Old-school CRPG Broken Roads is Fallout 1 via post-apocalyptic Australia, and it finally has a release date
Drop Bear Bytes’ single-player adventure features an in-depth morality system
Broken Roads has looked promising since its Australian take on a Fallout-style post-apocalypse CRPG first appeared on our radar way back in 2019. Four years later, after multiple delays, Drop Bear Bytes’ fascinating throwback is finally almost here - close enough to get a proper full release date.
Broken Roads, you may remember, harkens back to the classic isometric gameplay and narrative-focused exploration of games including Fallout 1 and 2, albeit with a vision of a dusty, desolate wasteland in the western Australian outback rather than North America.
Key to the game is its in-depth morality system, which can see dialogue, quests and interactions change based on the actions of the player’s party of up to five characters. That influence is tracked with a moral compass that paints decisions on a multidirectional spectrum between utilitarian, humanist, Machiavellian and nihilist, offering potential bonuses and/or disadvantages depending on the characters’ philosophical leanings.
Said characters are developed using a classless system that allows them to be customised around a range of skills and abilities such as leadership, stealth and tinkering rather than within fixed roles. Its tactical combat will be familiar to vets of Fallout and other ‘90s CRPGs, playing out in classic turn-based, action points-driven fashion.
Having been originally planned for release in 2021, before later sliding back to 2022 and then this year, with Drop Bear Bytes teaming up with publisher Versus Evil in the meantime, Broken Roads will finally be out on November 14th. Ahead of the release, its demo is already live over on Steam.