Expeditions: Conquistador

I really wanted to enjoy this game as it's such a wonderful untapped time period and setting that video games could REALLY bank on. Sadly this game just feels so very low budget across the board. The world map was the last straw for me, as it just didn't feel like the developers cared much about immersing me in the new world with their, no offence, lazy looking unity world. It's missing visual cohesion and just feels like a tech demo, a prototype, of a bigger idea. The map could have been hand drawn, or stylized, or anything else. It just feels like raw 'we just got this game running yesterday' gameplay. The combat for me was also very unforgiving, but by the time that mattered I was already checked out. I had no real desire to understand the games mechanics. I didn't go into it wanting to be negative, I really felt like there was a great idea here, and still do, but the execution is so far from what I was hoping for. I mean, Pirates! handled land based exploration better, and that wasn't the focus of that game. I hope the devs can continue working on this concept because it needs to be done well, so I wish them all the best in that regard.

A great overall game wth very good balanced mechanics and progression. It feels like a classic old-school game made with passion. I do however have a feeling that the game is somehow unfinished or packed without reaching is full potential - perhaps due to marketing reasons. This is a YES/NO game - you love it or you won't play it until you have a liutenant in your army. I loved it.

Reminds me a bit of a lesser Homm3, swapping fantasy with the overseas discovery age, more focused on combat and less map exploration.

This game brings the new world exploration fantasy together with mechanics of turn based games like HOMAM, Kings Bounty etc. It was fun to play the campaign of hispaniola (so far). It has nice narratives, which I'm sure will steal the hearts of HoMaM lovers. Every character in your party has a personality which will define their motivation in accordance with your decisions. Decisions are often made about the events occuring either in certain locations, or arbitrarily during travel. These events request players to trade-off between companion motivations and earthly gains. Story has branches player can follow as a reaction to their decisions. Combats are very similar to HoMaM. Unit variety is low, but still fun to fight. Types of units (which are also the characters mentioned above) are well distinct from each other, one should decide wisely while building the team. Game puts a unique mechanic of camping. Player can't wander the map freely. Team should be fed and ill/injured team members should be taken care of. Every team member again has some talents when it comes to the camping, varying from hunting to exploring. Definitely was worth of buying. I enjoyed the familiar mechanics accompanied by a good narrative and the extensions to the predecessors (camping, personality) were accurate and fun, too.

I just finished the game on the normal level of difficulty. It is a wonderful game. It may not be historically accurate, technically, but it FEELS authentic always. What's good about it? The first thing is probably the story: within its world, it is consistent all the way through. You want to act cold and heartless, the story will back you up. You want to be caring and concerned, the story will actually go the way YOU prefer. I love the egalitarian troops, with females being the precise equal of males - surely not historically accurate for the period, (not even THIS period,) yet refreshing and elegant. You command 'real' troops with 'real' personalities, personal problems, and hopes and dreams. Select different troops, you will get a significantly different set of reactions. Second thing that really works are the paintings used in the intro, loading, and the conclusions. They establish an atmosphere and help you to identify with your troops. Combat is also strong: you can keep your personnel on their feet almost all the time in normal difficulty if your strategy is solid enough, despite increasing numbers of opponents as the story progresses. Negatives? The biggest thing is that the night battles are a bit too dark for my taste - I'm thinking that it might have worked to outline the soldiers and key elements with a white line - yet since the game is turn-based, there's no hurry in moving the map around until you're clear what's going on Well, that should be enough to pique your curiousity - I'm gonna try the hard level next!