The D&D Roguelike Game Curious Expedition 2 Is Out Now On Switch

rougelikes are a over-saturated market. but this one seems like a fresh approach to the genre (especially in terms of aesthetic), so it might be worth a second look.

personally not a fan of rogue likes but the presentation seems inviting and appealing to me. will prob pick this up later

@CharlieGirl
Except it's not over saturated, people just like to attached the word to anything that has procedural generation or permadeath when there is a lot more to the genre than that.

It’s as if the animators have never seen or experienced walking before.

looks like a random bunch of badly animated nonsense

Funny, I have a board game made by the same illustrator Garen Ewing called The Lost Expedition. It uses the same mechanics. I will probably take it too.

This looks beautiful. There needs to be more narrative based rougelikes (hopefully Wildermyth will make it to Switch). Requesting a review to see if its worth picking up.

Great game, bought it yesterday, I was waiting for it on switch.
And about the animations, it's a small team (13 peoples) and katarina Czikorova is the only animator and it's her first game.

Curious as to why you have described this as a "D&D" game in the article title rather than just an RPG. From the video it doesn't look like the game is based on D&D's mechanics, and is no closer to the D&D than any other computer RPG.

The moment I hear rogue like elements I am put off a game no matter how promising it looks. 'Rogue like elements' are becoming the new Metroidvania in terms of over saturation.

@RobHughes I'd expect a C&D from WOTC for advertising DnD. There is an open SRD but that's based on 5e.

Can anybody that has played both 1 and 2 let me know what the improvements/differences are between the games, aside from the art style?

@bluemage1989 and in terms of misnomery.

I'm mostly just looking for roguelikes and roguelites these days so might pick this up. If this was just a regular adventure, I wouln't have had any interest in it, I've played my fill of those games. Roguelites are the best, they can be practically any genre, they're challenging, and put my skills to the test and after I lose, not only have I gotten better and learned to avoid my previous mistakes, I also unlock cool things to make the next run even better, and with the random layouts I don't get sick of running through the same maps over and over again.

My biggest issue with games like Super Mario Bros., Super Metroid, or Guacamelee were that they were finite and just when I was having fun, the game ran out of levels, or for harder games you die on the first couple levels over and over again and after a dozen times, you don't want to do the exact same thing again. I remember on Enter the Gungeon I was stuck on level 1 dying over and over again and if it was an ordinary game I probably would have quit, but each time I played was different and interesting enough to pull me back in. I think it's obvious why they make a lot of rogue-lites these days, people buy them. Just like there's a market for boyfriend visual novels, there's a market for these, the Switch sold a lot of systems, there's audiences for all kinds of things out there.

@RobHughes There is Dino and Dice... that enuf D&D for ya?!

Taken at face value this looks really unique and intriguing, I like the D&D-like aspect and the artstyle. Definitely another one to add to my 'to play' list.

Anyone on the fence about this. I love Roguelites/likes, my switch is full of them. Ive played crap ones and I’ve played some excellent ones. This is leaning more to the excellent side.
Very original concept, gorgeous art style (reminds me of where’s Wally books), a lot of strategy (a lot of pre-planning with every move you take, combat, choices) and the difficulty is just right (some reviews have said it’s too difficult). There are risks around every action you take but you will be rewarded. The characters are interesting and it’s great to see a different bunch of heroes compared to the usual knight/Ranger/wizard affair.
The combat system did feel a little obtuse upon first playing it but once I understood the dice and how to get more dice, the combat system is actually pretty cool and it’s essential that pick your comrades well in order to get the most out of combat situations as well as random encounters etc.
I really enjoy the exploring side of things. It seems a little unfair at first but you’ll soon get the grips with managing your sanity (basically energy) and travelling will get easier with perks reducing your travel costs, increasing inventory space etc.
You can have dinosaurs as allies. Oh and you can mount them as well.
The only gripe I’ve had so far is that random perk events can be pretty unfair and can mess up your whole exploration party but I’ve learnt to deal with that situation if it comes to it now.
It’s such a chill game as well. And I’m hoping the content holds up as I go deeper into the game.