Broken Roads review

Our VerdictThere’s half of an amazing game in Broken Roads. Trouble is you have to play the other half.

Our Verdict

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

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Need to know

Squad leader Irma Wakefield arches an eyebrow: “convince me” she says.

That gets through, and Wakefield lets me speak to the suspects through the door. But I’ve only got three questions before the door gets busted down, so I’m going to have to come up with a pretty convincing argument.

(Image credit: Versus Evil)

Broken Roads

(Image credit: Versus Evil)

Broken Roads

Broken Roads tries to deliver a fully fledged CRPG experience in about 20 hours, and trying to pack that kind of experience into this timeframe causes numerous problems.

Making a choice according to one of these viewpoints will push the point of the compass deeper into that perspective, offering more dialogue options from that school of thought. If you make a choice that contravenes your current philosophy, it will result in a more dramatic swing away from it. You’re never completely funnelled down one path, but your choices will influence the array of future options available to you.

Now, this idea has the potential to be astoundingly pretentious. And between the quotes from philosophers on the loading screens, and the quests named after different philosophical texts and concepts, Broken Roads can have the vibe of a first-year ethics student who has just discovered Kant. Its biggest indulgence is a quest that revolves specifically about scavenging the wasteland for philosophy texts for Mira’s library. Some of these are found with booksellers and memorabilia collectors, which is plausible enough. Others are just scattered around the wasteland. After a bloody gunfight with a bunch of Mad Max-style raiders, I discovered a copy of Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy in a dented footlocker next to a wheelie bin. It’s preposterous, not least because Mad Max raiders are obviously Nietzsche fans.

(Image credit: Versus Evil)

Broken Roads

Basically, Broken Roads tries to deliver a fully fledged CRPG experience in about 20 hours, and trying to pack that kind of experience into this timeframe causes numerous problems. Firstly, the story feels like it’s an act short, wrapping up almost as soon as you uncover what’s really going on in Kalgoorlie, and what exactly is at stake for your community and Australia at large. But it also means a lot of the game’s more familiar CRPG systems are undercooked. The combat system is an incredibly basic turn-based affair, lacking the weapon, enemy or ability variety to produce interesting tactical scenarios. There’s a magic system, but again, it’s limited to a handful of abilities that frankly feel like an afterthought. Choosing stats and abilities is restricted only to your avatar, while your party levels up automatically. There just isn’t enough space for the game to give you the sense of progression an RPG needs.

(Image credit: Versus Evil)

Broken Roads

The Verdict64Read our review policyBroken RoadsThere’s half of an amazing game in Broken Roads. Trouble is you have to play the other half.

The Verdict

64Read our review policyBroken RoadsThere’s half of an amazing game in Broken Roads. Trouble is you have to play the other half.

64Read our review policy

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

Broken Roads

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

More about broken roadsBroken Roads, the wonky Aussie Fallout, receives a major update that lets you pet koalas and explains the meaning of sex trophiesBroken Roads will now mix Mad Max, Disco Elysium, and Baldur’s Gate in April release date after last year’s out-of-the-blue 5-month delayLatestToday’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11See more latest►

More about broken roads

Broken Roads, the wonky Aussie Fallout, receives a major update that lets you pet koalas and explains the meaning of sex trophiesBroken Roads will now mix Mad Max, Disco Elysium, and Baldur’s Gate in April release date after last year’s out-of-the-blue 5-month delay

Two people standing in front of a mushroom cloud.

Broken Roads, the wonky Aussie Fallout, receives a major update that lets you pet koalas and explains the meaning of sex trophies

Two wasteland survivors, a mushroom cloud behind them

Broken Roads will now mix Mad Max, Disco Elysium, and Baldur’s Gate in April release date after last year’s out-of-the-blue 5-month delay

LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11See more latest►

Latest

Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11

Wordle answers

Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11

See more latest►

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Our Verdict#

Our Verdict