Pirate life best life
Ron, boats and swords; vast world, enemies to baskets and exploration without brake. Renowned Explorers brings all these attributes together and takes
them to their terrain in a proposal that is as fresh as it is attractive . In addition, it introduces a complex game system full of options that the player must master with mastery so as not to end up in the cemetery or in the jaws of a hungry forest wolf.
“We are a group of hardworking mo
nks who make video games .” This is how the study behind Renowned Explorers is defined on your website. We do not believe that they work dressed in religious habit, we are not even convinced that morning prayers are part of their m
odus vivendi. The only certain thing is that this developer located in Utrecht responds to the name of Abbey Games and has a most peculiar logo: a window in t
he light of the moon shapes the image of a priest with his eyes fixed on the screen of a computer . His left hand rests on the keyboard, while the right hand is next to the mouse.
Whether pious devotees or not, Abbey Games does not dedicate itself to writing sermons or exposing them on the altar of a church, although some of its characters show enough verbiage to convince the most unbelieving of mortals. The studio works in vide
ogames that have nothing to do with the Vatican, Jesus Christ, San Pedro, Rouco Varela or the wasteful potatoes of the Renaissance. His previous project , Reus , is a very original production where the player manages a gian
t with powers of God. Thanks to his skills he is able to build mountains, oceans and forests. In this world of fascinating ingenuity, it is not enough for t
he colossus to mold to their liking, but it must take care of living beings and prevent people and animals from suffering more inclement than necessary.
A roguelike with strategic combats
Two long winters have passed since the release of Renowned Explorers on PC. The title signed by Abbey Games was marketed during the last quarter of 2015 without making too much noise, like so many other indies. Now, an expansion has just
been published that adds new elements, stories and expeditions. Those who set aside the game at the time have new incentives to return to it; those who did not try it, can take advantage to get the full experience.
Framing a video game within a specific genre is not always a simple task. Renowned Explorers essentially meets the requirements to enter the roguelike game category , since the procedural and difficulty element is well present. Now, works of this kind branch into totally different products. For example, there are first-person shooters and skill games that at first glance have nothing to do, but that contain certain common characteristics.
The latest production of the Dutch study is a tactical exploration adventure with RPG touches . As in almost all rolero titles, the combat is placed in the foreground and serves as a link to connect the set of mechanics. At first, the player may feel somew
hat intimidated. The first minutes of the keyboard are pure and hard learning . For this, Abbey Games has made a series of tutorials wi
th the aim of teaching the ins and outs of the gameplay. The problem is that they are not integrated into the adventure and they become too heavy. Surely it would have been better for the user to learn little by little while playing.
In Renowned Explorers we take control of a group of adventurers. The action takes place during the 19th century , a time of many chan
ges where piracy was still a reality, although the script does not follow any kind of real event. In fact, the supernatural tinge impregnates the narrative , and the humor and carefree aesthetics make it clear that the chosen historical framework is the mold to give free rein to the imagination.
The argument is inconsequential despite the huge amount of texts that walk around the screen. What moves the characters is the ambition to t
riumph over the rest of the explorers, with the desire to treasure wealth, fame and knowledge. The script flows through the written word through the pen of a narrator who tells the story in the third person. The dialogues follow one another in italics, w
hile the decisions appear here and there, as we will explain throughout the critique. The biggest “but” is that neither what the characters say nor what is told is excessively captivating. Without qualifying it as boring, the adjective that defines the narrative is that of “anodyne”. Without charis
ma, without soul, without life.It has that touch of game role of table: “The personage finds a hidden cave. Do you want to explore it? “; “The villagers offer their hospitality without asking for anything in return”; “Some bandits cross your path and threaten you with their swords.” All these examples are invented, but they reflect the kind of situations we can find in the game.
