Renowned Explorers: International Society is such a great game that we decided to write about it twice. It’s a roguelike that turns the genre on it’s head a little bit. Rather than using permadeath and random generation as a tool to beat the player into submission, it instead uses them as tools to craft an engaging.
From our last article:
“The conceit of the game is that you’re an explorer searching for valuable, ancient treasures. You’re not just playing for high scores though. You’re in a race with nine other explorers to see who can earn the most money. But it doesn’t end there like Curious Expedition does. Your biggest rival is a character named Rivaleux, a smug asshole who insults you at every turn, steals your first treasure in the game, and even sends his goons to fight you early on. You encounter him again at points throughout the story, and you decide how you get to deal with him and his team.
This creates incentive to not only beat the game and stay alive, but to do the best you can to beat Rivaleux. You have to balance being conservative enough to stay alive with taking enough risks with collecting the best and the most treasure. That is why Renowned Explorers caught my eye, this isn’t a game about just surviving permadeath for the sake of it, its about exploring the world and beating your opponents. Permadeath here acts as more of a garnish than the main course, and it’s for the best.
That’s not to say Renowned Explorers is a perfect game. But if you want to hear more about it, you’ll have to watch the video above, and subscribe to From Indie With Love’s YouTube channel for more just like it.”
