Roadwarden

Immaculate vibes. Great style. Rewards paying attention. I've done one run, I didn't do everything perfect (I failed my personal quest, for one), but I was otherwise happy with the resolution from the perspective of that character. You can really roleplay here. Overall, I loved it and I'm not even the biggest fan of this type of game, I might try other text-based adventures after this.

Like a choose your own adventure book, but with amazing world building, a good story and lots of features that help you immerse in this interesting witcherlike world.

Immersive and well written. A setting that I can't get enough of. Stellar soundtrack. One of my new favorite games.

One issue - I get a lot of "an exception occurred" errors which cause me to reload the game before I can continue to play. Sometimes the game crashes when this happens, but most times it does not. Still, the game is so good that I am starting a second playthrough, even with this problem.

Starts off interesting, but gradually, issues with the writing pile up, ending up making the setting not believable. The societal issues in this world just do not make sense together. It has medieval fantasy beliefs and prejudices, but with modern day norms mixed in that will never work in a setting like this.

The gameplay itself is not fun. The main difficulty factor is an arbitrarily imposed time limit (number of days until you have to finish). By now, custom difficulty was introduced, so you can start a game with unlimited days. However, that's a band-aid solution, as the game was designed with this difficulty in mind, and while you can remove it, you are not replacing it with any other challenge.

Some characters are good: I really liked Dalit, for example. Unfortunately, though, the likable characters are in the vast minority, and they are not enough to recommend this game.

Now, I will describe the exact moment that completely took me out of the game and made me never want to continue it. This obviously contains heavy spoilers.

The mayor of Howler's Dell is arguably the single most evil character in the game. She is a tyrant, controlling the entire settlement without any real opposition at first.

You can eventually depose her with the help of the druids after gathering damning evidence against her: she instigated a horrible atrocity that completely destroyed another settlement, with who knows how many deaths.

If you did everything right, she will be put on trial and sentenced accordingly - eventually, after you finish the game. They specifically say that until then, "she will remain the mayor in name only".

Now, this is completely false, because if you do other quests where she is involved, she will act as a mayor with all the power she previously had. For example, if you use The Seed to cure the plague in Old Págos, she will sic the guards on you to interrogate you the next time you enter Howler's Dell, because she wanted The Seed, too. Wasn't she supposed to be the mayor "in name only" at this point?

Also, if you condemned her and supposedly made her powerless, you will get beat up in the inn every time you try to sleep there. One could argue that it's because the innkeeper is the mayor's husband, but the way the interaction goes heavily implies that this is not the innkeeper's idea, so it's still the mayor calling the shots.

You can also get beat up in the inn if you just made her hate you while she is still the mayor. There is no difference at all if she is supposedly "deposed". Everything I did to bring her horrible atrocities to light feels completely wasted.

I had a lot more issues throughout the game. These happened relatively frequently, and took me out of the narrative each time. I really wanted to like the game, so I tried to brush those instances aside. However, the one example I described above was the last straw that finally made me stop, and I regret spending any time on this. I should have accepted the obvious signs much earlier.

This is a very memorable text adventure that has a wistful tone to it but still warms your heart, like a good story told by one traveler to another on a long evening next to a campfire.

One way I could put it is it's..
A character-centered survival western without heroics or bravado, set in a remote corner of a low fantasy world

The game's setting is original, feels "lived in" and it is easy to feel a part of it through your character, the titular roadwarden.
You are on a mission in a backwater corner of the world. You mostly ride around on your palfrey, see the sights (more accurately, read the sights text with some landscape pixel art to accompany), talk to people in villages and do tasks for them. There is some combat, and it gets more common later on, but it's never routine, as every fight is made to feel significant thanks to the accompanying writing. Most of the time you fight the local fantastical fauna, and each type of beast is given a unique and evocative description, complete with patterns of behavior. Knowing about these has an in-game purpose: it might give you an edge next time you face the beasts. More generally, careful reading and note-taking (with the bare-bones but serviceable in-game notepad) is the biggest weapon in this game, whether it be conversation, combat, or looking for clues on your current task.

