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Broken Roads - turn-based Australian post-apocalyptic RPG with "unique morality system"

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.brokenroadsgame.com/dev-blog/3-july-2024-hotfix-now-live-on-steam-epic-and-gog

3 JULY 2024 HOTFIX NOW LIVE ON STEAM, EPIC AND GOG​


Just a quick one this time as we added a small patch today, now live on Steam, GOG and Epic. Console versions will be live in a few weeks - these always take a bit longer to go through the approval/certification processes.

Please remember as always: there are potential spoilers in the notes below!

HOTFIX NOTES FOR 3 JULY 2024​

- Fixed the bug of being able to infinitely pick up one of the Barter Crew Special (jackpot trade) numberplates in Narembeen.
- Added pine pitch to Karak’s shop and Tin Man’s shop as part of Lily’s quest.
- Clarified the objective for ‘Of Liberty and Necessity’ that you no longer need to go to the Ingot at night.
- Reduced the time of a fade to black when meeting Ruby Squier in Kalgoorlie
- Fixed an issue where you could keep talking to George Webber about ‘diligaf' even after you’ve met Ruby Squier
- Fixed an issue where Lily could not be given the quest items for Sensation and Reflection while in Lake Deborah
- Added unique objectives for Sensation and Reflection if Lily is in Lake Deborah for the quest
- Fixed an issue where players could not give Lily a Barter Crew Special (jackpot trade) item if she is in Lake Deborah
- Fixed an issue where Jess would speak when meeting Louise even if she wasn’t in the party
- Further fixes on items in Wave Rock shops
 

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.brokenroadsgame.com/dev-blog/the-broken-roads-august-2024-patch-is-now-live

THE BROKEN ROADS AUGUST 2024 PATCH IS NOW LIVE​

broken-roads-august-21-patch-header.jpg

Hey everyone!

We have a new patch for you and we've updated and fixed quite a bit. One of the big things here is that we removed the flirtatious/sexual advances from the game. The feedback and general community consensus was that they were very poorly executed and there was not a good balance of them. We would have rather we did them right or not at all, and so now they are out of the game until we can do them properly.

Then there are also a lot of small bug fixes, quest polish, little bits and pieces that improve certain interactions, and a lot of changes to remove unnecessary or repetitious dialogue choices that didn't result in a different outcome for the player. Much of this is the result of the feedback and consultation with George and Olga, whose content/writing work will be coming in a future update.
Please remember as always: there are potential spoilers in the notes below!

AUGUST 2024 PATCH NOTES:​

  • Removed all flirtatious dialogue from the game
  • Fixed an issue where Barter Crew players could repeat Ian Mason's weapons training dialogue
  • Fixed a save game issue where Ian Mason's thugs would respawn even if you sent Ian Mason away from Kokeby
  • Giving Alex Wilson in Aldersyde water or bandages actually removes those items from the player's inventory
  • Fixed a save game issue where Alex Wilson's corpse in Aldersyde would disappear after talking to him as a Surveyor
  • Fixed a logic issue where Mick and Ames would comment on the player leaving Alex Wilson to bleed out even if they did something else
  • A rock in Brookton can no longer be pet
  • Reduced the number of player options to choose where to go at the start of Brookton after the attack
  • Fixed an issue where Mick's dialogue was always negative towards the player at the Plane Crash
  • Reduced the number of player options that asked Ruben to join the convoy in different ways
  • Moved a container from Plane Crash to Ennuin
  • Fixed a logic issue in the Plane Crash so players do not see dialogue about the lock box in the cockpit if they've already investigated it
  • Removed a first aid kit next to the ambulance in the Plane Crash level
  • Adjusted items in containers found in Merredin
  • Removed a vendor from Aldersyde
  • When saving Cole from Aldersyde, the soldiers that spawn in the ensuing combat start further away to allow a setup round
  • Rotated Lily Petrovic so players can see her face better in Southern Cross
  • Fixed the placement of a container in Southern Cross for easier access
  • Adjusted the XP reward for bringing Siobhan radio parts in Southern Cross
  • Added two radio parts to Locky's shop in Lake Deborah
  • Dead bodies in Kokeby no longer spawn after Chapter 3 ends

