Developer Drop Bear Bytes has announced the release date for Broken Roads, a post-apocalyptic RPG set in the Australian outback. Next month, on April 10, 2024, Broken Roads will make its debut for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Ever since it was first revealed, Broken Roads has intrigued me because it seeks to blend the classic isometric Fallout game style with a morality system bearing a close resemblance to Disco Elysium‘s personality mechanic. There’s something about this style of RPG that pulls me in and won’t let me go, and I think that’s true of many top-down RPG fans. Mercifully, there’s less than a month to go until we can sink our teeth into this one.
Broken Roads brings Fallout and Disco Elysium flare
The game will be available on all platforms simultaneously, so players can simply pick which one they prefer and dive in. I love adding trophies to my collection on PS5, even though I only have a couple of platinum to my name, so that’s where I’ll be playing.
The latest trailer highlights the main features coming to the post-apocalyptic RPG. As I’ve already pointed out, for me one of the best parts of Broken Roads is its top-down view. So few modern RPGs brave this perspective, but it’s nostalgic and brings back memories of playing classic titles that shaped this genre, so I think it fits incredibly well.
Broken Road‘s art is hand-drawn and portrays an authentic Australian outback, but a version of it if the world had been destroyed by nuclear war. The only thing that really comes close to this is Mad Max, and even that isn’t quite aiming for the same vibe. Here, people are desperate to survive and will do anything to give themselves an edge; they haven’t yet descended into the mania we see portrayed in the popular movie franchise.
With the Fallout TV series just around the corner and the Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond Fallout set having been released a week ago, there’s a lot of post-apocalyptic media to indulge in over the coming weeks. Where Broken Roads stands out, though, is with its morality system. the Moral Compass shows you where your decisions lie across four key philosophical leanings, and your character will change based on how many decisions you make for one or the others.
The Moral Compass develops a character on the fly that can’t just be changed because you want to make a specific choice at the conclusion of a lengthy quest. This always bothered me in Fallout 3, but it doesn’t seem possible with Broken Roads.
In this game, if you play a bad person who is only out for themselves, you will get fewer and fewer choices that save people’s lives in your Moral Compass. Few developers are brave enough to hem their players in like this, but I think it adds tonnes of replayability and authenticity in a genre that needs it for a game to succeed.
Last but not least, if you’re not already eagerly awaiting the game’s release, the trailer shows off some impeccable tactical turn-based combat. It also points out how the story is non-linear, meaning there are going to be dozens of ways to play and break the story to your advantage and detriment. I can’t wait to kill an important NPC as soon as I start and not realize for 20 hours.