The characters in this game are well written, and their attitude towards an outsider are quite realistic: you are an unknown quantity with suspicious motives, and as such are met with caution and mistrust. Only a few people are nice to you from the outset, and thus trust has to be earned. This most often results in you volunteering to help people out, with minimal compensation. This, though, doesn't feel quite so mercenary as "questing" might in a regular RPG game, hence my choice to avoid the typical terminology here. Roam around the world for some time - talking to people, seeing what's to see on the road, getting into a pickle or two, and next thing you know it, you have your favorite people to go be with and ask for help in this small world.

You also have some bigger tasks of your own in the back of the mind, one of which is set from the start, and another one you can choose when you create your character, along with your background. You're on a time limit (until summer ends), and this provides a nice motivation for you to be careful with your choices of places to go and things to do. It also sets a certain mood and underlines what seems to be one of the bigger themes of the game, that is - passage of time and the inevitability of change. It's also worth noting that at no point does it seem like you are here to "save" this corner of the world or otherwise do some big thing that will change everything. The story intimates that you are a *herald* of change, but do not bring that much dramatic change yourself - only the things that you have and have not done on this late-summer journey. Most of these things are quite small in scale, such as helping someone catch a large beast to sell on the market, or being a matchmaker for a local girl that's looking for a suitable spouse. The few bigger choices come later in the story as you gain in knowledge and standing.

Aside from the story, all the other elements, such as the gameplay, the incidental music, the pixel graphics on the side, are also quite well done. They are, however, secondary and subservient to the telling of the story - and by extension, the world it is set in - its people, its customs, and its various beasts. If you're open to a couple of days of interactive reading with an altogether pretty decent game around it, Roadwarden should make it worth your while.

i wanna say it's fun being a roadwarden even though i'm confused af have short term memory loss and always have this funny feeling that at every crossroads and decision i'm making the wrong choice lol 10/10 world-building

A well-written game that does a good job of making the game world feel like a genuine place where people live, where the people you meet have grounded needs and motivations. As a Roadwarden you gradually uncover more and more about the peninsula and its inhabitants, with your actions affecting the way people perceive you and each other. It evokes an atmosphere that can be a little bleak, sometimes sad but also hopeful.

It's a lot of reading though, and some of it can be relatively mundane (though well-executed). I left the game running the background a lot, so I don't know my exact playtime, but there is a lot to unravel if you do everything. Might not be for everyone, but it's a pretty unique experience.

It's been long since a fantasy RPG story and world haven't felt this good, original and up to date.
It still blows my mind that a single dev is responsible for creating this amazing experience.
It has instantly become an all-time favorite, can't recommend it enough.

A great adventure game with lots of different choices and paths to go through that makes it worth while for some extra playthroughs, for the gameplay even if its entirely text based it has a lot to make you on taking decisions and choices on how to act taking you from one side of a beautifully crafted pixel map to another with many fights in between that have tons of ways to be resolved and a time countdown pressing on your neck which at first seems a lot of time to do your objectives but as you enter the whole world it feels a bit strained, at the end it may take you a couple of runs to make exactly all you want on the way you wanted (unless you save scum) but even if it´s on your 1st run it has a lot of fun choices, interesting places and characters and a lot of secrets that is worth playing through on whichever way you end up doing.

30 hours for a near-completionist first play-through, possible to do another one but likely won't for reasons mentioned below. This is a text-based RPG so I will grade it on its storytelling ability, which is quite powerful, over anything else. There are little to no graphics and minimal gameplay, though there is plenty of economy management, some puzzle-solving, and a little bit of dice-rolling, so it is at least a game instead of a visual novel.

The Journey, Rather Than the Destination: This is an excellent, well-written and well-executed story that combines a deeply immersive setting and complex characters with beautiful music and relaxing ambience to create a riveting exploration into why a wilderness refuses to be tamed. If you enjoy realistic storytelling that prioritizes showing the reverberating impact of day-to-day business and survival decisions along with the larger questions of who to pick sides with in a world full of deceit and moral gray areas, this could be the story for you. Roadwarden prioritizes intimacy and curiosity over grandiose speeches and power fantasies, and it rewards you for knowing when and when not to speak your mind and abide by your convictions.

