Roadwarden
2022 was a banner year for visual novels with an RPG spin. While praise has been heaped on the likes of Citizen Sleeper and I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, Roadwarden also deserves the spotlight. Sending you to sort out the frontier of a grim fantasy world at the behest of a powerful merchant group, Roadwarden combines pretty pixel art and branching dialogue choices to weave a compelling mystery of solidarity and intrigue. Your choices and their hidden dice rolls cascade through the game as you try to complete quests to unlock new resources and information with your limited time and energy. It’s a management sim played out with the ease of a choose-your-own-adventure game and the stakes of a slow-burn thriller, and it will probably end up being one of 2022’s most underrated gems.
