The Expeditions series is a game franchise consisting of CRPGs set during different historical events. The first game, Expeditions: Conquistador, was released in 2013, and since then, there have been Viking and Roman-themed entries. This year, Campfire Cabel and THQ Nordic have released the fourth entry, Expeditions: Samurai. This is an interesting release for the franchise because, for the first time, an Expeditions game release in early access. Now I’m no stranger to games in early access, and some amazing games in the genre have launched as this sort of release before, too. Sadly, the current build is a buggy mess that leaves a lot to be desired, but there’s still a foundation that can be improved.
An Expedition to Japan
Expeditions: Samurai takes place during feudal Japan. You play as Flynn, a veteran seafarer who has been charged with piracy. For these charges to be dropped, Flynn must join the crew of De Albertros, a Dutch ship sailing from the Netherlands to Japan. Aside from the crew, there is Lord Walsingham, an ambassador to England being sent to secure a trade agreement between the countries. However, provisions have run out, and with starvation and sickness on the rise, the crew isn’t happy with the current captain. After an attack on the ship kills the captain and Walsingham, Flynn is asked to lead the crew as they finally reach Japan.
This is quite the premise, drawing clear inspiration from William Adams, the first Englishman to reach Japan, as well as from the show and novel Shōgun. I think this has some potential, but so far it hasn’t hooked me. The current early access build only has the game’s first act, and so far, while I am intrigued, I’ve yet to get hooked by anything in the narrative. I also don’t feel consequences for my choices, but that could always change when more of the world and story are introduced. While the story hasn’t hooked me, I do like some of the characters so far.
You lead the small crew of survivors when you get to Japan. Your core party has five members besides you, and I recruited two more later in the first act. While most of the group doesn’t feel fully fleshed out, each has some character. They all already know each other and have an established back-and-forth that I enjoy, for the most part. The first time you make camp was a nice and joyful scene, and I hope to have more scenes like that with each update.
Fight and Sneak
Expeditions: Samurai is a top-down CRPG. Besides getting to know the party and making important decisions, the core gameplay consists of stealth and turn-based combat. You control one to four characters on a grid, and each party member has action points that must be spent before ending their turn. Everyone has different stats and equipment you can adjust as well, but think carefully about who you want to bring into battle. The game doesn’t do much that’s different from the norm of CRPGS, but the combat is not bad, and the game’s gameplay loop I enjoy for the most part.
My issues with the combat and most of the gameplay come from how clunky it all feels. Combat never feels smooth, and part of that is the UI. With so many systems in place, cycling through options and party members can slow things down. There are keyboard shortcuts, but they’re not enough at times, and sometimes the shortcuts don’t even work. The camera also needs some work; it’s hard to make out the map at times random objects end up cluttering the screen too much. These are issues I’ve seen in other CRPGs get fixed with updates, so I hope the same happens here.
In addition to turn-based combat, the game offers stealth. I love stealth elements in games, but it doesn’t feel well-utilized or fleshed out, with the game only reminding you of it during certain gameplay segments. Sneaking around doesn’t feel good; it feels like the game just got slower, and there isn’t much reward for it. In the current build of the game, I see no reason to use stealth outside of the few required moments. I wanted to see if I could prevent a combat scenario with stealth, but it only delayed it instead of being a solution itself. The stealth currently disappoints me, and I wonder if updates will be able to fix it.
Too Early for Early Access?
Expeditions: Samurai is currently in early access on Steam, which means the game is still under active development and is still not finished. In its current state, Expeditions: Samurai is a buggy experience with little to do. Right now, the game ends after the first act with only three side quests available. You can finish it in about six hours, and there isn’t much reason to play it again. I was hoping I could at least open my save file and freely explore the current areas a bit, but no, it just stops and you either have to reload a save or start over.
While the amount of content is small, it’s not my biggest issue. The current build is extremely buggy, with issues ranging from minor to game-breaking. On multiple occasions, I had to restart the game to fix the issue, and when that didn’t work, I just gave up for the night. On three separate occasions, the game would enter combat, and after a couple of turns, I was softlocked on an enemy attack. The only thing that fixed this issue was reloading an old save, but it was never a recent one, so I had to redo about 30 minutes of gameplay and hope the game wouldn’t break again.
Outside of the game-breaking bugs, I still had to deal with so many annoying minor ones, including the camera moving when it shouldn’t, getting stuck in a never-ending loop because of a tutorial pop-up, and my ESC key not working in-game at one point. There is no shortage of bugs in the current release, and it’s the main thing that keeps me from it. Since this is early access, all these issues can and should be fixed, but I can’t recommend it right now.
Wait Before You Try
Expeditions: Samurai is in a really buggy state, and on more than one occasion, I did not want to continue the game. If we look past all the bugs, it’s still an okay CRPG. The story still hasn’t grabbed me, but I enjoy the characters for the most part. Its combat is nothing special but enjoyable. The stealth is lacking and something I hope can be fixed with updates. It’s for all these reasons I can’t recommend the game right now, but I hope I can in the future. There is a roadmap that looks promising, but I won’t know for sure until I see it happen.
Disclaimer: THQ Nordic provided a Steam key of Expeditions: Samurai for coverage.
