I bought this game, but refunded it due to it still not being updated. It is March 2025. But the game is still on version 1.12.0. The latest Expedition Zero Patch 1.13.1 went live on 27 June 2022. This patch has: Updated Story Line. New Save System. New Visual Effects. Plus bug fixes and improvements. Why is it not available here?
I am sorry, but any game that does not allow the remapping of the keyboard controls gets 1 star. If you do not allow remapping via the game, at least give me a text file I can edit. Some of us have been playing game since before Dennis Fong, made these keys popular, causing them to be added as a default layout option in Quake. Not to mention problems for left handed players.
The game is very poorly balanced, looking at Steam achievements, only 24% of people completed the game, why? Well, the combat is ridiculously unbalanced. My first play through on easiest difficulty saw me die over 15 times against the first boss, but not die once against the last. If you can get past the first two bosses the game becomes easier. The same on medium difficulty, get past the first two bosses, and you can play the rest of the game without dying once. Progression As you progress you gain more skills and equipment, but the difficulty doesn't get much harder, so the effectively the difficulty drops as you progress. You will gain enough skill points to unlock all of the skills in the game. I was left with 11 unspent points on my last play through. Changes I would make the following changes to the game. * Nerf the first boss. * Once you have all of the skills, turn off the reminder that you have unspent points. * Give an option to turn off damage floaters. * Fix the quest "Scan the alien body", so that if you either do it, or optionally don't do it, the text is removed from the screen, it currently stays on the screen for the rest of the game unless you die. * Add more save slots, so more than one person can play the game on the same machine. * Stop taking control of the character outside of cut scenes, I would either like to skip a cut scene, or play the game, don't take away my control during play, because it throws me out of the game. * The improved weapons are better than the original ones, why are we carrying the old weapons around? * Change the fire based weapons, so that you can power up shots without lock on, if I miss, I miss. As a final note: The tag Horror doesn't really apply. I don't know why the tag "Sexual Content" is there, as there is no sexual content in the game. Do people think the female characters are in a relationship, because there is no evidence of this?
It appears to be two games in one, you start by exploring and collecting items and learning about the history and experiences of those on the island, and then you loose your inventory and it switches to a linear, run, shoot and solve puzzles, at a much faster pace. I would have preferred more of the former. Positive: Excellent visuals, custom models, and creature designs. Lots of Lovecraftian references. Negative: Controls cannot be rebound, I used a key mapper to change key bindings, short game, even taking your time, your first play though is likely going to be less than 2 hours. Some documents don't have an alternate text and are hard to read. Some puzzles can only be solved by trial and error, so a few deaths on the first play-though are pretty much inevitable. Needs optimising, sections load slowly, particularly after a death, even with an M.2. Note: You can move forward and back with the arrow keys, but this is not the same as using W and S, W and S work with the run/sprint key, the arrow keys allow you to run with the run/sprint key, but not to sprint, at least not consistently. So your movement speed is slower, and you will die.