VERSION NUMBERS​

  • Steam: 1.2.10197
  • GOG: 1.2.10199
  • Epic: 1.2.10200
Console patches will take a little longer to make it through the approval process. And before we end our patch notes we wanted to say thank you to everyone who has supported us and been extremely patient with all our updates.
- The team at Drop Bear Bytes
 

markec

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One of the big things here is that we removed the flirtatious/sexual advances from the game. The feedback and general community consensus was that they were very poorly executed and there was not a good balance of them. We would have rather we did them right or not at all, and so now they are out of the game until we can do them properly.

I bet you could flirt only with opposite sex so bunch of pronouns complained.
 

GloomFrost

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One of the big things here is that we removed the flirtatious/sexual advances from the game. The feedback and general community consensus was that they were very poorly executed and there was not a good balance of them. We would have rather we did them right or not at all, and so now they are out of the game until we can do them properly.

I bet you could flirt only with opposite sex so bunch of pronouns complained.
Well its official the BR is the most soy, non toxic and diverse, safe environment post apocalypse ever. And they still dare complain that the game hasn't performed as well they had hoped. They didn't want to improve the combat system or balance but removing flirting options now that's what is important. What a bunch of cucks.
 
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One of the big things here is that we removed the flirtatious/sexual advances from the game. The feedback and general community consensus was that they were very poorly executed and there was not a good balance of them. We would have rather we did them right or not at all, and so now they are out of the game until we can do them properly.

I bet you could flirt only with opposite sex so bunch of pronouns complained.
Well its official the BR is the most soy, non toxic and diverse, safe environment post apocalypse ever. And they still dare complain that the game hasn't performed as well they had hoped. They didn't want to improve the combat system or balance but removing flirting options now that's what is important. What a bunch of cucks.
Sometimes it’s quite baffling how devs that focus on CRPG’s don’t know there own audience.
 

Rahdulan

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I said it months ago as well, but those are highly irregular numbers befitting a game you'd think is much worse than this one is.
 

Cael

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Wasn't this the mainlander only release abomination? No wonder it sank. I wouldn't want mainlander shit anywhere near my computer.
 

huskarls

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creative lead could have made something of himself with more management and placement in games with gameplay
 

Lord_Potato

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So, I started playing Broken Roads and honestly it's not as bad as people claimed. Quite decent actually.

They must have patched the game extensively because so far I did not encounter any bug.

Broken Roads is also larger and longer than speedrunning reviewers made it seem. After 9 hours I'm not even halfway through, still in chapter 2 (of 4) with the journal full of quests to complete. I expect it to be similar in scope to the original Fallout, which seems acceptable for me, especially from a small team.

Visuals and music are very well made and atmospheric. While the colors are vibrant, sometimes the game gets really dark, like in the ruins of raised Westonia, when the player witnesses piles of charred bodies. It's definately a sunny post-apocalipse and you are sometimes assaulted by mutated koalas, but there are dark themes at work here too.

During combat you control the whole party, which is a definite plus compared to the typical Fallout/Atom formula. On the other hand the battles could have been more tactical. Arenas are usually pretty small and if enemies use spring ability (transferring all action points into movement points) they can often reach my team in round 1,which turns combat into a bloody melee. In this game you actually need to bring a knife to a shootout.

I enjoy the whole 'being a philosopher in the post-apocalyptic wasteland" vibe. Devs managed to craft some scenarios which can actually be pondered from the humanistic, utilitarian, machiavellan and nihilistic perspectice and it makes sense.

So far the story is quite down to earth. The player controls a party of survivors from a settlement devastated by mysterious and very well organized raiders. The main goal is to seek help from other towns in rebuilding the settlement while navigating the complicated web of alliances and hostilities of the post-nuclear Australian outback and figuring who was responsible for the assault.

