Expeditions: Samurai

Great start to another expeditions game. The art style seems to be the most controversial point however once I started playing it didn't stand out in motion. The setting is once I've always wanted, and I look forward to seeing where the rest of this game goes as it moves through early access.

Ich würde gerne einen Daumen zur Seite geben..... Eher eine Demo.....plötzlich Ende..... Es ist zwar Early Access, aber naja, trotzdem ein bisschen wenig.....

My first impression is that I immediatly felt home. I actually ended up liking the graphic decision, I like the painted style. The dialogues are amazing, the story is in medias res and I can't wait to explore more. I will update if things change to the worse.

Those are just my first impressions, since the game is only at the beginning of Early Access now. I'll make an update after the full release, or perhaps before if there are significant changes. Expeditions: Samurai is very reminiscent of Expeditions: Rome, with a few differences. The mini strategy layer, with the invasion of the regions and the camp building mechanics, has been removed. Instead, it's possible to camp again while travelling on the world map, although it seems limited to chatting with the party members. Since those parts of the game are now initiated by a dialogue, this includes treating sick and wounded ones, and crafting. The story and dialogues are still very engaging. There's definitely more humour in general. The dialogues are not shorter or longer than Rome's, but and they often give you an option to act like a softie, a jerk, someone smart, or a complete fool, so listening to NPCs and understanding the situation can spare you some embarrassing moments, sometimes. It's a nice touch, if perhaps a little too obvious at times. The combat feels as tactical as the previous game, though I'll need to level-up more and wrap my head around the system a little longer before deciding if it's as good as in Expeditions: Rome. It certainly looks that way so far. Right now, it's easy, but update 1 should already make it harder and better tuned. The combat systems are very similar to Rome, with a slightly different organization for abilities and perks. There are fewer class abilities but more perks (passive abilities), and the class abilities are complemented by those given by the gear, as usual. I'm not sure yet if the number of abilities you can use in one fight are as limited as in Rome. The respective roles of the 4 classes is familiar now, but I think some classes benefit from more flexibility. The portraits are obviously a contentious issue. The developers decided to base them on the 3D models on popular demand in the previous games, but those models don't look as gorgeous as the prior 2D art, far from it (hopefully, that's something that sill improve before release). On the other hand, they reflect the feelings and attitude of the characters. I'm fine with it, but it's not everyone's favourite feature. The UI theme in general is beautiful and so is the music, as usual. The quality of the 3D graphics in the game seem similar to the previous title, but I had to tune the video settings down a notch because the game is using Unreal Engine 5, and my system isn't particularly recent (8 GB of VRAM is a little tight for that heavy engine)... Overall, the DNA of the series is still very much there. I have no issue recommending this game already, even if it might end up a little smaller than Rome, which isn't even sure (given that, without discount, it's only 2/3 of Rome's price, or ~57% taking inflation into account). I'm not going to mention bugs and control issues that are part of the things being ironed out during an Early Access (there are indeed a few quirks with the controls right now, especially the mouse buttons). The game is currently very stable for me, no crash so far. Tested on PC, Windows 10 64-bit, CPU i7-10700K, RTX 3070, playing with K+M.

So far there are only about 4-6 hours of content released, but it shows some serious promise. There are a handful of bugs/crashes, but it's in an early playable state. Gameplay feels somewhere between Baldurs Gate 3 and XCOM and is quite satisfying to get done successfully. Can't wait to see what else these devs cook up.

crap

Expeditions: Samurai is a game that I have conflicting opinions about, as while some aspects of the game are great, others hinder its overall enjoyment. I will talk about my overall criticisms and what could be done to improve the game in no particular order. Controls: This game was built for controllers. Everything you do using the controller is much smoother than using Keyboard and Mouse. Thankfully, I had a controller I was able to use, but I recommend adding a notice when opening the game that recommends the use of a controller, and trying to make using keyboard and mouse less jank and more enjoyable. Due to the game’s preference of using a controller to play, I expect that this game also releases on consoles. Technical Issues: One critical issue I had was during the quest “Let Our Anchor Fall” where I could not open the menu that allowed me to save/load game, access the codex and quit the game. This was specifically at the part after giving attributes to your character and when you first make camp. Also the game freezes occasionally. Character Portraits: I liked how the player's character is shown directly rather than choosing a portrait that resembles or closely resembles your character. However, the expression of your character when choosing certain dialogue options are way over the top and dramatic and some portraits look cartoony. When it comes to character portraits, I am not sure how to fix this issue. Due to the discourse of the ugliness of these new portraits, I would invest to try and get the original portraits seen in the previous Expeditions games. World Map: I hated how they did the world map, removing the free-roam aspect displayed by Expeditions: Rome and having events be on certain squares rather than happen randomly. I would implement the free-roam aspect and have events be randomized while moving on the map. Combat, Character Building: They did not change the combat other than add the stealth mechanic. The stealth mechanic is implemented somewhat well with the ability to ambush and kill enemies. There should maybe be an ability to “cloak” a companion or yourself outside of combat, since the only way to ambush enemies is run up to them and hope they don’t see you or lure them to an area, then kill them. I liked the new classes and skills, even though most of them are returning from the older games. It will be fun to unlock more skills in later acts. I also liked the RPG elements that allow the player to slowly build everyone’s character. These are my current thoughts on Expeditions: Samurai. While the initial feedback on Steam is “mixed” I hope the developers can take the criticisms and work to improve the game for its final release. If you have the money, I recommend getting it on sale before the final release or trying out Expeditions: Rome.