Last week, we were privy to a preview for Expedition Agartha, a first-person looter/survival from developer Matrioshka Games. It’s a game that flows through the same structural veins as Sea of Thieves, minus the ship commanding and cool ocean animation. The idea is that you play as a looter and must survive different terrains, enemies, and other players to gather as much as you can and make it to a smokestack before you’re killed; well, at least one mode in the game. There’s a lot to process and the task that Matrioshka is undertaking is enormous, as survival games take time and years to perfect (see Sea of Thieves for details).
As of right now, the basic parts are in place for this survival looter.
Let’s get right into it.
Structurally correct
The basic structure of this game is on point right now with other looters of its type. By the end of its development, you will get PvP, PvE, and PvPvE. For those who don’t enjoy destroying the hard work of other players, having the option to play solely against enemies is always a plus. Personally, I don’t enjoy ruining another player’s day, but if SoT taught us anything about gamers these days, a lot of gamers find it funny to kill and steal. It is quite amusing if I’m not on the receiving end.
Anyway, the game starts you out on an island, kind of a resting spot of sorts for players to get used to controls and the purpose of the game. It also features a central point where you can purchase items, and quests, and launch into a PvPVE experience, which is all I could find on this first go-around with the game. The simplicity of the game is appreciated, as you don’t have to do too much to get going with it. You have a small inventory system to play around with, something akin to Resident Evil’s typical inventory structure where fitting goods in spaces in a Tetris-like fashion creates a new type of strategy in your quest to be the most dominant in the game. Everything is easy to control, as it has a Skyrim and Sea of Thieves control scheme for your memory to ease into. Everything else is just straightforward, which I truly appreciated about the experience. All the cards are laid out on the table and the game doesn’t really try to complicate the process of a looter structure. Again, that is appreciated because gamers will just want to get up and go.
As for the current options of this early game, you can either play as a looter who is free-looting or play as a mercenary. The difference is simple between the two, as free looters start out with random equipment and just simply loot what they can and escape before they die from enemies or players (or something that goes GRRRRR in the night). If you go the mercenary route, you can compete with loot from your stash and complete objectives. The former is just a gathering type of gaming structure, where you take as much as you can without getting killed and make it back to safety. The latter is a risky ordeal where you can go into it powerful as hell and ready to collect powerful items, but also risk losing everything if you die. If you played Sea of Thieves, then you get what you’re up against. Regardless of which path you choose, the two experiences are incredibly different and offer up two types of fun.
As for my experience during this alpha, I leaned more towards free-looting because I needed to build up my character’s stash to go take on quests. This brings up the question of balance. And so…
Balance is the key
One of the issues I ran into with Expedition Agartha is that I suck at the game. I admit it, at this point in the process, I stink at this game, and the morality I carry with me about murdering other gamers and stealing their loot is always at odds against other players’ rootin’/tootin’ sword swinging. Granted, once this game is complete and the PvE option arises, I will be fully taking advantage of that route. I can figure out patterns with enemies and not be fearful of getting stabbed in the back, though that is the charm of a game like this. It has to be.
Now, right at this moment, I think that I have died more by enemies than I have by other players. That’s saying a lot considering. The enemies do like to rush at you in the game and if you’re not fully equipped to take them out, then consider retreating until you are ready. Lead developer Hunter Wu explained to me that the enemies aren’t simpletons, and they will try to gang up on you and kill you. Taking them out is no small task. He was absolutely spot on, as I found myself hacking and slashing my way through multiple enemies and trying not to get overwhelmed multiple times. They’re definitely, as Wu put it, non-cheesable bots. The purpose of this game was to make it difficult for players, and the devs do their best through their enemies to make that dream come true. One of the greater mistakes that games like Sea of Thieves and Destiny and Destiny 2 have made in the past was making it easy for players to get through the missions leaving content-starved players wondering what is next. By upping the difficulty and creating a challenge for players, this is almost guaranteed not to fall into that gameplay trap. I can dig that completely.
