Unfamiliar Roads

I once had a neighbour that everyone considered "strange" and mysterious. I do not know why, maybe it was his unsettling expression, or the fact that he was often silent, or because of his strange clothes (he looked like some sort of hippy with his flared trousers and kurta pajamas).
Ok, but when I was able to speak with him and he revealed to be... a totally normal person, and even a little boring! Appearance can sometimes be misleading.

Now you will probably ask me HOW all these things are relevant to the review: it's simple, like that man that everyone considered weird and crazy, Unfamiliar Roads is a game that looks strange and bizarre but under the weird appearance there's a classic game.
But let's start with the...

Gameplay & Combat
Unfamiliar Roads is about growing up: we start as an incomplete being exploring a world of other incomplete beings, some will be friendly and others will be hostile. There are also some parts in which you have to choose how to react at some events, and these situations will make your character learn some new ability or improve his stats. Likewise, digging some particular spots (that are clearly highlighted) will let you sometimes improve your stats, but most of the time you will just earn a decent quantity of consumables, and that's a good thing since there are no shops in this game.

So these are the situations that let your character improve, in fact combat doesn't give you experience points. None. Zero. You can just earn some (few) consumables from the defeated enemies (that are always visible and sometimes avoidable), so the best choice is normally to avoid them and fight only when necessary.


Is this some sort of dragon? Well I don't care, let's kick his asses!

Here's how combat works: you have a "Heart" value that rapresent the hitpoints, and a "Brain" value that is the mana required to cast the various "spells" called emotions: some will make you stronger or tougher, others will damage one random opponent or all of them, and so on. But wait, there is more! Around the levels you will sometimes find weapons (weird items like the bubble whip or the bone sword), some are throwable one-use items usually found in large quantities, others are melee weapons (that can be used without fear to consume or lose them), in any case to attack with them you have to open your inventory and use them on the opponent (just like using healing items).

At the end of each level we will be confronted to a choice: we will have to choose which road we are going to take. One is good, the other is bad, and from the description you will easily learn which is the good path and which is the evil road. After choosing a path we will find that our avatar is changed to reflect his experiences, and also the landscape will be different. This means that we will find stronger enemies, better consumables and new challenges.

Graphics, Music and Mapping
Surely the graphics of this game are interesting and unusual: locations are weird and surreal (we have a wasteland with giant bones scattered around, a mountain made of gold, and so on), and the creatures that roams these territories are bizarre and disturbing. Everything here is custom and very creative.
Each level has its eerie tune and let's just say I liked them.
Mapping is quite simple and not too complicated, every level is totally linear, until the final part in which you will decide the next road. Three levels and you will finish the game, so there is a total of five different levels: a first introductive level, two second levels (one good and one bad) and two final levels (one good, one bad).


The world is full of conflicts. And this is just one of them!

What I liked and what I did not like
Unfamiliar Roads is short game, not particularly complex or deep. I liked a lot the art, the story, and I also found the narrative well written and without typos.
Combat difficulty is usually balanced, so what I did not like? Here's the list!

1 - Every level is similar: you can learn different abilities and find different weapons, but the goal is always the same, fight everyone until you reach the end of the level. Unfortunatley combat will become a bit boring after a while, and there's no benefit in fighting more enemies, you will only waste more time.

2 - Some unfair situations: game is good but I could not stand some choices, for example when you dig something on the map enemies keep moving while the dialogue is shown, so this means that they will surely catch you! Also the giant scorpion of the Bonelands (I do not how can I call that level!) has a triple attack that is imprecise but does an enormous amount of damage if he hits more than once, that was more frustrating than the final boss (near the end of the game you also learn a powerful attack, that is really useful)!

3 - I expected more: I mean more story, more characters, more adventures or just more info about the setting of the game. Other "weird" games I played had some bizarre situations and weird dialogues that involved me in the story and kept me motivated (and/or were shorter, so they did not became boring!). Playing Unfamiliar Roads I expected some kind of revelation, some diversions, some puzzles... but no! Everything remains quite generic and there's no big difference between the two paths (well, there is no big difference between each level too, except for maps and enemies!), because they are almost specular. Moreover the final level can be chosen no matter what you chose before so the first choice has no big relevance (except learning some slightly different abilities and finding different weapons... and it's always one weapon for level!).

Verdict
Unfamiliar roads is not a bad game but hidden under its charming appearance there's a repetitive and generic gameplay. No interesting characters, no puzzles, no optional sidequests, nothing at all. At the same time it looks and sounds good, and combat is well done, there are no typos or errors... it's not a ad game but I expected more, much more. This is like my boring neighbour, or a girl that is pretty but shallow, if you prefer another metaphor.

So I think that 3/5 is perfect to summarize what is playing Unfamiliar Roads. Not a bad experience, but not an exciting one either!