Unexplored

Unexplored 2 has potential, but right now the adventure's unreliable and storytelling's seriously flawed.

Unexplored is almost certainly going to be one of my favourite games of the year.

While its overly simplistic art style isn't going to linger long in the memory, Unexplored's unusual approach to balancing combat and map generation certainly will. There's very little story here to be had, but like any great dungeon crawler, the real adventure is the one you write yourself. With plenty of scope for weaponsmithing and all plenty of permanent perks to unlock to help negate the sting of its permadeath, Unexplored: Unlocked Edition offers danger and delight in equal measure.

It was kind of fun to play, but after the amount of times I died, it slowly became repetitive and unfortunately, it didn’t win over my heart.

With gameplay best suited for a mouse and keyboard, a frankly unflattering aesthetic, and truly dreadful presentation, Unexplored: Unlocked Edition comes off mostly unengaging. To put it bluntly, the core gameplay loop simply isn't strong enough to carry a procedurally generated adventure. On top of that, the procedural generation, while fairly extensive and capable of leading to genuinely unique sessions with each playthrough, isn't enough to make up for how lacklustre Unexplored feels overall.

Unexplored takes the ‘Rogue’ genre and just about utilises it, the game has a dynamic level generation. One that doesn’t really do it any justice as at times the game feels unfair to the player. The experience feels unfinished, poorly implemented with a truckload of bugs. I really wanted to enjoy Unexplored as at its core it’s not a bad game. It just needs a bit of TLC to get it playable.

Unexplored: Unlocked Edition is a pretty fun game. It's a unique twist on a dungeon exploration game. However, there's a lot to learn and the controls aren't always easy making the gameplay frustrating at times.

Unexplored truly is challenging to play and to like. For everything it does well, there’s something which gets in the way of it being truly great. However, for those who liked last year’s PC version, the Switch port is the complete bundle featuring the Mithril Run, Ripley Run and The Dark Ritual expansion – if you can get over the technical issues, that is.

As solid as Unexplored is in its core concept, the performance issues do represent a bit of an issue. Still, it's certainly very much worth your time if you like a good bit of exploration, and especially so if you haven't played a lot of roguelites.

Unexplorer: Unlocked Edition is a roguelike that intends to bring elements found in epic adventrure and RPG games while being light on plot and other devices in order to make its experience quick, simple and immediate. And it works, as the game features all the right elements commonly featured in other games of its kind and also brings additional content that was previously available on purchase. It also features a rather disappointing multiplayer component, as well as too long loading times and a sub-par sound environment, but the right elements are there.