I read that they removed flirtatious dialogue in some patch. Frankly, the female characters you encounter in the game (especially the party members, sisters Ella and Mad) aren't really a romance material. They are hard women, shaped by the harsh realities of the wasteland. And since when does Codex complain about the lack of romances LOL. At least your same-sex companions don't hit on you like in many other party-based games.
 

Fargus

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You know, this could have been even more unforgiving and dangerous version of Australia outback with mutated wildlife horrors, dangerous Mick Taylor type raider gangs and Mel Gibson warlord ranting on the radio about his gold-digging ex wife non stop.

Instead they made a game about feminist lesbian kangaroos or something.
 
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You know, this could have been even more unforgiving and dangerous version of Australia outback with mutated wildlife horrors, dangerous Mick Taylor type raider gangs and Mel Gibson warlord ranting on the radio about his gold-digging ex wife non stop.

Instead they made a game about feminist lesbian kangaroos or something.
Hyper vaccinated soy boys and lesbians. I guess you cant blame them for making the game more true to life.

I assume its also got the option to buy real estate.
 

Lord_Potato

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So, I completed Broken Roads. Took me 18 hours.

Even managed to see two very different endings, depending on the choices made in the endgame. None of them super positive, mind you. There are also ending slides that depend on earlier decisions, however, they weren't available for all settlements. In the course of my playthrough I reached level 18, but didn't solve all the quests available to me and most likely missed some more. So the level cap of 20 was within reach. Character development wasn't very interesting - on level up characters get +1 attribute point (there are 6 attributes, similar to Fallout, but without luck) and 10+ skill points (probably depending on Intellect) that can be distributed between 12 skills (later you can learn up to 3 more).

The post-apocalyptic setting of Australia seemed kind of interesting, I felt motivated enough to leave the main roads and explore the map in search of all the hidden settlements and tiny stories hidden in the outback. However, the introduction of magic in later chapters was a bit too much. Devs tried to explain it with some pre-war particle experiments gone wrong, but still it was a jarring change of atmosphere. The player gets the opportunity to learn several 'spells' although I rarely bothered with them, with the exception of 'haste' spell, which helped my PC kill enemies faster. However, combat was easy enough not to bother. Enemies also rarely use sorcery, the only real threat they posed were grenades. If you don't spread out you party fast, they can do lots of damage and even cost you a lost encounter.

Itemization is pretty poor. You get several types of guns and melee weapons, but advanced ones are not represented by better models, just by "gun+2" or "club+3" with the same visuals. There are lots of items, but other than weapons, armor, medical supplies and food most don't have real practical use outside of fetch-quests.

The moral compass works as an interesting alternative to the typical manichaeistic 'good or evil' or even 'paragon or renegade' systems, however there are rarely consequences to following one or the other school of thought. Usually, the same in-game choices can be justified from different points of view (for example Humanist and Utilitarian or Machiavellian and Nihilistic) and PC is judged for his deeds, not the moral positions he took. There are suspiciously numerous characters in the game with which you can discuss philosophy and the final faction is even led by a cabal of philosophers, so there will be many opportunities for debates, sometimes ending with bloodshed.

Until the end I did not encounter any game-breaking bugs. The most irritating issues concerned the quest journal - often a quest would remain there long after I solved it in a less orthodox way, or even after the questgiver died. Some quests are also very convoluted and sometimes it is not obvious how the player should advance them, even though he has all the necessary info and items.

In the end, it's an okay game with some big ambitions, which it ultimately fails to fulfill. I hope the team gets to make another RPG, if they improve on the formula they might one day achieve greatness.

And now some screenshots (the first isn't made by me, but since it represents the same model of PC which I used I decided to use it anyway, it merely shows the character sheet which for some reason I didn't make a screenshot of):

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Oh, I would have forgotten: in this game you can pet koalas. So the devs obviously did something right.
 

Lord_Potato

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There are suspiciously numerous characters in the game with which you can discuss philosophy and the final faction is even led by a cabal of philosophers, so there will be many opportunities for debates
Is the writing good tho?
Yeah, it's decent. Not Disco Elysium level, mind you, but it is interesting and sometimes engaging. The debates you'll be having toward the end of the game are quite fun too.
 

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