Broken Roads is a bold RPG from a land down under and it should be on your radar

Broken Roads, a new RPG from developers Drop Bear Bytes, is a bold new experience that looks to take players through a choice-driven, narrative journey in a post-apocalyptic Australia.

RPGs haven’t been the most popular genre in recent generations. The expansive story-based gameplay can be a deterrent for those looking for faster-paced, action-heavy titles. However, with the meteoric rise of Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s got gamers around the globe paying more attention to the genre than ever before.

This makes it the perfect time for newcomer Broken Roads to come into play. The Australian-made RPG by developer Drop Bear Bytes is looking to give its own spin on the formula. Dexerto was able to grab a hands-on preview of the title whilst at PAX Australia, and here’s what we thought.

The realm of the Down Under

One of the first things we admired about Broken Roads was its immaculate art style. The game looked fantastic and did a particularly good job of capturing the Aussie Outback’s colors and sunburnt sights. This immensely helped the tone of the game, as the more gritty outlandish style felt right at home in this post-apocalyptic tale.

We also learned from the developers that they were inspired by real locations from Australia, which gave the game’s location a truly authentic feel. Visiting these real-world locales to not only inspire the art design, but to record ambient sounds just adds to the overall immersion when you’re sitting down and soaking it all in.

A tale from Australia, voiced by Australians

One of the biggest misfortunes of big video game developers is the tough time they have really nailing the idea of an Australian character. Oftentimes they’ll overdo the accent and present something that doesn’t feel quite Australian, more a caricature of one.

Fortunately, Broken Roads hits the nail right on the head, getting Australian voice actors to voice Australian characters, and putting in Australian slang with translations as well. This all comes together to make the game that much more authentic without overdoing it.

Character creation and choices aplenty

Another fantastic aspect of Broken Roads was the immensely deep character creation tool. Not only were there plenty of options in which to customize your character visually but there were multiple different stats to look at and choose from. Add on top of this a morally challenging questionnaire that helps form the basis of your character, one that can take half an hour in its own right, and you’ve got an exceptionally thorough start to enjoy before you even boot up the game.

Broken Roads also features several origins players can pick from, and these will all change how you approach situations within the game. Origins will also change the starting area for the player.

A unique, intricate Moral Compass System

Arguably the most interesting part of Broken Roads is the way the game handles its morality system. Broken Roads features a unique Morality Compass, which is broken down into four areas of moral philosophy. Each time the player makes a choice, the game will shift the compass depending on that choice.

Where other games may simply present good or bad decisions along the way, here things are far more nuanced. Every single action and reaction seems to have a much larger influence on who you are and how others perceive you. It’s quite a staggering accomplishment when seen in real-time, especially given the sheer amount of branching dialogue.

The player will gain moral bonuses depending on where they currently stand on the Compass. This makes it a ridiculously in-depth system, that will definitely indulge strategic players.

Broken Roads looks to be one of the more promising RPGs scheduled for release this year on November 14. With an in-depth morality system, deep meaningful choices in dialogue and combat, and an interesting location to boot, it’s definitely worth keeping a lookout for if you’re a hardcore fan of the genre.

You can try out the demo for Broken Roads on their Steam page here.