While now when people think about RPGs they may be more inclined to think of the open-world variety characterized by the likes of Skyrim, or of JRPGs like those made by Square and others over the years, there are a few other subgenres out there. One of them is the traditional CRPG, which has seen some minor representation on the Switch, but that simply hasn’t been as prominent for the past few decades. Broken Roads, set in a post-Apocalyptic Australia, is a title that feels like it’s trying to revive some of the feel and spirit of that classic subgenre with its own take.

Moving through the game’s world from an isometric view, you’ll be looking to try to survive and hopefully thrive in a world of scarce resources, some pretty desperate people, and seemingly always a threat of violence of some kind. To have a fighting chance, your first task will be to help define your character. Working with a few different core archetypes, you’ll need to make your choice, and then tweak some additional stats and skills related to it to help shape your character. Just as being battle ready can be a smart approach for survival, you’ll find that having a silver tongue, or simply being handy at making repairs (among other things), can really help with survivability. To further complicate things you’ll also then be introduced to the game’s pretty complex morality system, which will initially try to help you determine how your character thinks and operates, but that will absolutely evolve as you play the game, depending on how you react in a variety of situations.

Once you’re in the world, your goals will generally be to explore, be sure to be on the lookout for simple opportunities to find or earn new gear or supplies, and to interact with just about everyone you meet. Aside from helping to develop the game’s storylines, the writing is really the stand-out here, and which options you choose will often have a direct impact on what type of character you’ll be building… or at least how other characters will perceive you, whether good or bad. The game’s combat, while workable, is probably its greatest weakness overall. Roughly in the same vein as the likes of classic Fallout 2 or Wasteland, there are absolutely some tactical considerations, as well as what character skills you’ve invested in, but more often than not I’d say altercations either feel a bit too easy or crushingly hard at times. While this isn’t terribly shocking for RPG fans, it does make it feel like there are simply some balancing issues in the experience. Overall, if you’ve either got a hankering for some of those old-school CRPG vibes, or are interested in an RPG that puts story and the choices you make ahead of some other systems like combat, you may find this to be a good fit.