Roadwarden

Factsheet

Release Date:
12 September 2022 (digital download)

Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac

Price:
About $10.99 (in local currency)

Stores:
Steam
GOG
Itch.io

Language Support:
English

Target Age Group:
14+

Used Engine:
Ren’Py

Description

Roadwarden is an illustrated text-based RPG in which the player explores and changes a hostile, grim realm. It combines complex dialogues and simplified graphics of Visual Novels with mechanics and an open-world story structure of an RPG. The game is meant to provide 10+ hours of a dark and humble adventure.

The protagonist of the game is a roadwarden - one of the few people willing to put their lives in danger by traveling through wilder parts of the land, protecting travelers, connecting isolated villages, supporting merchants and facing dangerous creatures, bandits and undead. The player shapes the personality and background of their character, and prepares themselves for the journey by selecting one of the three character classes - a warrior, a mage or a scholar.

The protagonist is sent to a mysterious peninsula by a merchant guild, which hopes to expand their influence by taming this wild realm. The player is meant to explore this place and gather as many information about it as they can. Secondly, then need to find out what happened to Asterion, the previous roadwarden who was patrolling this area. There are also various sidequests and hidden activities, which can be optionally completed in various ways.

Roadwarden involves mechanics borrowed from RPGs, Visual Novels, adventure games and interactive fiction: inventory puzzles, dialogue choices, character abilities, simple survival systems, hit points and other resources, and quests restricted by in-game time.

Especially notable is the attitude system. Whenever the player encounters new characters, they can select one of the five attitudes (friendly / playful / distanced / intimidating / vulnerable) which impacts the following interaction, changes the mood and the direction of the conversation. Another advanced system involves occasional problem solving through text parsers. The player uses a keyboard to input simple commands, what creates puzzles that are not limited to a list of dialogue options.

The game uses isometric pixel art, with a color pallet limited to 8 basic colors and their additional shadows. These graphics portray areas, items and events. The music is going to be inspired by moody post rock. There is no voice acting and almost no animations.

Videos

Roadwarden - release trailer YouTube

Images

There are far more images available for Roadwarden, but these are the ones we felt would be most useful to you. If you have specific requests, please do contact us!