Roadwarden is one of the most unusual role-playing games of the year and offers more story density and playful freedom than many big genre representatives.
What could be better in the dark season than to lie on the sofa with a thick book or to comfortably explore fantastic worlds in front of the screen in a role-playing game? Roadwarden combines the advantages of these types of escapism.
Behind the title of the game is the job title of the protagonist. As Roadwarden, we are one of the few brave people who still dare to pass the roads made unsafe by monsters and bandits. In the world of the game, this role is vital for the survival of its inhabitants. For the road warden accompanies merchants on their journeys or serves as a messenger.
Behind this simple starting point lies a surprisingly powerful role-playing game that story lovers should definitely have seen. We”ll explain why in our review.
So in Roadwarden we are not a superhero or a chosen one with memory loss – a refreshing difference to other fantasy stories. Our Roadwarden is on a quest to find his missing predecessor. We define further goals ourselves in role-playing game style.
What kind of road warden we want to be is left up to us by the game. For example, we can embark on the great hero”s journey or simply earn some money for a loved one. Depending on the difficulty level, there is a time limit that determines how long we stay in the region. On the easiest level, the limit does not apply at all.
Table of Contents
Shades of Brown
Roadwarden is a text-based game and that means – unsurprisingly – there is a lot to read. The texts that await us in the up to twelve hours of gameplay would be enough to fill a thick book.
Simply put, Roadwarden offers no game elements other than reading and clicking. On the left side of the screen, there is a static illustration of the current location in pixel art, which unfortunately always comes in the same brown shades. On the right side is the text and below that the decision options. This does not change during the entire game. The only exception is moving around on a minimalist map, which offers a good overview and a small inventory.
So many possibilities
Roadwarden is not only an interactive novel, but also – as already written above – a role-playing game with some RPG mechanics. We can choose the name of our character and a class. Fighter, scholar and mage are available to choose from. They differ drastically in the possibilities.
For this test, we tried out the Fighter and the Scholar. The latter offers clear advantages in conversations, and we can also avoid some conflicts with a considered approach. In tricky situations where the axe (more on that later) is called for, the fighter plays to his strengths. This alone increases the replay value enormously.
What was that again?
The biggest game element of Roadwarden also has an influence on the replay value: the choice of our actions. How do we approach a new village or camp? How do we gain the trust of the mayor to gather new information? We answer all these questions with the help of our decisions.
At the beginning of the game, for example, we learn from a group of warriors that the innkeeper at the nearby inn is not a man of many words, but likes to haggle. If we still have this information in mind after we meet him a few minutes into the game, it gives us an advantage in conversation and we quickly get our information about the former roadwarden.
For this we don”t bore the host with lots of questions, but dare to negotiate a better reward for a quest at the end of the conversation. That feels really good. And don”t worry: if you have a bad memory, you can read up on the collected info in the journal. This is how we chat and explore our way through the world of Roadwarden.
A reading lesson that delights
This world is created primarily in our minds. The production is very minimalistic in the tradition of text-based games and sometimes we look at the same illustration for 30 minutes, listening to the atmospheric but eventually annoyingly monotonous soundtrack while devouring pages and pages of text.
The game really comes up trumps when it comes to its story, rewarding us time and again for paying proper attention and providing suspense. We find ourselves in political entanglements and clashes between different factions. Unfortunately, the strong texts are only in English. Due to the mass of text and the sometimes not so easy language, a good knowledge of English is a must for Roadwarden.
One text desert after the other can be tiring in the long run – here Roadwarden could have detached itself a bit more from the legacy of text adventures. More variety in the staging could have made it easier to follow the story.
Stay tuned, however, for the dialogue and characters. These all seem very human and comprehensible. At times we even feel reminded of Disco Elysium. Whereas Roadwarden is still a class behind in comparison.
Happy without a fight
This is also due to the lack of motivation, away from the story. On interchangeable paths, we meet frustratingly strong enemies that we are supposed to finish off for monotonous quests. Fighting is done in pen-and-paper style by rolling the dice.
Especially with the scholar class, however, we rarely had a chance. A fight often meant our demise and the loading of a save game. This makes for frustration and little desire to continue exploring the streets of the game world. There are no experience points and no leveling system for our road warden.
When night falls, our room for manoeuvre is also drastically reduced and we must seek shelter. We also have to pay attention to hunger and hygiene with a superficial survival system. The developers would have preferred to save these two elements for the game. Thus, they repeatedly slow us down in our urge to discover.
If you can overlook these points of criticism, Roadwarden is a refreshing counter-design to staged monsters like Elder Scrolls or The Witcher. If you have a lot of reading pleasure, patience and the willingness to take your time exploring, you will be happy on Roadwarden”s little island of decelerated gaming fun.
Editor”s verdict
Roadwarden manages the feat of making the genre of text-based role-playing games fit for the present. The story transported me to a dark and deep fantasy world. The protagonist”s journey deviates from genre clichés and rarely bored me. On the playful level, however, the motivational points are lacking. The superficial survival system and the fact that I can only travel at night to a very limited extent annoyed me and contributed little to the atmosphere. I could even have done without the battles altogether.
As an interactive novel, Roadwarden nevertheless works excellently. The possibility of creating my own story and hero”s journey excited me from the first minute. Roadwarden offers great freedom of choice and confronted me credibly with the consequences of my actions. For a possible sequel, however, I would like to see a more playful staging and design of the quests.
