Do you like a lot of talking in games? Do you like fighting with words? If you do, keep going! If you don't...read on, see what you are missing.
In Renowned Explorers's 19th century you lead a team of novice explorers who want to become rich and famous. To achieve their goal they will have to complete five missions and climb the ladder of the explorer's Society. The ladder is a static Leaderboard with the names of different characters from the game. At the top await you the most successful and famous explorer Rivaleux. Who is...well probably not as good as everyone thinks, let's say it that way.
The game does not have much more story to it. Every expedition is stand alone and has its own small story. Your objective is also every time the same - to reach the location of different archaeological or mysterious sites where usually a final battle will ensue. If you win you will get the artifact guarded at the site and will complete your mission successfully. But that is like 10% of each expedition, because while you are looking for the path to your objective you will encounter all kind of challenges. For example you might stumble upon the tracks of other artifacts and mysteries, each bringing you more and more fame. While stumbling through thick jungles or trying not to die of thirst in hot deserts you will do different skill checks which if you win you might improve your characters, find hidden paths, get assistance from locals, get access to shops, survive certain death or even uncover ancient mysteries.
Imagine it like a light choose your own adventure mixed with rogue-lite with a lot of skill checks. The skill checks by the way are not done with dices but instead with a slot machine with only two symbols - success and fail. The higher the level of your skill the more successes you have in the machine and vice verse.
Now let me tell you about the real talking that this game is about! While you explore the ruins in various famous sites around the Earth you will often have to fight be for your life, be for a valuable relic. In the turn-based battles you will have three choices - Aggresive, Devious and Friendly.
First is your everyday brawl - you are smacking people over the heads, shoot them with guns and slice them with sharp and pointy things. The second is all about breaking your enemy's spirit by offending him with words. This kind of attacks will give different negative conditions to all who are affected by them. They may become depressed and sad for example, which will reduce their stats and resistances. And the third is all about showing people how beautiful the world is. If you're playing Friendly you will make your enemies so happy and confident that they may actually leave the fight convinced that your cause is the best! Be careful though as Friendly will heal and buff your team mates but it will also improve your enemies stats. The best part? You can combine these styles which will cause different moods on the battlefield affecting everyone present. Things can be Peaceful or become Tense, Provocative, Hostile or even Dire. Each of these moods as already mentioned will buff or debuff characters so its really important to learn and use them to your advantage. Also the way you finish your battle will sometimes have additional effects. For example your enemy might give you something if you impress them with your attitude or mysterious stranger may appear and reward you if your style suits him.
With each challenge successfully completed your characters will gain experience and you will have chance to improve their battle and adventure abilities. The first will serve you in battle(not kidding!) while the second will be your best friend while wandering through dangerous lands. These are also the ones used for skill checks.
Every time you finish an expedition (successfully or not) you will return to the Headquarters of the Explorers's Society where you will be able to spend your renown, science and money to improve your team and prepare it for the next mission.
If after the fifth expedition you are not first in the Society's List you have failed to win and will have to start from the beginning. If your lose all the spirit of your Team also lose. This might happen during battle, by failing challenges or due to hunger.
Renowned explorers is a game made to be played multiple times until you learn how to play it ultimately. It has some original mechanics which with some older ones are working great together. And when you master it you can try its expert mode where you will be able to save only when quitting.
The game also has some sense of humor, nice compelling graphics and a ton of characters with which to experiment while trying to figure the best strategy.
Conclusion
Renowned Explorers is a great mixture of an adventure game and turn-based battles. It also includes a bunch of innovative and interesting mechanics. The spotlight being the ability to defeat your opponents by using only words(good or bad ones, the choice is yours). Together with its graphics and sense of humor this makes a good game which you will like for sure if you are into adventures and searching for lost ruins and treasures. But don't let the first impression of the game to confuse you it is not easy and it will definitely take time to master it.
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