Broken Roads

There aren’t too many truly authentic games set in Australia, made by Australians, telling Australian stories. Broken Roads is one, and it is one of the most different and interesting games you’ll play this year on that basis alone. Yes there are more refined RPGs out there, but none of those will take you on a crash course through Australian mannerisms while delivering a compelling narrative of human resilience, community, weakness and savagery.

Broken Roads is an ode to the cRPGs of old, but it’s also a step forward for the genre, showing that the ‘90s approach still has a place today. The turn-based combat is punchy and responsive, the art style is gorgeous, and the roleplaying capabilities brought about by its revolutionary morality system lift Broken Roads out of the shadows of its inspirations and into its own spotlight.

If you're looking for a CRPG that values dialogue and has a compelling story, Broken Roads will give you what you want. However, in order to love it, you really need to be able to overlook its flaws.

While it does have some stumbles it is an RPG that does away with the traditional good/bad decisions and has room for those moments where even the stalwart paragon of justice has to get down in the mud to get his way.

Broken Roads is a game that I wish I liked more. The authentic Aussie identity which shines through its dialogue, voice acting, and art is a joy to behold, and its exploration of morality through the application of classical moral frameworks in a post-apocalyptic setting is a terrific idea that brings a unique spin to played-out moral choice systems. Unfortunately, underwhelming combat and loading screen-laden fetch quests definitely hold it back, and the presence of game-breaking bugs make it only a tentative recommendation as long as you keep those aspects in mind.

Broken Roads lives up to its name, as it is teeming with breaks in both gameplay and content. And of all things, the interesting morality system disrupts the role-playing instead of deepening it.

I was excited to see my country represented properly in a video game, and that did happen. Sadly the game itself isn’t worth a damn, it’s a classic style RPG but none of my choices matter and I can hardly make any of them. Many systems and choices are just odd and make it unfun to play. They have a roadmap to change some issues I had, and some minor odd design decisions have already been fixed, but we’ll have to wait and see if that really fixes the poor story. The only real redeeming quality this game has is the art.

The game is bad in all respects, I don’t even want to describe it. Perhaps this game was created for alternatively gifted people

Graphiquement, ce n’est pas vilain du tout mais la méfiance est de mise, voire même la défiance… puis le rejet pur et simple, une fois que l’on a commencé à jouer ou tenté de jouer à cet étron ! en effet, c’est le jeu entier qui est cassé, pas seulement les routes ! L’interface ? que ce soit à la souris ou à la manette, est incroyablement et complètement à la masse ! on dirait une espèce de démo pas finie ou un pseudo-jeu en version pré-alpha… ou alors un accès anticipé beaucoup trop anticipé… en fait, on n’en revient pas de constater un tel dilettantisme dans la présentation générale. Alors, si vous pensiez avoir une espèce de ‘Fallout’ ou autre Wasteland typiquement post-apo, détrompez-vous, car l’ambiance et l’approche sont ici surtout ‘humanistes’ (c’est-à-dire surtout wokistes), ainsi que donneuses de leçons à la petite semaine. Les personnages, les dialogues et choix de dialogues (par exemple) sont exécrables et n’incitent pas à poursuivre cette ‘aventure’ en carton tout à fait injouable en l’état. Une grosse bouse à éviter !