Book Of Travels
PC
Might And Delight is out to defy convention with this hand-painted social RPG. It almost feels like a Shakespearean sonnet written in code – a love letter to a genre that’s become diluted with vapid quests, superficial choices, and ostentatious combat. The Swedish studio promises its upcoming TMORPG – that’s ‘tiny multiplayer online roleplaying game’, for the uninitiated – will hark back to classics such as Baldur’s Gate by demanding players engage with the world around them, trusting them to take the lead and chart their own path.
“The first thing to accept is that this is not a common RPG,” creative director Jakob Tuchten explains. “So if you’re expecting a storyline that will hold you by the hand, this is not the game for you.” Tuchten appears frustrated with modern RPGs that seem reluctant to engage fully with the concept at the centre: roleplaying. Sounding off about Blizzard’s once-untouchable MMO World Of Warcraft, the creative director questions why those who choose to roam Azeroth as lifepreserving priests are constantly pressured to reach for a weapon, or how players can be expected to carve out a sense of identity in a world overrun with larger-than-life heroes.
By letting players define their own narrative and cultivate a unique style of play, Tuchten hopes Book Of Travels can shun convention and spark a roleplaying renaissance. He wants the players to live and breathe their characters, embedding themselves in the pre-industrial cities and enchanted wilds of Braided Shore, a sprawling fairytale peninsula beautifully realised with Impressionist flair. As you might expect, it’s entirely possible to become a swashbuckling adventurer, but why not make a name for yourself as a tea-addicted gambler, a stoic student of binding magic, an expert linguist with a knack for foraging, or even a jaded monster hunter turned spiritual pacifist? With over 300 abilities, skills and passives to unearth and master, you will have everything you need to fashion a highly specific fantasy – but it’ll be up to you to truly embody the role.
The other RPG staples are here, too. Combat, quests, loot, monsters and magic (the latter of which takes the form of rustic knotspells and powerful teas) all make an
Make a name for yourself as a tea-addicted gambler or a stoic student of binding magic
appearance in Book Of Travels, but they’re not viewed as prerequisites. “Some players might choose to ignore everything we’ve planted,” Tuchten says, explaining how those mechanics and stories will be presented as obstacles and opportunities rather than essential parts of the experience. “Instead of telling players ‘Your bard has to pick up the sword now to kill that creature,’ we’ll encourage them to roleplay and relate to the situation somehow. So they might
choose to seek out another player who’s a powerful warrior and start travelling with them. We could see social groups forming that way.”
That’s not to say fellow wanderers will necessarily be easy to find. We’re told a maximum of 21 players will be able to occupy the same server when Book Of Travels eventually launches in Early Access, and while that might surprise those used to MMOs filled with noise and chatter, Tuchten hopes a more minimalistic approach will imbue interactions and special multiplayer events – known as ‘Endeavours’ – with intimacy and purpose. As we chat about the game’s chorus of intertwining systems and commitment to player-led roleplaying, it becomes clear the promise of “more meaning” is the beating heart of Book Of Travels. This is an RPG for those seeking true escapism, an ambitious project where every single design choice leans on context and feeling in pursuit of that most elusive of things: authenticity.
“I feel like we can bring something new to the genre and make people realise, ‘OK, maybe RPGs don’t have to revolve around crunching numeric values against each other,’” Tuchten says. “Maybe roleplaying or emotions can be the new standard, and part of what we expect from an RPG. I’d be very happy if we can nudge the norm of what an RPG is in that direction.”
Q