Ambitious open-world RPG roguelite Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy is showing a whole new side of itself in its latest content update, which is going live today. The indie game, currently available in Early Access on the Epic Games Store, opens up a lot of rifts in the aptly named “Arcane Rifts” update.
Game Director Joris Dormans explains: “Last time we empowered the player, this time around it’s the world that gets stronger, with more tools to fight back. Well, not the world, the Imperials to be precise, who are connected to the Void. Now players need to fight the manifestations of said Void and can even enter a new realm, the Edge.”
The worlds in Unexplored 2 are fully procedurally generated, including the quests, villages and many more underlying aspects. Dormans: “This update also makes elevated parts of the levels accessible by introducing staircases and ramps. These add to the natural feel of the levels and makes traversing them smoother and more dramatic.”
Summary of Update #3 content:
Additional villages/building styles (shabby, loam, stone, wood, with variations to create fortresses or remote outposts)
Improves climbing mechanics by introducing ramps and reworking climbing spots, creating a huge boost in gameplay for hills, caves, mountains and other elevated terrain
Arcane rifts: using the Staff can cause Imperial retribution in the form of temporal or semi-permanent arcane rifts through which spells can be cast and enemies can be sent.
New environment: The Edge, the arcane path that the Empire uses to send forces and spells across the world. Can be travelled by the Wayfarer as well
Expanded roster for Imperial minions: slayer teams, remnant Qs, remnant mines, remnant jectors, remnant tris, rift shards, cube abstracts have been added.
More puzzle elements: wall sconces, braziers, moonlight, and hidden objects, hidden scripts, and hidden incantations expands the option to generate puzzles.
Monster lairs, and enemy groups such as bandits, kobolds and wild grus have their own development trajectory over runs (they can grow more dangerous over time, can be befriended, etc.).
Monsters and enemies can leave tracks or other hints leading the Wayfarer to their lair.
Imperial forces can infiltrate groups like bandits and kobolds to direct their actions and create strife.
Improves a number of basic quests (deal with bandits, kobolds, track imperials, and so on)
Strife encounters can be dealt with.
Extra sources of magic can be found when the wayfarer looks for them: camp fires, smoking vents, rabarbam blooms, sunlight, moonlight, flame shards, obelisks, and a number of sprites hiding in a level.
Vastly improves a common adventure site (the cliff top ruin) to include multiple paths through the level and extra variations for the level’s secrets as a good use-case and template for future adventure site improvements.
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
Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer's Legacy is available now as an Early Access title on the Epic Games Store. Xbox versions are also confirmed, and will launch in 2022.
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