Transformers: Earthspark - Expedition First Look

Transformers: Earthspark – Expedition is a new game coming from Tessera Studios that is based on the Paramount+ TV Series. It will be a third-person action-adventure game that puts you in the role of Bumblebee and challenges you to stop Madroid from unearthing ancient technology from three different regions where the Transformers first landed on the Earth. Tessera Studios brought a playable demo of the game to San Diego Comic-Con 2023 and I had the chance to have a chat with the devs and also to give the game a try myself.

The game is aimed at a younger audience – gamers aged six to nine primarily. It’s an open world game, but designed not to be overwhelming to those younger gamers. There’s a feeling of having the freedom to explore an entire world, but things are bounded and channeled enough to keep kids from getting lost and frustrated. There is a story to follow, the whole stopping Madroid thing, but players are left free to explore it at their own pace. There’s a lot to explore off the beaten path and collectibles to find, and the game will let you get back to the story whenever you’re ready for it.

Transformers: Earthspark lets you transform at the press of a button, and since you play as Bumblebee you’ll go from robot to car and back again. You can transform at any time and in any place, but there are some areas where one form will be better than the other – you’ll want to work your way through a platforming section with legs and compete in races as a car – but there are plenty of areas that are designed to work with both forms. And while you explore, you’ll find things in the environment such as ramps that are geared to one of your forms.

Battles include a mix of basic attacks and combos, but in keeping with the younger target audience the controls are kept straightforward and simple. You’ll see Bumblebee execute some pretty cool attacks, but they won’t require memorizing complex button-press sequences. As you make your way through the game you’ll find the enemies getting a little tougher, but you’ll also be able to customize Bumblebee’s skills and unlock new attacks. It’s all designed to keep the game dynamic and fresh as you make your way through it, while still keeping things balanced so that the difficulty doesn’t ramp-up so much that it doesn’t begin to frustrate the younger gamers it’s targeted towards.

From my time with the game I could see that the difficulty was definitely tweaked for the younger set. However, that doesn’t mean that the game is boring for older gamers. I found it fun to pummel enemies as a robot and then transform into a car and play with hitting the jumps in the terrain. The game was easy for this adult gamer, but certainly not boring easy. I think that both I and the target demographic for the game would have fun exploring Transformers: Earthspark – Expedition’s world and earning that Platinum Trophy or 1,000 Gamer Points. Look for Transformers: Earthspark – Expedition this October on PC and consoles.