Bots aside, the real challenge of any game like this is to create a balance with who gets paired with who in the game. While you can invite up to four players on your team to help you out, it’s vital that when you four get dropped on a PvPvE island that you’re not being dropped against other players who are already maxed out and looking to hunt down some younglings. There should be something that balances out how far you are in the game and what you can go up against, as both variables should be pretty close in similarity. As of this moment, I have been dropped on islands with players who are much more powerful than I am. While I will completely write this up as an alpha/early access issue, it’s incredibly important for new players to be thrown into competition with new players. Any good online PvP title will tell you that is essential when you’re getting started because you retain your audience better that way. I found myself in two situations where I was dropped on an island and met up with other players who had no intention in helping a newbie out. One team absolutely obliterated me. Another chased me until I found myself in a mix with many bots that obliterated me. I didn’t have much of a chance to gather equipment and use it before being put to the test/rest. That can’t happen when this launches and I’m sure it will be sorted out by then. I’m sure the devs know that balance is the key to growing a community, so I suspect it will be fine by launch. As it stands now, it’s a rush of an experience that hardcore gamers will appreciate in its early access form.
Other points of interest on this early access map
The other odds and ends of this game, outside of the constant need to always look over one’s shoulder, is what we experienced in the preview last week. First, there are multiple maps at launch and they appear to be huge. How you access the other maps is interesting, as you must gather resources, create a certain type of key, and unlock the next map. As you progress from island to caves to something more sinister which we didn’t get to experience too long, the gameplay will become more difficult and the rewards will become greater. For this, it’s a proper difficulty arc with good rewards to shoot for as you progress. I like that and I think it will make the missions with friends a lot sweeter and celebratory as you complete areas and gather loot. It will certainly make revisiting areas worth the trials and tribulations.
As for your party, you can party up with friends or you can party up with bots – it’s your choice. That is a wonderful option, especially if you don’t have a lot of friends who have invested in a PC. The only people I know in my life who have made the elitist jump are my kids. And trust me, they don’t want to play games with their father. It’s just not cool. *sad dad noises* Having the option to choose bots and get right into the scrum of things is something I’m looking forward to in the game. Eventually, some of my friends will go the PC route, but until then I’m fine with AI-led fighters. What could go wrong?
One of the random questions I asked Wu during our session together was about weapon and armor degradation as the game moved on. As we have all learned from Breath of the Wild, it sucks seeing weapons eventually become useless. Expedition Agartha seems like the type of game that would go down that route, but thankfully it does not. While weapons/armor can lose some of their charm as you use them, they can be repaired and back to new. They will never get destroyed…thank GOD. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some realism in the game, I just don’t enjoy that realism in the game. No one needs to worry about that aspect of fighting. That’s just too much to think about and it takes the player completely out of an engaged gaming state.
Speaking of what’s around the corner, the free-looting portion of the game gives you a task to collect as much as you can and then get out of there in a particular area of the island you start on. Outside of zombies and other players, if you drag your feet or push the envelope to get mounds of loot, you’re bound to get bit and lose everything. To give you extra incentive, the developers have a sunrise/sunset aspect of gameplay where worse things come out and play/hunt you when the sun goes down. Not only this, the game leaves you only with your lamp and ears as guides. The island is creepy as hell in complete darkness. Having to decide whether that is worth it or not is up to you, although Wu said the rewards were nicer, for me, the strategy of collecting some and then jetting is the best way to go. Slow and steady wins the race, right?
Wrapping the preview
The preview we saw showed us other maps and some frightening creatures that are ready to make you have a bad day, but we’ll save that content judgment for the review sometime in the near future. Right now, Expedition Agartha is a fun, hardcore looter that is good in its current state and has the groundwork laid down to be even better. You should check it out when it hits early access.
Until then, we’ll certainly keep you posted with future content.
