Broke Signal Badlands: A World of Desert Adventure

Disclaimer: I played a pre-release/demo version of the game on itch.io before buying the game here, so I was already familiar with the dice/stat systems going in. First, what this game is not. Broke Signal Badlands is not a shooter or a driving sim. If you go into it expecting either, you'll be disappointed. It's a roguelike point & click text RPG in the same vein as World Of Horror, but you move from POI to POI with a cute little truck in the desert. I frankly don't know how one could misinterpret the store page to think otherwise, but from other reviews that's apparently possible. Second, the game could use a little more polish. There are a few quality-of-life changes the devs could make to smooth out the playing experience, like preventing the player from accidentally driving into the same POI right after exiting it (as I eventually learned, immediately backing away helps avoid this). Another would be to include a UI element showing how many dice re-rolls you have left before deciding whether to roll or not. Also, as another review mentioned, the gallery shooting minigame does indeed seem to have an ammo tracking bug, which I hope the devs will fix. For now the bug thankfully makes it too easy to succeed rather than too difficult. Third, despite those small flaws, I've enjoyed the game so far and would recommend it to anyone that enjoys text-heavy games like World of Horror or Obra Dinn, though it's much lighter weight than either of those. The encounters in the game are an odd mix of weird horror, cozy exploration, and offbeat humor that work surprisingly well together. I've completed one and a half runs so far, and it seems like there's just enough variety between the day and night versions of the POIs to keep it from getting stale too quick. Mechanically, the dice RNG is a little bit punishing, but learning to back out of bad rolls early and often helps a lot. Every successful dice roll results in a stat increase that doubles as a step towards enlightenment/escaping, so you want to take advantage of your guaranteed dice as frequently as possible, especially since they come back every time you camp. Finally, a helpful tip: You can change the text/image display speed in the options menu, and tapping space during the scroll will skip to the full text/image. This makes running into the same encounter later in a run or backtracking through a long text tree significantly more tolerable.

TL;DR: Try it if you like Kentucky Route Zero, Roadwarden, Citizen Sleeper, or weird west vibes generally. I mostly played on the itch pre-release, so the steam reported playtime isn't really accurate. An excellent narrative game with an iconic art style. The writing matches the pleasant peculiarity of the visuals, and is generally just a memorable romp through a strange, but not unfamiliar desert. Attunement is great, don't sleep on it. Game comparisons can be hard but I'm gonna do it anyway, it plays like a rogue-like version of Roadwarden x Kentucky Route Zero by way of Citizen Sleeper. There's a gun, but it's not a shooter. There's a truck but it's not a driving game. It's a heavily narrative game with some old school rootin' tootin' shootin' gallery elements that are (sometimes) a nice change of pace from the otherwise text heavy game play.

I don't play many text-based games, but when I do, it's like Broke Signal Badlands. Broke Signal Badlands (BSB) neatly balances its encounters perfectly on a tripod of the (desert) gothic, the creepy, and the strange. Cryptids? Maybe. You could find a body or two. Crazy weather or just you're just crazy? You'll find out! It's not a shooter. It's also not what I would call a driving game -- think of it more as a trippy roadtrip of excruciating self-discovery. Will you become enlightened, or will you die in your quest to learn if The Aliens are real? BSB is also, for all that it's a text-heavy game, is not a WORD-ridden game. You have your encounters, but the lore itself and choices are fairly short per event and so are the options. You're not overloaded with a ton of reading in order to get into each story. There's a few events that are more involved than others, but the writing is such that you'll find reading them interesting instead of frustrating. This is something I find a lot of text games struggle with, because while I want to read all the lore, sometimes it's a LOT. And it slows me down. This game doesn't slow me down. It's very short, but I like that because it increases its playability for me. I've done a couple runs and I know there's locations I haven't visited yet and events I haven't triggered and I plan on going back and playing through them. The most difficult part for me is driving the car, and that's because your up key or your W is always your ignition. That makes sense from a driving perspective but took me a minute or two to get used to. Theoretically this game is also controller-compatible, but I prefer keyboard/mouse for games like these, so YMMV if you choose to play that way. Finally, I love the art of the game. It's like you're sitting in front of a vintage TV when you're driving the car, and then for events the graphics add to the vibe instead of being annoying to read. Event/combat art is fun, too, and a good contrast to the 'overworld' of the game. Definitely recommend. However. If you find the R-- H----- M-----. I hope you camped and have your rolls. Good luck.

Отличный рогалик - настолка стилизованный под ретро. Минусы: -отсутствие перевода (в принципе и англ норм, но для охвата большей аудитории будет не лишним) -достижения только внутри игры есть. в стиме их не завезли. -возможно не все перестрелки правильно регает попадания. https://youtu.be/UTyoBECiTHQ прохождение на русском с авто переводчиком (перевод не идеален, возможно позже будет русик от друга) https://youtu.be/J5R1OMuO5Xc плейлист https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcQWYqR0w_3oPCcw3EqWahKZK25emsJLz

This game is a vibe. The roleplaying is reminiscent of Sleeper Citizen, and the writing is unparalleled weird desert fever dream mixed with a surprising depth of empathy. There are a lot of varied encounters and weird secrets to discover, and the visual style is very memorable.

