Walk S-L-O-W-L-Y across a beautifully hand-painted world in Book of Travels - now on Early Access

[Ninjerk]

I think this game was advertised to me on Facebook or Instagram and I foolishly clicked on the advertisement because I'm a filthy conSOOMer.

It appears this game was successfully kickstarted in Sweden YESbux, and you can see the details at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bookoftravels/book-of-travels-a-serene-online-rpg

Description from the Kickstarter introduction:

Join Book of Travels and become part of a unique social roleplaying experience that doesn’t hold your hand. Inspired by genre classics, this is an online adventure that sets you adrift in an intricate fairytale world... but it’s also an invitation to roleplay without the restraints of linear quests and plotlines. Feel at liberty to travel the free wilds and vivid cities of the Braided Shore peninsula. Wander deep into the layers of this hand-drawn world, stumble upon its hidden places or unravel one of its many mysteries. There is no overarching goal, no real beginning or end, and ultimately you are in charge of shaping your own journey. It’s a land of elusive creatures, lush natural beauty and pastoral calm... but one that has known troubles and where shadows play their part.

Here's the latest video (does not feature combat, unclear if they've implemented it yet):


Notable features:

• Character creation (appears to feature advantages/disadvantages)
• Active and passive abilities
• Some kind of gathering/crafting
• Online multiplayer (they're calling the game a TMORPG or "tiny multiplayer online RPG"
• Reagent-based magic (in the above video shapeshifting and short-range teleportation is featured)

Noteworthy quotes from the video (arbitrarily chosen by me):
The following two are pulled from about the 14-minute mark of the previous video.

"We decided early on that Book of Travels was not going to be an RPG where you are forced into a narrative or forced into a quest chain that takes you from A to B and tells you what to do. We wanted a story and a setting where you're not really the hero of the world... There is an overarching story that you can sort of unfold and take part in... it's not a narrative that is forced upon you. We want the characters you create to be what's driving the adventure forward, so a lot of it comes down to the way you want to play...the way you want to sort of set goals for your character."

"...You can also approach the game socially... staying in the safe areas... playing music, chilling in the tea houses."

Pretty cool music from the OST:


You can find links to their social media and Steam store page at https://mightanddelight.com/bookoftravels

 

[ADL]

I have access to testing for this and it's awesome. Niche as hell but it attracts the audience you'd want to be playing this with you (so far) and I have nothing but good things to say about the developers. You guys might know them from these games

 

[Ninjerk]

I have access to testing for this and it's awesome. Niche as hell but it attracts the audience you'd want to be playing this with you (so far) and I have nothing but good things to say about the developers. You guys might know them from these games

I was surprised to see they had other games. They look to have a pretty small footprint (just having seen their YT subs).

 

[Ninjerk]

In about 20 minutes they're having a live "fireside chat":

 

[Ninjerk]

The developers have posted a couple videos that might be of interest lately. The first is about what influenced the Book of Travels--most notably here is the original Baldur's Gate:


Their decision to go Early Access:

 

[Johnny Biggums]

This game looks interesting, but I'm not sure if it's one of those situations where I'm attracted to a concept and art style that in practice would bore me to tears. That's what happened when I tried Kynseed and a couple other games. On the other hand, I loved the Banner Saga, which I purchased for similar reasons. I guess I'll just have to buy it and see - though I'm planning to wait for a few more patches and at least one content update. I would appreciate reading more codex impressions of the early access, if anyone has played it.

 

[Johnny Biggums]

Things looking shaky atm, developer let go over half the team:

Book of Travels - An Update on Current Affairs at Might and Delight - Steam News (steampowered.com)

In light of the launch not going quite as well as we had hoped, we have had to make some rather big, and difficult, cutbacks to our beloved team. In order to stay alive, we have been forced to cut down our team from around 35 people to 10 people. Saying goodbye to so many skilled, trusted and loved Might and Delighters has been, without a shadow of a doubt, our most difficult test in our 11 year history.

Glad I decided to wait for more content, but hopefully they pull through. Who knows, maybe they fired all the women and now the game will even be better?

 

[Ninjerk]

Reviews still seem generally positive. I saw several from today (only looking on Steam) with most having 30+ hours into the Early Access chapter.

 

[Johnny Biggums]

Infinitron could you update the thread title to Early Access? Idk who usually takes care of mod stuff.

Reviews still seem generally positive. I saw several from today (only looking on Steam) with most having 30+ hours into the Early Access chapter.

It's not like the game would suddenly get bad, but the odds of it fizzling out into vaporware just spiked. Or if not that, of being drastically reduced in ambition. I bet they have the next planned content update mostly ready, and it's the stage after that where I would expect to see delays and issues. Just being cautious, not negative.

 

[Johnny Biggums]

New patch and even a small content update. Does life remain?