Expeditions: Conquistador - Review @ PopMatters

PopMatters brings us a review of Expeditions: Conquistador, rating it with an 8.

The complicated and delicate premise of the game deserves its own treatment, but for what it’s worth, the press preview that this review is based on approaches the content in an intelligent and interesting way. Expeditions Conquistador doesn’t romanticize its source material, but it also seems to deliberately make light of it at times. There’s sometimes a low tolerance for ambiguity when it comes to how art approaches social justice, but the caveat is that Imperialism is not a respectful process. The developers appear to know that. It should be said that, according to the Kickstarter page, the finished game will include a campaign from the perspective of an Aztec war band. There was also a stretch goal that would have included a campaign set in the Inca empire that was not reached, though hopefully plans for it have not been totally abandoned. The game boldly walks a thin line, but until a finished product can be evaluated, it can’t be said whether it succeeds or not with regards to its racial dynamics.

Thanks Darklord.
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Am I the only one who really couldn't give a shit about the racial dynamics?

If I can cope with the ingrained lack of gender sensitivity for the massive cleavages in pointlessly skimpy chain mail bras on every female character in every game that bothers with any semblance of graphics I can manage a bit of cultural insensitivity over the conquista.

+1 . . .

I don't give a shit in the sense of "should this be allowed" or "should I write angry rants about racism now", but I do nonetheless find it can be an interesting topic to discuss. Why should we not discuss what messages games send on social or historic issues, or how they allow us to express our own worldviews or, more interestingly, experiment with them? That's exactly one of the interesting qualities of games.
I just find it idiotic that the fact that it is a game is used in the article as an argument that maybe it's the wrong medium for the subject matter. That doesn't make sense to me.

A great explained review by Mark Filipowich. I am very tempted to give it a try after reading this. The balance difficulty and resource management elements are non-casual immersive essentials for me.

how can it be a review with a score if the game isn't out yet? shouldn't it be a preview? (without score)?

Happens all the time. Prior to a game release press versions are shipped.

Well, to be fair he actually mentions this isn't the full game, and the score is based on the press released preview, not the entire game. However, ten hours spent should be enough to get a qualified opinion.

I think this is a really well written re(pre)view.