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Broken Roads (video game)

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Broken Roads
Steam header art
Developer(s)Drop Bear Bytes
Publisher(s)Versus Evil
Platform(s)Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
ReleaseApril 10, 2024
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Broken Roads is a 2024 video game by independent developer Drop Bear Bytes and published by Versus Evil. Described as a post-apocalyptic computer role-playing game,[1] Broken Roads is set in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The game has been compared to non-traditional dialogue-based role-playing games, such as Disco Elysium, in featuring a mechanic described the 'Moral Compass', that responds to moral choices made by the player. The game was released on April 10, 2024, for Windows, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.[2][3]

Upon release, Broken Roads received mixed reviews from critics.

Gameplay

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Broken Roads is a role-playing game in which players accompany a party of up to five characters and participate in a "blend of turn-based tactical combat (and) traditional and original" role-playing mechanics.[1] The game features a 'Moral Compass' system in which player actions, including choices made in dialogue and quests, are represented on a map between four quadrants, 'utilitarian', 'humanist', 'machiavellian' and 'nihilist' positions. The player's position on the Moral Compass provides the player with traits affecting gameplay mechanics.[4] The player's companions and key characters feature their own compass, which affects their reaction to the player's statements and choices.[5]

Development

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Broken Roads was developed by Drop Bear Bytes, an independent Australian developer based in Torquay founded by director Craig Ritchie in 2019.[6] Development began in January 2019,[6] with a reveal trailer released to the public in October of that year.[7] Broken Roads received support from several Australian state government arts programs, including funding from the Victorian Government's Assigned Production Investment Games program in 2020 and 2021,[8] and from the Queensland Government's Digital Games Incentive in August 2022.[9] A demo of the game was released on Steam in June 2023.[5] In December 2023, Versus Evil, the project's publisher, became defunct.[10][11][12]

The Australian setting and identity became a major component of the design of Broken Roads over time. Originally conceived to take place within a generic setting, Ritchie found Australia's "conflicted culture", including its legacies of colonialism and genocide, provided an effective balance between "humor, fun and levity" with "serious, adult themes (and) tough questions".[13] During development, the scope of the game was narrowed from across the Australian continent to a setting in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.[13] The developers visited the region several times during pre-production to capture reference images to depict several of the area's landmarks and landscapes in-game.[14]

The development team engaged the input of Indigenous elders to capture the "respectful and authentic" representation of Indigenous Australians in the setting of the game.[14] In 2019, Drop Bear Bytes hired Yorta Yorta and Ngarrindjeri writer Cienan Muir as a 'narrative consultant' for the game. Cienan stated that his role was to provide a "critical eye" in and provide a chance to "get creative and let (his) own stories have some influence" in the game's narrative.[15] In 2022, Karla Hart was brought on board to write a significant portion of the game.[16] Australian stage and screen actor Uncle Jack Charles was originally cast as a narrator in the game, featuring in a release trailer,[17] but passed away in September 2022 before his participation in the game could be finalised.[14]

The game was strongly influenced by earlier non-traditional role-playing games with an emphasis on dialogue. Narrative lead Leanne Taylor-Giles stated that, like in Fallout, the game was designed to provide players with "all kinds of different ways to approach each problem", including pacifistic approaches with dialogue.[18] Drop Bear Bytes enlisted several industry veterans, including creative lead Colin McComb, who had worked on Fallout 2 and Planescape: Torment, cited by Ritchie as "big influences" on Broken Roads,[19] and Leanne Taylor-Giles, who had worked with McComb on Torment: Tides of Numenera.[20] Pre-release reception of Broken Roads identified similar comparisons, with IGN writing that the game "has the potential to be the next game in the Planescape: Torment lineage of deeply introspective, talky RPGs",[21] and PC Gamer describing the game as having the "potential to become the next Disco Elysium", citing its "philosophical" approach.[20]

Reception

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Broken Roads received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[22] Many critics commended the game's ambition, whilst noting that the execution of its gameplay mechanics fell short of the vision set out by the game's premise.[23][28]

Critics commended the game's plot and worldbuilding. Describing the game as a "sharply written, intellectual adventure", Rick Lane of PC Gamer stated that the game's settings had an "impressive amount of variety" that were "rich in visual detail and character" and featured "sharply observed characters".[28] Ruth Cassidy of Eurogamer found the game to feel "lonely and pointless", stating that "companions have nothing to say".[23] Nic Reuben of Rock Paper Shotgun considered the game to feature "good prose" and "creative details", commending the game as "brimming with character" and exploring "genuinely thoughtful themes" relating to Australia's history, colonialism, Indigenous and working class cultures.[3]

