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Archaeological Expedition (AE) is a cozy archaeology dig-sim across ten historical eras, made by AKKA Game Studios. Excavate at real-world historical sites, choose Tools that trade preservation against speed, and build a Journal you grow across sessions.

The Steam release ships in 2026. A demo will go public during Steam Next Fest (15–22 June 2026).

About the game

Dossier
Genre	Cozy dig-sim
Platforms	Windows · Linux
Engine	Godot 4.6
Players	Single player
Demo	Coming early June 2026 (Steam Next Fest, 15–22 June)
Release	2026
Languages	2 (EN · UK)
Origin	Archaeological Emergency — Brackeys Game Jam 2024.2
Steam app ID	3910670 (full)
	4536010 (demo)

Excavate artifacts at real-world historical sites — from Egyptian tomb chambers to Roman ruins, Greek temples, and Bronze Age burial mounds.

Choose your tool carefully. A brush takes its time but preserves what it finds; a pickaxe is fast and brutal. Tool choice is the strategy — pick wrong on a fragile rare and you'll smash the discovery you came for.

Every find populates a journal you grow across sessions. Catalog the perfect specimens, mourn the chipped ones, return to a site you missed something at. Spend coin between digs on better tools, gentler ones, faster ones. Hit a storm warning and decide whether to push for one last find or pack up the kit and call it a day.

Game systems

• Tools — Brush, Pickaxe, Shovel, Bulldozer key. Each trades preservation against speed across ground, stone, and bone. Tiers: Bronze · Silver · Gold (Amethyst reserved for a future update).
• Eras — Ten historical eras in the base game (Bronze Age, Buddhist, Egyptian, Greek, Hindu, Islamic, Medieval, Persian, Prehistoric, Roman). DLC adds four more (Early Medieval, Harappan, Phoenician, Vikings).
• Locations — Real-world dig sites: Acropolis, Alexandria, Bagan, Bukhara, Carthage, Cordoba, Jericho, Jerusalem, Lothal, Naples, Petra, Pompeii, Saalburg, Tarsus, Troy, Valley of the Kings, Varanasi, York. Plus the Tutorial site.
• Artifacts — 160 base-game artifacts across 10 eras (350 in total including DLC content).
• Achievements — Across categories: collection, money, mastery, location, tool, stat, event.
• Storm warning — Each dig has a clock. The storm warning music drops a half-step in pitch. Push for one last find, or pack up.
• Journal — Every dig adds to a growing catalog. Condition matters — perfect, weathered, chipped, destroyed.

Field Notes (key features)

1. Real history, not fantasy — artifacts draw from actual finds: Venus figurines, terracotta bull-on-wheels, Çatalhöyük seated woman, Harappan seal stones.
2. Tool choice is the strategy — pick wrong on a rare and you'll smash what you came for.
3. A journal that remembers — perfect / weathered / chipped / destroyed condition tracked per find.
4. Storms, time pressure, real consequence — push for one last find, or pack up the kit.
5. Cozy on the surface, deep underneath — calm loop with real economy of tool tiers, era unlocks, condition milestones.
6. Honest about where it came from — AE began as a two-person Brackeys Game Jam 2024.2 entry.

Studio

• About AKKA — A passionate group of Ukrainian friends making games.
• Studio site: akkadev.games
• Steam publisher page: AKKA on Steam

External links

• Steam — Archaeological Expedition
• Steam — Demo
• AE on akkadev.games
• Original Brackeys 2024.2 jam version
• YouTube — @akkagamestudios