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Expedition Agartha devs on creating a fantasy-fiction survival looter

We spoke with Matrioshka Games founder and lead producer Hunter Wu about Expedition Agartha's melee, survival, and looting elements.

TJ Denzer

October 4, 2022 4:25 PM

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There have been a lot of survival looters over the years, such as Escape From Tarkov, Rust, and Scum to name a few, but we haven't really seen anyone take the genre to a medieval fantasy-fiction world. That’s where Expedition Agartha comes in. It’s a PvPvE first-person medieval looter survival game where your skill and reflexes on a blade are what will guide you out of danger with the prizes you seek. We recently spoke to Hunter Wu, founder and lead producer of developer Matrioshka Games to talk about how this game takes the genre and tries a few new things as it runs its early access cycle.

One of the more interesting elements of Expedition Agartha is… the namesake itself, expeditions! For each session of the game’s core gameplay mode, up to 12 players are dropped into a server and they must kill, loot, survive, and escape before the session ends. Getting killed means you lose everything you collected along the way. Getting out alive means keeping what you collected, bringing it back to your stash, and being better prepared for the next trek.

Combat in Expedition Agartha is also melee-heavy and the game features a multitude of combat options. You’ll have to parry your enemy’s blows, outmaneuver them, and time your own strikes carefully if you want to draw their blood and win the duel. Of course, being out in the open in a duel while other players are lurking is also asking to be slain by an opportunistic foe. You also might find yourself at crossroads with an opponent where you might not actually want to fight, lest you get picked off by scavengers. It’s best to stay on your toes whether fighting or exploring, but collecting potions and other beneficial supplies may just save your hide in a pinch.

You can find Expedition Agartha in early access on Steam now. Want more videos like this Expedition Agartha interview? Be sure to head over to our YouTube channels at Shacknews and GamerHubTV to see the latest videos of gameplay, interviews, unboxings, reviews, and more on the latest video games, technology, and toys.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.