At 15 american dollars, I feel this game is overpriced, if this wasn't gifted to me I definitely wouldn't have played it. I had some decent fun and the writing is consistently pretty interesting. There isn't much mechanical depth but that really never felt like the focus. Just being absorbed in the little bits of the world was were it's at, though, at the price the game could probably stand to have something else going for it. At the very least, some more events would be heavily appreciated.

Enjoyed the minimalist graphics and scooting around in the desert with my truck, especially doing wheelies once I got the hang of driving! Got pretty far on my first journey to Enlightenment before I died. Lots of creepy things out there as well as interesting stuff, and not all human. Music helped set the mood for me but it's nice that you can toggle it off and on when you want. Have to go back and figure out how to shoot stuff, but I admit to backing out of some encounters that felt too dangerous in favor of exploring the map. It changes some when you go back after camping, which keeps the urge to explore going. Good one for Halloween week, you really don't know if your encounters are gonna wind up being a trick or a treat!

tl:dr, mid story, mid gameplay, the shootout are meh, the story are sometimes okay, sometimes bland, if you like story games with some management, go for it. Not for me though. The game is just bland? The story seems interesting, but I just can't seem to immerse myself to it. The dice system are interesting but a bit RNG-heavy, sometimes in my run I just get blasted with 9+ rolls which I backed out of, or unavoidable 5+ rolls with a skill that I haven't put a single point in in the literal first day The shootout are buggy? like the MAIN thing that I'm buying the game for, the shootout, is buggy. I don't think the game properly detects if you ran out of bullets? and its not even satisfying. You just click the enemy, it shows a death animation, and yeah, congrats I guess. And when you camped, it forces you fill out a poll. I'm fine with filling out a diary, but all of the options are serious ones. Like: Aww man I see a nuclear waste on a river 1. Damn that sucks 2. Damn people sucks 3. I wonder where that came from GO MAKE A FUNNY OPTION, HAVE LIKE "I WONDER IF I CAN DRINK IT" or something. Also, if you have a VERY similar 3 choices (yeah shocking dogs are bad, I don't like animal abuse, I love petting dogs), WHY EVEN BOTHER PUTTING IT IN??? JUST HAVE a positive, negative, and funny option. Some of them are decent, but yeah, some of the poll are plagued with this problem. And no, I didn't skip a single one. Then, my friends on discord pinged me to join vc. I exited the game, but it showed me a game over screen??? IT DOESNT HAVE A SAVE FUNCTION. IN ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 2025. I'M DONE, I'LL JUST HANG OUT IN DISCORD VC WITH MY FRIENDS INSTEAD. I wishlishted the game in like a year ago through itch.io I think and thought the concepts are interesting (FOR A DEMO), but I guess they just didn't improve literally anything.

This game is a mood. The feelings of hopelessness and lack of focus that burn-out clouds life with; offset with the hope for something better, that maybe something could change if only you persevere. Filter that through the lens of desert psychedelia, cosmic fiction, and a dash of fringe conspiracy theories to get an idea of what this game has in store. Easily digestible in 30 - 45 minute excursions, yet infinitely repeatable with a new batch of randomized experiences each time. Lending itself to a downtime retreat from reality that lets you ponder choices and what exactly each of us wants out of life. Easily recommended to anyone looking for a great experience that provokes thought and discussion as well as providing a simple game play loop to shut out the noise of daily life.

[h1] Good writing, GREAT atmosphere and gameplay [/h1] [hr] [/hr] This is a fantastic and fresh entry to a genre that has gotten a little tired and formulaic these days. Several things make it stand out IMO… [h2] My favorite parts: [/h2] [list] [*] [b] Storyteller has chops: [/b] The game *pulls* you into the desert, and into the storyline. Not just what happens, but what it *feels* like to be there, walking on hot sand (or crunchy fish skeletons!), spotting a pronghorn stag, feeling the night wind or the chill touch of a wraith. [*] [b] Text doesn't smother gameplay: [/b] Sometimes a good writer KNOWS they're good, so a promising game turns into an interactive story -- like reading War and Peace from PowerPoint slides. Here, the story *enhances* the game and pacing -- more like having Josh Ritter writing your text. [*] [b] Art / Atmosphere: [/b] I'm not usually into pixel art -- unless it's done *really* well, like in this game. The music is just as lean as the art style -- not intrusive at all; it's more like a building's foundation -- not glamorous yet it anchors the art and writing to someplace solid: the Old West. [*][b] Solid gameplay, intuitive UI: [/b] These days it's pretty unusual to find a new release that isn't riddled with bugs and distracting UI problems, but you can tell when a game has been playtested thoroughly. No guarantee that it's error-free, but clearly this game's Bug Graveyard has plenty of occupants! [/list] [h2] My un-favorite parts: [/h2] [list] [*][b] Audio balance: [/b] The default audio settings (levels) need adjustment. Not sure if it was just me, but some of the sound levels were very close to zero. This is a very [b]minor[/b] problem, though, because the game's Options let you tweak practically *everything!* [*][b] Game saves: [/b] One irony of a really content-rich game is that you may not get through a round in the time you have available. Hopefully that's a minor feature that will be added in an update. [*][b] Price point: [/b] This is NOT a problem IMO -- but the current retail price may seem a little steep at first. Once you play the game (and you'll want to play it more than once) you'll see that the depth and quality justify the price. [/list]