Expeditions: Conquistador Review (DarthZombie)
For a more detailed video review, check this link https://youtu.be/KmErrvi50PY
A very charming RPG, overall. It may not be the best in plenty of its aspects, but the package itself is worth the time invested.
The RPG part of Conquistador is strong, definitely worth a shot if you're a fan of the genre. It puts you in the shoes of an alternative-history version of Hernan Cortes and gives you lots of room to bend history as you please. The writing is decently good, has quite a few interesting characters and situations, it treat the history with respect and limits its use as a descriptor to enhance your role-playing experience. Considering how touchy the subject is, the dev's approach is commendable.
Combat is... meh. It's a shallow copy of Firaxis' Xcom, but with less interesting abilities and less customizability of your soldiers during their promotions. The good part is that you can still proceed with quests even when you lose fights, thus the frustrations don't turn into rage fits. Role-playing is the bread and butter of Conquistador, so at least in this sense the gameplay is consistent.
It also includes a resource gathering mechanic on the campaign map. It's fairly well done, and you get enough opportunities to spend the collected resources in useful ways. Exploration is rewarding also in the sense of discovering new locations and events. It's not super consistent in how rewarding it is, but I didn't feel like it's wasting my time.