The execution of the game's moral compass received a mixed reception. Rick Lane of PC Gamer found the varied responses of characters and situations to the mechanic to be where the game was at its "most fun", but qualified that the premise could be "indulgent" and was "somewhat lost" amidst the other aspects of the game.[28] Nic Reuben of Rock Paper Shotgun critiqued the game's moral choice system and its reliance on philosophical labels, expressing it as a "dry" approach that contrasted with presenting dilemmas through "personal experience and imagination".[3]

Many critics also encountered bugs that considerably affected the gameplay. Ruth Cassidy of Eurogamer wrote that the game's quest progression bugs were "real issue" locking them from exploring the gameplay, also citing issues with dialogue and interacting with objects.[23] Describing the game as "broken", Rick Lane of PC Gamer encountered numerous issues with quests, collision issues making it "difficult and sometimes impossible to select targets".[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b Wales, Matt (24 August 2021). "Post-apocalyptic cRPG Broken Roads looks like an Australian Fallout". Eurogamer.
  2. ^ Romano, Sal (March 21, 2024). "Broken Roads for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, and PC launches April 10". Gematsu. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Reuben, Nic (10 April 2024). "Broken Roads review: this Fallout-style RPG is Vegemite and (some) magic". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  4. ^ Sharp, Jamie (17 November 2019). "Broken Roads's moral compass will make you panic about every decision". Rock Paper Shotgun.
  5. ^ a b Macgregor, Jody (11 June 2023). "You can play a demo of the 'Aussie Fallout' CRPG Broken Roads on Steam". PC Gamer.
  6. ^ a b "Developer Interview: Broken Roads". Press Play News. 27 January 2023.
  7. ^ Craddock, Ryan (1 October 2019). "Broken Roads Is A Narrative-Driven RPG That'll Test Your Morals, And It's Coming To Switch". Nintendo Life.
  8. ^ "Making Career-Changing Leaps in Digital Games". Vic Screen. 25 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Screen Queensland Announces $1 Million Funding For The Digital Games Industry". Screen Queensland. 22 August 2022.
  10. ^ Carter, Justin (December 22, 2023). "Indie publisher Versus Evil has shut down". Game Developer. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  11. ^ Stedman, Alex (December 22, 2023). "Indie Publisher Versus Evil Is Shutting Down, Entire Staff Laid Off". IGN. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  12. ^ "Versus Evil to shut down [Update]". Gematsu. 2023-12-22. Retrieved 2023-12-27.
  13. ^ a b Lawardorn, Damien (9 September 2021). "Broken Roads Challenges Your Philosophy in Innovative Ways in a Doomed Australia – Interview". Escapist Magazine.
  14. ^ a b c McManus, Sam (27 June 2023). "Red dirt and heritage pubs of WA's Wheatbelt play host to new dystopian video game Broken Roads". ABC News.
  15. ^ Maxwell, Jini (9 July 2021). "Bringing Indigenous cultural expertise to videogame development". Screen Hub.
  16. ^ Smith, David (2023-07-07). "Changing The Landscape: The Future Of Games And First Nations Storytelling". Kotaku Australia. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  17. ^ Maxwell, Jini (25 August 2021). "New Broken Roads trailer stars Uncle Jack Charles, as game signs with Team17". Screen Hub.
  18. ^ MacGregor, Jody (19 May 2023). "You'll be able to finish post-apocalyptic CRPG Broken Roads as a pacifist". PC Gamer.
  19. ^ Walker, Alex (25 August 2021). "What's Happening With Broken Roads, The Philosophical, Post-Apocalyptic Australian RPG". Kotaku.
  20. ^ a b Savage, Phil (28 September 2022). "Broken Roads has the potential to become the next Disco Elysium". PC Gamer.
  21. ^ Purslow, Matt (10 October 2022). "Broken Roads Will Torment You With Character-Altering Moral Choices (and That's Brilliant)". IGN.
  22. ^ a b "Broken Roads". Metacritic. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  23. ^ a b c d Cassidy, Ruth (10 April 2024). "Broken Roads review - a lonely scavenger hunt for scraps of interest". Eurogamer. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  24. ^ Bailes, Jon (10 April 2024). "Broken Roads review: "Systems that sound good on paper don't work as intended"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  25. ^ Hetfeld, Malindy (11 April 2024). "Broken Roads Review". IGN. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  26. ^ Parsons, Don (10 April 2024). "Review: Broken Roads". Hardcore Gamer.
  27. ^ McCarter, Reid (10 April 2024). "Broken Roads review – a Fallout-inspired RPG flop". PCGamesN. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  28. ^ a b c d e Lane, Rick (10 April 2024). "Broken Roads Review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  29. ^ Kobylanski, Abraham (10 April 2024). "Broken Roads". RPGFan. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  30. ^ White, Lucas (10 April 2024). "Broken Roads review: rolling dice and spending points in the Outback". ShackNews. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
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