News

23 December, in the year of our Lord 2021 – Amsterdam based developer Ludomotion today announces the release of the 5th major update for its Early Access roguelite RPG, Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy. And it’s a particular impactful one, overhauling two of the core gameplay elements of the game: exploration and travel.

The update will be released for Early Access players on Epic Games Store tomorrow, 24 December.

One of the main attractions of the ambitious, fully generative Unexplored 2 is traveling its procedural worlds and exploring its secrets. Players typically spend a lot of time on the world map, strategizing over where to go and how to get there – in one piece.

To make travelling the world a more pleasant, cohesive and transparent experience, the team behind the game revamped the world map and other travel mechanics. In the words of Game Director, Joris Dormans:

“There are many systems at play simultaneously and there is much information for the player to parse. We decided we needed a better way of communicating all this. That’s where the new map features come into play. They inform the player much, much better, allowing them to explore and interact with the game at a more strategic level. You finally know what's going on and what it is you're doing!”

Another aspect is the living world and what happens between the different clans and imperials. Dormans: “The world reacts to the player and the new map system better reflects that. Especially in between runs, when the world progresses for a few years without a new Wayfarer, without the player. A time lapse shows the player the consequences of their actions, but also the ongoing battles between clans and the advances the Empire achieves on the world stage.”

Camping & community feedback
Another very impactful overhaul is that of the camping menu. Again, the developer has streamlined this experience a lot, making it more helpful for the player. Dormans:

“We also upgraded the graphics of the camping site quite a lot, including newly designed icons, which is also the case for the world map. Camping is such an important part of your journey through your world and I’m glad we managed it to make it more immersive and fun to interact with. Many changes in the new camping menu are directly inspired by feedback from our community on discord. We're really glad we could incorporate many of their suggestions to make the whole experience as smooth and consistent as possible.”

Patch notes

Brand-new camping UI which makes it easier to perform camping actions and keep an overview of your gear and perishables.
The camping UI is accessed when resting at inns and farms, so you will have most camping options available at those locations, too.
Camping mechanics are streamlined for a smoother experience.
A risk indicator visible during camping should make it easier to understand when to expect enemies to appear at your camp.
The map UI has a new set of icons to indicate locations, factions, and activities.
The travel effects have a new set of icons so that they communicate more clearly what to expect during a journey.
Travel gear and relevant skills are visible during travel and communicate their current state so it is easier to understand what is going on.
Travel mechanics have been streamlined for a smoother experience.
The time lapse between runs makes use of the new faction ‘meeples’ to indicate what happens between runs.
Presence now directly affects the risk of an encounter while camping.
Presence is location-bound: if you start a journey your presence is set to 0.
While casting magic, rifts appear much less frequently. And when they do they are less dangerous.
Being wounded causes loss of hope when you become fatigued, not automatically every day.
When repairing travel gear you repair all uses at once.
The ‘worn’ and ‘well-worn’ status have been added to reflect frequent use of travel gear.
The mechanics for Mercy Tombs have been streamlined.
The mechanics for discovering iron, copper, silver, and magentol haven been streamlined.
Improving the way standing stones work.
New item: pick axe.
Firewood stacks, and is really required to make a fire and keep it burning in environments without wood.
The HP gains for foods have been rebalanced.
Streamlining Oddreek mechanics; oddreek fruits can be harvested and eaten later.
Improving most basic destination templates.
Improving many adventure site templates (Mercy tombs, castles, …).
Adding new basic encounters: rat infestation, boar seekers, kobold marauders
Improving the connectivity of mountain passes.
Fixes several text issues.

About the game

One quest. Unlimited adventure. Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer's Legacy is a challenging roguelite RPG with a table-top feel, procedural node-based open world, and a cool twist on permadeath. Leave the Dungeon of Doom behind and venture into a vast, wondrous world as you embark on a heroic quest to destroy the mysterious Staff of Yendor.

Explore beautiful landscapes and discover hidden marvels. Encounter magical creatures and dangerous foes. Make brave choices and put your faith in good fortune. Featuring a unique legacy system, advanced procedural generation technology, and rich, generative storytelling, Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer's Legacy is an adventure like no other.

Key features

Legacy system: the actions of past heroes impact the fortunes of those that follow in their footsteps. Use your legacy wisely to give successive adventurers greater hopes of completing their quest
Permadeath in a persistent world: when a hero dies, they stay dead. But you can choose to return to the same world with a new adventurer, forearmed with knowledge of what lies ahead. Or, if you prefer, begin a new adventure in a completely uncharted world
Generative storytelling: there is no premeditated script in Unexplored 2. Every adventurer's ultimate goal may be the same – to destroy the Staff of Yendor – but every hero will have their own unique story of the events and encounters that happened along the way
Procedural generation: Ludomotion's proprietary technology generates content that feels designed by humans, not algorithms, and can create a near infinite number of new lands, new places, new stories, and new challenges to discover
Orchestral adaptive soundtrack: an intricate system allows Unexplored 2's music to be arranged reactively, making subtle changes to the score at appropriate times, whether a moment of high emotion, or to provide foreshadowing.

No word on a physical copy version of this game on this system(s) in the US at this time. Families are required to pay for Internet usage fees to download this game. For more information click here.

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