Because the Destination Is Rather Lackluster: I desperately want to chalk up Roadwarden's anticlimactic ending to the storytelling mode it consistently pursues, that of reminding you constantly that this is not a fairy tale or fantasy epic and that your character and indeed all civilization is small and temporary in comparison to the apathy of the natural world and the decay of time. BUT, for a game that avoids the dramatic and emphasizes the power of community and compassion over greed and individual ambitions, its character-driven emotional payoff is rather empty. The climax and epilogue simply lack punch and would have benefited from more writing and more detail of the effects of yours and others' decisions to embrace or exploit the wilderness, rather than the minimalism of summarizing decades of the lives of characters and communities you've no doubt grown to love over 20 to 30 hours spent with them. This makes my desire to replay the game, initially strongly motivated by the potential effect different choices and perspectives would have on its ending, much less so.

Overall, 9/10 for a lovely experience though underwhelming conclusion.
8.5/10 if I had paid full price for it.

This game is a book and game siimultaneously. I only started but Im already so invested in it, like, it just takes you and never let go. ITS JUST SO AWESOME

Just a fantastic game. It's amazing how many interesting characters, stories, and narrative choices they could fit into this 6-10h game, not counting possible replays. Worth every penny.

A total vibe. Text based D&D like adventure. I really like the ambiance and meeting the different characters throughout the journey. It's a lot of fun.

I love how the world is full of depth and history, blending fantasy and medieval elements. I feel like I'm really making a difference in the world. The choices I make have an impact on the story, and I love that I can shape the narrative in different ways depending on the time I've made a certain choice. The game's atmosphere is also really immersive & the sound design and visuals are simple but effective, also the soundtrack is hauntingly beautiful.

I enjoyed the game and the presented world, even if it won't remain with me for a long time.
However I have a few issues that made the story a bit of a mess. It might be my fault, but please - at least listen (read) me out:
- you are able to finish quests in a 'wrong order, making your character talk about previous step of the quest and then acknowledging (though not always) that it was finished, leading to awkward dialogue,
- there is a set order to explore the map as well, which causes several dialogue issues, especially if, like above, you finish the quest ‘too quickly’. If you for some reason do not explore certain part of a map and arrive there ‘too late’ it might lead to, once again - awkward dialogue.

Still - I had fun with the game. If you enjoy slower/text RPGs, this is a game for you.

I've played a couple of visual novel and text based RPG games since the early days of PC, and rarely found something like this. a story with such level of freedom, tangled with two big mysteries; destruction of a certain village and dissapearance of previous roadwarden.

the story absorb me so much, that i still patrol the penisula, after everything is solved. hoping to found one or two little detail about the people and the places.

the game is short (or not, if you decide to read all the materials), but remarkably well written and well designed.

cheers to the dev. for pouring his heart and time to make this.

An absolutely amazing game that deserves your time. I've played one run, with a tad amount of save loading to check out different endings and it feels like your choices really matter. The characters you meet feel so real and the world you explore feels so big at the beginning, and at the end you'll really feel you've accomplished something with the season you spend at the peninsula. I may do another run with a different background just to see how the spells may have worked, but perhaps after I've let my eyes rest from playing so much. Overall, I wish I could have romanced some of the people of the game, but that's a completely negligible wish. The game is fantastic, please support it and get the best choose-your-own-adventure game/book you've ever had.

I didn't expect to love this game as much as I did. I adore the characters, the story and mystery are interesting, and the lore is surprisingly in-depth for a game this small. Figuring everything out was really fun. The roleplay was really engaging and well-implemented; the faith system in particular gave me a big incentive to roleplay a particular kind of person. Truly, this game is a little gem. I don't play that many text-based games, but this one convinced me that I might need to fix that.

What can I say about this game that isn't just expressing my love for it? It is an absolute saga of a story, and it is so easily accessible. The branching quest narrative feels natural, and it is expansive.

Starting the game, we're introduced to the game's static three-panel array: a beautiful and unique pixel art panel, the dialogue/action panel, and the menu panel. We're given a few questions asking about our character's background and beliefs - in under 10 dialogue choices. After which, we plunge right into the tutorial/prologue. There are no major risks to this portion, but it is a masterful encapsulation of the entirety of the game: the characters you meet have personality and opinions, the setting itself is a dangerous and inhospitable place, and you have to strategize your resources.

