun, but it has it's tedious aspects. The camera angle can be extremely annoying and the limited field of view unnerving. The descriptions in the text on where to find quest objectives are vague at best, and some are downright wrong (like, once, the description stated to follow a river north when the target was really south).
    Combat can be a mixed bag, too. The basic system and rules are very well done, they suffer. however from strange hickups in the enemy AI. Sometimes they act smart, sometimes they commit suicide by provoking chain attacks of opportunity. There is not much variety in enemy units or tactics, and I really had wished for larger battles with more than 6 troops on each side. A defensive playing style is, with the AI limitations, inherently more successful than an aggresive one.
    Also, the info on screen can be misleading, I'd bet a nifty sum that the accuracy for ranged attacks is not shown on screen correctly and I have a strong suspicion that range, cover and darkness penalties are not applied correctly to enemy archers (Either that or I had the big bad mother of bad luck streaks ;-)
    Also, the claimed 25 hours of gameplay are very generously estimated. Most of those come from exploring empty areas, grinding and travelling, the actual story and campaign missions feel very short.
    Add to that some annoying bugs (party members disappearing, your characters scouting stat resetting to 5 after loading a saved game, some others) and it's a decent game with nice looks, good writing a a very interesting historic background, but quite some room for improvement.    … Expand
  6. SlickNick
    Mar 18, 2014
    7
    This game is rock solid. It has a high learning curve for map exploration and party management, and the turn-based battle strategy is fun and well-balanced. The battles were all fairly unique and didn't feel repetitive. The RPG aspect including dialogue, choices, consequences and party members' interactions are reminiscent of old school RPGs like Baldur's Gate. It's a good combinationThis game is rock solid. It has a high learning curve for map exploration and party management, and the turn-based battle strategy is fun and well-balanced. The battles were all fairly unique and didn't feel repetitive. The RPG aspect including dialogue, choices, consequences and party members' interactions are reminiscent of old school RPGs like Baldur's Gate. It's a good combination of strategy and RPG. However, every time your party runs out of movement points on the map, you have to manage your party as you put them to sleep (make sure someone hunts for food, make sure someone creates healing herbs, make sure someone guards the loot, make sure someone xxx). While this aspect of the game is captivating for the first 5-10 hours, it quickly becomes tedious. Other than this one drawback, however, the game is quite fun.… Expand
  7. Hoodinski
    Oct 1, 2014
    5
    We are not amused. An interesting idea for a game. Don't care much about graphics but the sheer amount of text (most of which is redundant) flooded me. Also the learning curve seems a bit hard as are the fighting sequences. I think this kind of old-school rpg breed is not for me anymore.
  8. SlyguyTheCritic
    Jul 25, 2013
    7
    Expeditions: Conquistador is an enjoyable strategy RPG, which has a strong atmosphere and a classic charm to it, allowing you to see past the few flaws it has. Some of the battles can come out of nowhere and be sort of cheap (good luck fighting powerful ranged enemies with your melee-focused battle team or vice versa at certain points), and the story can be wildly inconsistent, switchingExpeditions: Conquistador is an enjoyable strategy RPG, which has a strong atmosphere and a classic charm to it, allowing you to see past the few flaws it has. Some of the battles can come out of nowhere and be sort of cheap (good luck fighting powerful ranged enemies with your melee-focused battle team or vice versa at certain points), and the story can be wildly inconsistent, switching between a normal adventurous tone to an attempt at being dark, for example during one dialogue sequence it said that one of my party members walked up with a eating grin, which seemed entirely out of place. It's pretty enjoyable and if you want a strategy RPG with a sometimes inconsistent story, this is worth checking out.… Expand
  9. Yazah
    Jul 30, 2013
    6
    Expeditions Conquistador is definitely a mixed experience. The overall battle gameplay and discovery systems are fun and engaging, but some of the larger gameplay elements are terribly flawed or just boring. Specifically, having your main characters randomly die during the "choose your own text adventure" sidegames is a terrible gameplay experience. Moreover, exploration and story questsExpeditions Conquistador is definitely a mixed experience. The overall battle gameplay and discovery systems are fun and engaging, but some of the larger gameplay elements are terribly flawed or just boring. Specifically, having your main characters randomly die during the "choose your own text adventure" sidegames is a terrible gameplay experience. Moreover, exploration and story quests were boring and redundant overtime.

    It's an ok game with interesting elements, but there's too much text based story, and not much of an "epic" feel to anything that happens.    … Expand
  10. TheHammer
    Aug 14, 2013
    5
    I love strategy games so I was excited by this though I must say I was ultimately dissapointed.

