Broken Roads

Broken Roads is a solid effort that falls short of capitalizing on its central mechanics. While it takes some ambitious steps, it doesn’t realize them in execution. Community engagement suggests patches will address the big rocks soon, but know that it’s a moving target thus far.

Broken Roads has improved quite a bit since I played it in early April, but still needs a bit more work to be an easy recommendation. In its current state, I can recommend it, but it is a few updates away from being something special. It definitely needs a demo because I can’t imagine many people will give it a shot at its current asking price given the launch reception.

The hand-drawn artwork is nice to look at, the turn-based tactical combat can be incredibly challenging and rewarding, and players will feel like they have an impact on the world. Broken Roads is held back a bit by its shortcomings, but those looking for something to sink their teeth into may still want to take it for a spin.

Broken Roads has an engaging post-apocalyptic setting that, while a bit familiar, manages to still retain its own identity thanks to its Australian flair, it also has some interesting gameplay ideas and some engaging choices that allow you to impact the world around you. The game is not without flaws though: combat is clunky and unbalanced, the early phases are far too linear and, perhaps more importantly for a game focused on narrative, its characters often fail to leave a strong impression and its narrative never quite reaches the incredible heights of games like Disco Elysium or Pentiment.

Broken Roads is a cult classic in the making. It hearkens to the best parts of games like Fallout 2, and many other CRPGs of the '90s, and it fits right in alongside classic Fallout and the Wasteland games. It’s flawed in some areas, with bugs in spots, but it offers tremendous role-playing and storytelling that make it more than worth your time to spend upwards of thirty or more hours in post-apocalyptic Australia.

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.

There's half of an amazing game in Broken Roads. Trouble is you have to play the other half.

Broken Roads offers a rich post-apocalyptic world with complex characters and philosophical debates, reminiscent of Wasteland and Disco Elysium. However, it suffers from unfulfilled ambitions and lacks depth in gameplay mechanics. Despite memorable moments and intriguing moral choices, it's hindered by simplistic combat and repetitive missions. Overall, it's a flawed but engaging experience for those willing to overlook its shortcomings.

Broken Roads is narratively competent, philosophically aware and relatively complex in terms of dialogues, while the moral compass mechanic stimulates the player intellectually. However, all the other elements of the game are not as exciting (or even solid) and gameplay is marred by bugs.

An unusual idea with an intriguing setting, but immature mechanics.

Ultimately my time with Broken Roads didn’t light up any of the parts of my brain that video games typically do on some level or another. There’s some promise at first with its distinct, all-encompassing cultural flavor. But the scenario holding up the setting only struggled to capture my interest. Combat was a similar vibe, feeling like doing chores in the middle of reading a middle of the road novel in a crowded genre. While cool on paper the morality system did more harm than good, overloading the dialogue and getting in the way of character and personality. Nothing in Broken Roads felt bad or, well, broken. But whenever I played it, unless I was chuckling at the slang translator doing something weird I was always thinking of other things I would rather be doing.

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.

Although a passionate display of Drop Bear Bytes’ native culture and heritage, and a beautiful visual and audio experience, Broken Roads is stuck as a missed opportunity where its shortcomings outweigh the diamond-in-the-rough potential.

Broken Roads is what comes out of giving too much attention to cool ideas (moral compass, great dialogue and descriptions) and forgetting to make a game out of them. This is an RPG with glimmers of genius that are overshadowed by tons of unfinished elements.

Although the Australian setting is good, and it occasionally shows potential, Broken Roads is a clumsy party-based RPG with mediocre combat, pacing issues, and bland fetch quests.

Broken Roads provides a strong draw with its Aussie take on the post-apocalypse and the philosophical strands running through its open-ended role-playing. Rather than leading to an interesting destination, however, these roads really are somewhat broken, with systems that don't feel properly integrated, bizarre leaps of logic and even bugs that lead you into dead ends.