THQ Nordic and developer Campfire Cabal have officially announced Expeditions: Samurai, the next entry in the critically acclaimed historical party-based RPG franchise.
Having previously explored the New World, the Viking Age, and the Roman Republic, the series is now heading to PC via Steam Early Access, with a launch window slated for this summer.
This time, the franchise transports players to Japan in the year 1600, during the volatile final stretch of the Sengoku period. As warlords clash for ultimate control and alliances fracture, players will navigate the treacherous road toward the shogunate.
True to the Expeditions legacy, real-world events and historical figures serve as a canvas for players to reshape the timeline through diplomacy, faction politics, and critical narrative choices.
A New Navigator Alters History
The game’s premise kicks off with a clever twist on the history of William Adams, the English navigator who famously reached Japan in 1600 and became the first European samurai. In Expeditions: Samurai, Adams never leaves England. Instead, the player gets there first.
Arriving aboard the battered Dutch frigate De Albatros as the newly elected leader of a crew of privateers, you and your crew are quickly dragged into the depths of Japan’s civil war.
Modernizing Tactical Combat and Stealth
Campfire Cabal describes Samurai as an expansive historical RPG featuring branching narratives, a deep cast of companions, and a revamped turn-based combat system engineered to feel faster and more fluid than genre standards.
Key Gameplay Overhauls:
- Simultaneous Turns: While combat still relies on tactics battle system, class roles, and loadouts, character movements, attacks, and interruptions can now play out simultaneously. This promises a much brisker pace than the traditional squad encounters seen in Expeditions: Rome.
- Real-Time Stealth: In a major franchise first, players can split their party in real time before combat begins. You can scout ahead, utilize gadgets, set up ambushes, and dictate exactly when and how the first blow is struck. Stealth is designed as a legitimate, fully realized playstyle rather than just a pre-combat bonus action.
Deeper Companion Dynamics and Co-Op Play
Character investment is getting a massive upgrade. Expeditions: Samurai features eight distinct crewmates, each with their own personal storylines. Depending on your dialogue choices and systemic decisions, relationships can evolve into deep friendships, bitter rivalries, or romances—pushing the game closer to the character-driven depth of modern narrative CRPGs.
Additionally, the franchise is introducing drop-in/drop-out co-op.
- Solo Play: Experience the story as Captain Flynn.
- Co-op Play: A second player can join to control a pair of twins.
Co-op is fully integrated into the game’s core systems, influencing dialogue choices, companion relationships, and tactical stealth. One player can create a distraction in real time while the other slips into position for a coordinated ambush, adding a chaotic new layer of choice and consequence to the experience.
Evolution of the Franchise
Expeditions: Samurai retains the core identity of its predecessors while reframing its scope:
| Game | Core Focus & Mechanics |
| Conquistador | Exploration and survival in the New World. |
| Viking | Clan leadership, reputation, and raiding/trading. |
| Rome | Large-scale legion campaigns and heavy political intrigue. |
| Samurai | Intimate character drama, real-time stealth, and mechanical flexibility. |
Early Access Roadmap
The upcoming Steam Early Access launch is built to offer a substantial slice of the game, featuring core combat, exploration, stealth, world map travel, several hours of quests, and full voice-acting.
Looking Ahead: Throughout the Early Access period, Campfire Cabal plans to introduce more quests, weapons, crafting systems, and expanded character customization. The full 1.0 release is also slated to include a village management layer, giving players rulership over a local Japanese settlement.
If Campfire Cabal can successfully weave simultaneous turns, real-time stealth, and co-op into the franchise’s established historical framework, Samurai could easily become the most flexible and ambitious entry in the series to date. Below the announcement trailer.