    For starters, as has been pointed out, the difficulty level is outrageous. What annoys me is that equipping characters with guns and armour etc. seems to make very little difference. There is also little variety to the game and not much of a feeling of progress. Game has lots of potential    I love strategy games so I was excited by this though I must say I was ultimately dissapointed.

    For starters, as has been pointed out, the difficulty level is outrageous. What annoys me is that equipping characters with guns and armour etc. seems to make very little difference. There is also little variety to the game and not much of a feeling of progress.

    Game has lots of potential but, I think, could have done with more testing groups to iron out its issues prior to full release. I will look out for any follow ups.    … Expand
  11. justanhonestguy
    Mar 31, 2016
    5
    Just not for me I'm afraid. Seems technically competent, but is squarely in the HOMM mold, and for me that's not a good thing. It is HOMM with a Conquistador theme, nothing more,nothing less in my eyes.... . I know the HOMM series were immensely popular , but I honestly never played one for longer than 5 minutes before I was bored out of my skull. I appreciate that some people enjoy thisJust not for me I'm afraid. Seems technically competent, but is squarely in the HOMM mold, and for me that's not a good thing. It is HOMM with a Conquistador theme, nothing more,nothing less in my eyes.... . I know the HOMM series were immensely popular , but I honestly never played one for longer than 5 minutes before I was bored out of my skull. I appreciate that some people enjoy this game type, but i'll leave it at that. Soundtrack was refreshing, and the story seems deep. I see good development here, but in the area that i like least. I found the gameplay very slow paced. it's a quiet, thoughtful game, no action or excitement here. I also found the game field of view to be very claustrophobic and my biggest technical beef was with the foliage. As others have said expect to do a lot of camera rotation just to see simple map items. I will give a point to the devs because I see traces of balance and nice thoughtful programming throughout, but I could not find the fun factor anywhere. I tried it for about an hour total game time and uninstalled. In my view, this game is aimed at a very select group of players, and if you are in that group, you may love it as many from that group are attesting to its' "deep" quality. I'm not in that group guys, so i'm going to 55% only. I will say that if you find a demo of it anywhere, do yourself a favor and try before you buy. Check Youtube for gameplay video to get an idea of the pace of the game.… Expand
  12. carlosgtardon
    Jun 10, 2014
    6
    Interesante propuesta pero llena de clichés, además hay problemas con la gestión de la curva de dificultad que lleva a situaciones casi imposibles de superar pero no te dan ganas de reiniciar por los errores. No sé hasta qué punto es una buena compra.
  13. Cech
    May 16, 2017
    6
    Данную тематику хочется назвать чуть ли не уникальной, игр про конкистадоров и их экспидиции моя память не знает.

    Отрицательное Игра основана на огроменных ошибках геймдизайна и левелдизайна, ко второму - особенно хорошо разработчики поводят вам по лицу кронами деревьев, о первом просто говорить страшно. Боёвка достанет вас ещё задолго до середины игры. По причине полного отсутсвия    Данную тематику хочется назвать чуть ли не уникальной, игр про конкистадоров и их экспидиции моя память не знает.

    Отрицательное
    Игра основана на огроменных ошибках геймдизайна и левелдизайна, ко второму - особенно хорошо разработчики поводят вам по лицу кронами деревьев, о первом просто говорить страшно.

    Боёвка достанет вас ещё задолго до середины игры. По причине полного отсутсвия баланса враги всегда будут иметь количественное приемущество, в конце враги в боях могут превосходить вас числом кратно. Полное отсутствие разнообразия.

    Странная система прокачки с общим опытом на всю команду с последующим перераспределением. Невнятная прокачка экипировки.

    В ходе экспидиции у вас будут появляться новые напарники, которые будут тщательно продумывают планы уничтожения своих родных и любимых деревень/городов.

    Положительное
    Интересные квесты и события.

    На двадцатом часу прохождения ко мне снизошло вдохновение, в котором мне стало интересно играть и я закончил игру, этот факт был вызван единственным вышеуказанным плюсом. Т.е. чисто теоретически эту игру порекомендовать можно, но слишком много в ней "но".    … Expand
  14. Traxillion
    Feb 23, 2022
    6
    A good first game by the company with a noticeable degree of jank.

    Still very fun.

Awards & Rankings

86
#86 Best PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Mar 11, 2014
    85
    Expedition: Conquistadors is very entertaining strategic role playing game, about an interesting subject, too [Nov 2013]
  2. IGN Italia
    Oct 1, 2013
    85
    A very good game, with interesting narration, nice characters and some solid mechanics. It's got its limits and you can clearly see the small budget, but it's also got a big heart.
    Read full review
  3. Destructoid
    Sep 6, 2013
    85
    At the very least, Conquistador's acceptance of player failure makes it possible to experience its excellent writing.
    Read full review
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