These usually indicate that you’ve found an area or person that needs a specific interaction, but it could be days – or never – until you figure out why you were being prompted at all.
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On the former, one mechanic that really sparks intrigue is when the game invites free text entries. There’s so much that I know I don’t know, from how I was supposed to respectfully address a druid living alone in the woods to the whereabouts of major missing characters. This is where Roadwarden continues to have its hooks in me even after I finished it several days ago. Plus, keeping a journal makes it feel all the more like you’re an explorer keeping track of potential leads and features of interest to report back upon your return.
There is a quest log which picks out helpful aspects of the conversations and descriptions you uncover, but it’s easy to forget things when there are so many places and people involved. This is a good time to mention that Roadwarden is best played with a notebook to hand. It adds to that layered effect, with history pressing down everywhere.
The game roughly splits itself into two halves: finding and learning about these areas, and then revisiting them all multiple times and seeing the effects of your actions. How you approach any of these is up to you, but it will have complex knock on effects. The peninsula truly feels like a place with a deep history, and particularly one where humans and nature have an uneasy coexistenceĪs for the humans themselves, there are four villages and dozens of smaller outposts on the peninsula, all of which have opinions on the others, as well as their own internal tensions and NPCs with personal considerations. The impact of everything from founding a new village to travelers abandoning a path can be felt in how the land itself is described and drawn. The peninsula truly feels like a place with a deep history, and particularly one where humans and nature have an uneasy coexistence. The writing’s complexities don’t just shine in the moment to moment, but in the entire world-building. Roadwarden’s command of sensory invocation is fantastic – when I wasn’t in awe at the creativity of the consistently detailed descriptions it’s because I was simply immersed in the fantasy feel of a rough woolen blanket and a hearty stew in a wooden bowl. Each area has a gorgeously illustrated pixel art sidebar accompanied by equally gorgeously written descriptions of the area, who’s there, and what they’re up to. These considerations and other small RPG mechanics like occasional dice rolls in dangerous situations break up the standard visual novel approach that makes up most of the game. Maintaining health, nutrition, appearance, and armor quality all matter for participating in quests and not dying out on the road. Safe is also not the same thing as clean or comfortable, which can affect your stats. Traveling takes time, and you need to be somewhere safe at night if you don’t want to be attacked by monsters and beasts on the road. You have to leave the peninsula and return to the city by the autumn, giving you 40 in-game days on the regular difficulty. The catch is that you don’t have forever. And once you get to that adventuring, dozens of sidequests open up covering everything from gathering fruit to curing the plague. But you can also set your own goal, shaping your character’s approach from the start in a way that helps with roleplaying a particular kind of adventurer throughout. Your goal as set by the people who sent you is to investigate the region and report your findings in preparation for the expansion of trade guilds in the area. You play as the titular roadwarden, who sets out from the city to investigate an unmapped peninsula with little more than their horse for company. I want to go back and explore, maybe this time with a local guide who knows its secrets.Īt its most basic, Roadwarden is a text-based RPG. Sure, I saw the main sights and had a great time soaking in the ambiance, but I know that I missed so many hidden gems. I keep thinking about Roadwarden like a tourist city that I visited for not quite long enough.
Roadwarden is a beautifully written fantasy world with more mystery than can be solved in a single playthrough, and that’s what makes it so intriguing.
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