As a general rule sequels tend to be recognizable. If you played the first game then you’ll have a decent idea of what the second will look like, and maybe the third, fourth and fifth too. And then there’s Unexplored, which combined a lovely deep action-roguelike dungeon-crawling adventure with an art style that could best be described as “functional.” Unexplored earned its fan-base with excellent dungeon design despite the randomized nature, plus multiple free DLCs and other new content, but for the sequel there was a significant need for a full graphical upgrade. Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy launched today on the Epic Game Store, and while it brings with it a huge number of new systems that expand its prequel far beyond any reasonable expectation, the first and most lasting impression is how everything looks like it was rendered with a fine-line Moebius-inspired art style.
Once past all the detail and color, though, Unexplored 2 (disappointingly not subtitled Unexplore Harder) promises to be both similar to and different from the original game. The randomized dungeons of the first have been replaced with a randomized world, including quests and challenges, but now with more options to approach the encounters. The object is to destroy a staff given at the start of the game, and if you die in the final area it’s complete and utter failure including a world save-wipe. Up to that point any number of options are open, including seeking out quests, talking or fighting past dangerous encounters, and trying to get strong and knowledgeable enough to survive the worst the game has to offer. The subtitle Wayfarer’s Legacy refers to the player being the Wayfarer, and up to that final area death means starting a new Wayfarer who can take advantage or deal with the consequences of the actions of the previous run. Breaking that staff is going to be a major quest, and if it takes endless years of in-game time due to uncountable dead Wayfarers, then that’s a price Unexplored 2 is willing to pay.
Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy has a good number of plans for updates on the way to completion, but there’s still plenty of content to play with in the launch version. The Early Access release trailer below has the details, so give it a watch to prepare for a weird new fantasy adventure that looks like nothing else out there.