Right away, the game shows us how it delivers exposition: through your dialogue with NPCs, and interacting with the world around you. In conversations with NPCs, you as a player are asked about the affairs of your home city, and you the player are given the agency to decide what it's like. Is the big city in shambles, or is it more prosperous than ever? It's even down to what the main diet of the people is. On the flip side, interacting with the world will instigate inner-monologues for the player-character, allowing you to expand on your own opinion. Ultimately these don't change anything in the story, it simply makes it yours.
This kind of player-agency and unique interaction in the story reminds me of TTRPGs method of group worldbuilding, and it's impressive how well it's executed in video game form.

Have I mentioned the personality of the NPCs? The cast of characters this game presents all feel uniquely written and presented. While the game doesn't have any character art, the written descriptions paint portraits of each character - even I, with aphantasia, found it exceptionally easy to grasp the concept of these character's physical forms.

And the music and sound- oh my GOD. The main menu theme is simple and melodic, but holds onto a descending minor progression, brewing a feeling of unease and tension - it's so thematically appropriate, the theme lives in my brain forever. And let's not forget the soundscape mixing - text-based games rely heavily on sound, and this game does not miss. Each location has a unique soundscape that is so well mixed it feels like I'm transported.


I can go on and on about this game, about how it's a beacon of truly choice-based games, how it's a revival of the dying text-based RPG genre, how the worldbuilding is one the most unique creations I've had the pleasure to play in. Instead, I urge you to play this game. If you can get this on a sale (right now as of writing), buy this immediately. I would even go so far as to say it's 100% worth the full price if you're looking for an exceptional RPG.

Tips for starting the game: if you're anything like me and like to complete everything you can on your first playthrough, choose scholar - combats will initially be hard, but nothing you can't learn, and pneuma (AKA magic) will be a foreign mechanic. BUT, the scholar is unique in that you are an alchemist and literate, which means many more opportunities to learn more about the world, and clever alternatives in combat.


Good luck out there, Roadwarden. The roads of the Dragonwoods are treacherous. Keep to the west, and maybe you'll live to see the leaves turn yellow...

Fantastic writing, very tightly-designed gameplay. The days somehow go by much faster and much slower than you expect.

The game reminds me of old lone wolf gamebooks. I love those a lot. 10/10.

Roadwarden provided an absolutely stellar story. Definitely felt like I "ran out of time" with the default 40 day timeline, but honestly, it forced me to make certain calls and stick with them in a way that probably made more sense for the character. All in all, it was a 10/10 15hr experience with a high potential for replayability. Absolutely worth picking up.

Imagine if the creators of Disco Elysium made the Witcher--this game is the probable result of such an immaculate conception.

As a guardian/messenger/traveler exploring a rural peninsula, you get to meet people of different backgrounds and see how your decisions matter and there is no one "right" way to do things - it's a bit of fantasy, mystery, and politics that uses its mechanics to give you a good deal of agency in the story and the gameplay. Well written and executed, also cool soundtrack.

i have only played a little but this game is great! its perfect to play with my laptop, and it reminds me a lot of the games i loved when i was younger but much more involved. definitely buy this if you enjoy games where your choices matter! The price is a steal, especially on sale.

one of my favorite games i have ever played. Very immersive world and storytelling that makes for a very original experience. I got this looking for a game to scratch the same itch as disco elysium, that being a videogame with great writing and interesting choices and it definitely surpassed my expectations. i want more from this word/studio!!!!

Extremely well written and executed choose-your-own-adventure style RPG. Atmospheric music, 3D characters, engaging mysteries. Well done!

I played Roadwarden once and gave up on it, barely paying attention to the story. The second time.... I moved, had no internet and it was the only game I had downloaded on my pc that didnt require internet. I really took the time to read and engage with it, and that’s when the game’s brilliance revealed itself. I couldn’t put it down (even after my internet was restored). The dark, gritty fantasy world is filled with impactful choices and decisions that shape the story in fascinating ways, including multiple endings. The writing is gripping and atmospheric, with a haunting quality that draws you in. The world and story felt refreshingly original, making Roadwarden a must-play for anyone who loves deep, immersive narratives.

