Curious Expedition 2

Curious Expedition 2 is a turn-based exploration roguelike about journeys to mysterious islands. In 1889, Parisian explorers' clubs fund risky ventures to bring rare finds to the World's Fair.

The game world combines alternate history with fantastical encounters. Each expedition confronts the group with new landscapes, events, dangers and decisions. If a journey fails, the next one begins under changed conditions.

Curious Expedition 2 was released for PC on Jan 28, 2021. Early access had already started on Jun 17, 2020. The Nintendo Switch version followed on Aug 11, 2021, and the native versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on Mar 17, 2022.

Curious Expedition 2 has been released for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game has standalone versions for these four platforms. On PS5, the PS4 version is playable via backward compatibility, not as a separate native PS5 release. The same applies to the Xbox One version on Xbox Series X|S.

The console versions carry on the turn-based exploration, the campaign and the special expedition rules.

Each journey leads a group through a partly unknown island. You choose routes, explore places, plan supplies and decide whether a detour is worth it for rare finds. The environment changes from run to run, so safe routes and worthwhile risks have to be reassessed each time.

Exploration, events and combat alternate in turn-based rounds. A successful expedition depends not only on weapons, but just as much on supplies, companions and decisions made along the way.

Highlands of Avalon released on Nov 16, 2021 and adds highland islands, Picts, kobolds, and new characters, enemies and items. Shores of Taishi followed on May 19, 2022 with the Celestial Shores island type and further encounters. Robots of Lux released on Sep 15, 2022 and combines the world of Curious Expedition with robots from SteamWorld Heist.

The expansions add to what expeditions can do. They must be told apart from the base game and from bundle offers with several contents.

The PC minimum requirements call for a 64-bit processor with 2 GHz, 4 GB RAM, a DirectX 10 compatible graphics card and 3 GB of free storage. The original listing included Windows 7; the Steam client itself has only supported Windows 10 or newer since January 2024.

The Steam page does not list any further specific recommendations for processor or graphics performance.

The campaign is set in 1889. Expeditions are to explore mysterious islands and secure important finds for the Paris World's Fair. Between journeys a larger context emerges, while individual expeditions develop their own stories and surprises.

Hand-written events and randomly combined situations ensure that repeated runs differ despite the shared framework.

The mental state of the travelling group is a key resource. Long marches, poor decisions and unfavorable encounters can push the expedition into crisis. Food, useful equipment and well-considered routes help keep the group capable of acting.

The search for extra treasures is only worth it as long as you can secure the way back and supplies. This very conflict between the urge to explore and survival shapes every island journey.

Companions are more than interchangeable stats in the inventory. They can build relationships, change their loyalty, develop illnesses and react differently to events. The group's makeup thus affects which decisions make sense in dangerous situations.

Additional equipment allows individual focuses, for example for exploration or dangerous fights.

Encounters with wild animals and other enemies are fought turn by turn. The battles use dice mechanics, where the group's makeup and the chosen abilities determine which tactical options are available.

Luck plays a role, but preparing an expedition, its equipment and handling risks remain important.

The mysterious islands consist of different landscapes, each offering different dangers and opportunities. You discover ruins, unusual life forms and places with special events. The changing layout keeps familiar biomes open in terms of gameplay.

Some journeys lead to legendary goals such as a Golden Pyramid, others revolve around rare plants or archaeological finds.

The Director Mode is an additional game variant with special rules and modifiers. It changes the conditions of individual expeditions and is suited to repeated runs beyond the main campaign.

The changing conditions shift the focus between exploration, preparation and surviving unforeseen events.

The explorer clubs are not just the backdrop of the story. The game also offers club competitions in which players take on their own expeditions under set conditions and compare results. This adds an asynchronous online component to the exploration, which is otherwise designed for single player.

Expedition members can be prepared for different tasks with items and equipment. A well-matched group can survive dangers more easily or make better use of certain opportunities on an island.

Equipment choice is part of long-term planning: an item that makes battles easier can take up valuable space for supplies elsewhere.

Curious Expedition 2 offers German on-screen text. On Steam, alongside German, English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and simplified and traditional Chinese are listed. Full voice acting is not listed there.

The expeditions are designed in the style of classic Franco-Belgian comics. Hand-drawn-looking characters and landscapes are combined with a changing island structure. On suitable systems the game supports display up to native 4K resolution.