Broken Roads

Broken Roads sets its post-apocalyptic party-based RPG in the Australian Outback, tracking player choices across a distinctive Moral Compass system built on four schools of philosophical thought rather than a standard good-versus-evil axis. This review's sample confirms a genuinely striking, ambitious premise undercut at launch by severe bugs and widely criticized combat, alongside a substantial later wave of reviewers documenting real, if incomplete, improvement.

A setting and system that stand out

Reviewers consistently single out the Australian setting as a genuine breath of fresh air in a genre dominated by American wastelands. "It's a rare thing, to get a proper cRPG these days. Rarer still, to have one set in my own country. To see the bush, native wildlife or to hear the Aussie accent, instead of the same old Americans," one reviewer writes. The Moral Compass system draws similar praise for its ambition: one reviewer describes it as "an interesting alternative to the 'Jesus Reborn / Good / Neutral / Evil / Cartoonishly Evil' dialog systems normally present in other games." Another reviewer with nearly 2,000 minutes logged details its mechanical depth directly: "Game has strong alignment-based reactivity. Different alignments solve quests in different ways and the behaviour of NPCs changes based on your alignment."

A troubled launch, extensively documented

A large share of this review's sample describes a genuinely rough launch state. "It's not only the roads that are broken in this game. Pretty much every mechanic is not well implemented," one reviewer writes, describing an inability to rotate the combat camera or reliably target enemies behind scenery. Another reviewer's frustration boiled over specifically because of how the developers themselves framed the launch: "when I saw the devs post their road map in community hub and the first thing they say was 'This launch has been a rough one.' I couldn't stay quiet." A separate reviewer documents a specific quest bug that remained unresolved for a striking length of time: "the Koorda problem has been publicly discussed with the devs 2 years ago and yet I experienced the very same thing."

A specific complaint about the Moral Compass in practice

Beyond bugs, several reviewers make a more particular critique of the game's signature system: that it locks in a player's alignment too early to function as real, ongoing choice. "Having literally made a couple of moral choices not even in the game itself, but in the character's backstory, you have already put him on rails from which it will be impossible to adequately turn off," one reviewer argues. That's a specific, considered critique of a system this review's sample otherwise praises conceptually — the ambition is real, but its execution draws a fair, pointed challenge from engaged players.

A documented recovery, not a full one

A substantial portion of this review's positive sample is explicitly framed around a return visit after patches. "This game has greatly improved since launch and is now genuinely fun to play," one reviewer writes, while another notes plainly: "I'm guessing the big patch solved the issues brought up because I haven't encountered any." A third reviewer frames their long-delayed purchase directly around the patch history: "I was concerned about this game given the reviews, but I'm guessing the big patch solved the issues." This review treats these as credible, specific firsthand accounts of real improvement, while noting that a comparable number of reviewers in the negative sample still report unresolved, quest-blocking bugs well after the same patches shipped.

Writing that outlasts its rough edges

Even among reviewers frustrated by bugs and combat, the writing and companion work earn recurring, specific praise. One long-time genre veteran, who has played CRPGs since the early 1990s, calls out the opening hours specifically: "A cool setting, interesting characters, and a compelling opening story/chapter." Another reviewer, weighing the game against modern comparisons, lands on a specific point of reference: "The game to me feels like Wasteland 3 set in Australia with Disco Elysium's interface and odd morality system." Several reviewers who ultimately soured on the game as bugs piled up still credit its early hours specifically, suggesting the writing team's work held up even where the underlying systems built around it did not.

Achievement data confirms severe, early attrition

This review's own check of Steam's achievement data shows the scale of the problem starkly. The single most-earned achievement in the entire game sits at just 29.8% completion, and every achievement tied to reaching one of the four philosophical alignment endings sits below 2%. That's a severe drop-off by any standard, and it corroborates this review's sample directly: a large share of players who start Broken Roads do not finish it, consistent with the bugs and combat frustrations described throughout both the positive and negative reviews sampled here.

What the patch record confirms

Steam's own partner-events feed documents genuinely sustained support for roughly a year following the April 2024 launch: monthly patch notes, hotfixes, and a public post-launch roadmap all appear in the record, directly refuting any claim that the developers abandoned the game the moment it shipped. That record also shows no patch notes after 6 March 2025, roughly a year and a half before this review — consistent with a specific reviewer complaint that development support has since slowed or stopped, even if it was never abandoned outright in the way some players feared.

Final verdict

Broken Roads pairs a genuinely distinctive, well-realized setting and an ambitious philosophy-driven morality system with a launch state that this review's sample overwhelmingly describes as severely undercooked, and this review's own achievement data confirms the resulting player attrition was severe. A meaningful, well-documented year of patching improved matters for many returning players without fully resolving the underlying problems for everyone. CRPG fans specifically drawn to its setting and systems should consider it on a deep discount with clear expectations; players who want a smooth, complete experience out of the box should look elsewhere.