If you give Roadwarden the patience it deserves, you will be rewarded with and outstanding game.

This is a game that makes it a habit of painfully reminding you that life has flown around the places you've visited long before you ever got there. Immersing yourself in the game's story is more like taking a part in a slice of life formed far away from you, one which you might never experience on your own, than like a regular gaming experience. The people and places I've made myself familiar with while playing will probably stay with me forever.

It's exactly this verisimilitude that made the game's end confusing and a little grating. It felt abrupt, almost meaningless at times, and like the choice I've made were being purposefully punished. In the end, maybe they were, maybe they were really bad choices. Nothing remains but to play again and see.

It's amazing. It takes a bit too start, and that wall of text is intimidating, but once you finish a couple of quests, in the order and style you prefer, the real fun begins as you start noticing how much impact every decision has, and just how much juggling you'll have to do between different factions, villages, and characters.

This, rather than triggering anxiety and constant reloads, becomes the very essence of Roadwarden, a game so rewarding that whatever you do, it "feels" natural and its consequences seem just. I may replay it again in the future, but for now I'm perfectly at ease with the choices I took, who I became, and what my legacy was. It was a fantastic game, with so many memories and stories along the way.

Absolutely worth every penny. Well-written and put together with many options. Even though the games doesn't last hundreds of hours, it truly *feels* big. Great work from the small dev team. I hope they produce more like it.

What a cool little game. Even as someone who find reading large walls of text to be tedious due to an eye-tracking disorder, I still had a lot of fun playing this. It's similar to Disco Elysium, but there's a lot more 'game' to play here, resource management and politics, planning and preparation. I totally ate shit and died a horrible death at the end of the game and yet, I had a big grin on my face. The game and story may seem tedious, but stick with it: it's going somewhere.

The writing is wonderful and truly brings the world to life with its intriguing characters and places, as well as difficult choices. Despite achieving more goals than I thought possible in my first play-through, I ran out of time to solve all of what was offered, and after reading the summary of my travels as a roadwarden I feel compelled to return again to find all of the answers. I only wish I could spend more time living there.

If you like exploring new worlds and don't mind reading a lot of text, this one is worth a play for sure.

One of the better story games I've played in ages. It's nice and simple and knows what it wants to be and what it is. I haven't finished the story yet and I cant wait to find out what the heck is wrong with Howler's Dell!

It is an amazing and emersive text-based adventure RPG which truly gives you the impression that your choices actually matter to change the world for better or worse.

Admittedly it took me a little while to warm up to this game, but once I got the hang of the mechanics I seriously enjoyed it.

The story is well-written, the characters are interesting and most of them I got pretty attached to, and though small the world feels like it was a labour of love. My only gripe was that some achievements don't unlock in certain scenarios where it feels you have actually done the work or taken the path to unlock it, or it unlocks later so it initially feels like you've been ripped off until it pays off at the end or a few in-game days later, but this is a very minor thing in the grander scheme of the game itself.

Overall, I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys roleplaying, mysteries, occasional manipulation/threatening of NPCs and forgetting who you're working/lying for, and rich dialogue.

fantastic and beautiful world that i thoroughly enjoyed to explore and experience, sadly i wont finish probably ever.
i enjoyed my first 2 sessions alot at 5 hours a pop each, the world felt new but familiar enough that finding about certain towns and people felt fun and intrigued me. simply going around hearing people stories and their struggles in this world was the best part of this game for me. living and exploring it.
the reason i wont ever finish it is simply because its not for me, the amount of reading is basically on par with a novel. which i enjoy off screen but in this interactive format it doesn't jive with me. the quests were integrating at first but then felt like they became scavengers hunts for small pockets of information buried in walls of text and locations, which if you like that it is done quite well.
in the end i didn't get invested into the main story/quests after the mystique and wonder of this world fell off. the characters and world are interesting but didn't rejuvenate my wonder for the why or how as it was eroded away.

A very well-made text adventure that really captures the atmosphere of a medieval setting in a rural backwater. The interactivity and reactivity is really impressive, and the game is very well-written as it handles all the different plot-threads. I would have appreciated a bit more clarity as it related to the endings. Overall though, definite recommend.

The 40 day limit was the ''intended experience'' and thus I shall judge the game that way:

In the end, I needed roughly 2 or 3 days extra to tie up all my loose ends. I couldn't because the game has an arbitrary time limit. I am now ''forced'' to replay the ENTIRE game (20+ hours) just to see how it would play out. I am not going to do that. The greatest sin in ANY game is not valuing the time of the player.

For anybody wanting to play this in the future: pick unlimited days. The day limit adds NOTHING of value to the game except frustration when you've wasted 20 hours of your time.

I love when a game does away with map markers and floating pips, and instead just leaves you to figure things out with whatever information you have.

Also it's very Witcher-y (the books moreso than the games) and I'm a sucker for that :)

Yes, it's a lot of reading. But trust me, you'll want to catch every detail.

This game deserves a lot of love. The art style is beautiful and consistent throughout the game, the sound design is fantastic and really puts you into the wilds. It's really the writing and gameplay that carry the weight of the game, though--you can feel the world react to your presence in ways you wouldn't expect, and the characters are built well, even if it's just through text. The amount of learning I found myself doing over the 40-day adventure was significant, and I had a hard time tearing myself away from the game.

Gorgeous game, what begins as a lo-fi RPG blossoms into a beguiling tale of adventure and community. I struggle to remember another game that captures its setting in such multi-faceted depth. Loved it.

SO GOOD! I wish there were more games like this, its got such a good story and rich world building. Scratches an itch like Disco Elysium, Banner Saga, and the old Sorcery games. Amazing soundtrack! so grateful for this game!

Very well made narrative decision game with great art and a lot of decisions you can make. It reads a lot like a descriptive novel, which might not be for everyone but it can definitely engage your imagination.

Maybe the best text-based adventure game I have played. And a rarity even in that because there actually is meaningful replay value that is not based on random generated stuff. Obviously there lots of reading and often you may lose the idea of what your character actually knows or should be doing, especially if you have some break between playing. But that is more or less the problem with the genre rather than this game, rather this game does these things better so that you can roleplay it rather than trying to do the correct things and still achieve, something. What is the correct thing anyway?

By far one of the best fantasy/storytelling games I've played.
The music is great, the atmosphere is beautiful and the world is vast to explore. Although at first sight it may seem as a rather steep and narrow island with little to find, each new adventure, each new option and each new place you search or people you talk will eventually give you new paths to explore and quests to follow.
If you are looking for a game with a good amount of replayability, amazing design, excellent music and tons of choices/stories to discover, take your chances with this game.
Totally recommended and surely a replay for me in a while.

Incredible game, incredible story, incredible soundtrack. Highly recommend it for anyone who wants to live through an interesting, open storyline.

Only 30 minutes in but I already feel confident saying this game will deliver if you are looking for text based RPG style adventuring. Having a great time and I can't wait to get killed and start over again.

I was a little hesitant about this game because of the minimal 2D graphics and large amount of reading, but I'm very glad I gave it a chance! In fact, I played the game twice so that I could complete more of the quests and get a better outcome for the land. The characters are well-written and the world is pleasant to explore and discover.

What I feel is especially unique is the game's balanced sense of urgency. One has to manage completing quests, exploring the peninsula, solving puzzles, staying well fed, keeping enough money in your pocket, and staying safe, all within the 40 day time limit. It is difficult to achieve all of your goals, but at the same time it is not overwhelming.

There is a lot of reading when you get started, and it takes a while to get a handle on all the names and places, but unlike others I did not feel that I had to keep notes: the in-game journal was sufficient to keep my head straight. Once I had gotten familiar with the basic mechanics, I had a hard time keeping myself from the game, and the reading and minimal graphics felt like no hindrance for enjoying it.

This is a hidden gem I hope heralds many more such games. The story is beautiful and haunting, your choices have immense depth and unexpected consequences, and the characters you meet feel like they actually live in this terrible world you find yourself in. There are no heroes, but maybe you can one person's life a little easier, to push back the seemingly inevitable entropy, if only for a little while.

You'll have to manage not to starve to death first.

Quick tip - this is heavily "old style" RPG of ye olden days, so have a notepad handy and take good notes.