Interacting with other players is an integral part of a multiplayer game. Book of Travels (Windows/Mac/Linux) wants to show you that this can also work completely without chat, and now presents its unusual system in a video.
What is a TMORPG? Book of Travels removes the “Massive” from MMORPG and replaces it with “Tiny.” A maximum of 30 players should be on a server at the same time, experiencing their very own adventure.
The focus of Book of Travels is clearly the RPG. You explore an exciting world and experience a story along the way. You will rarely meet other players, with whom you can then interact, but all without chat.
How does the interaction work? Even though you do not necessarily have to team up with other players in Book of Travels, interacting with other travelers should be a highlight of the gaming experience. Therefore, the developers decided to completely forgo a chat.
So, you only have communication through emotes left, of which there are many, but much will happen intuitively. A special form of challenge is offered by the newly introduced “Endeavours.”
What are Endeavours? The tasks come in four different categories:
- Physical Tasks: These Endeavours are all about strength. You can manage them alone, but they go faster with another player. Here you can expect things like clearing stones from a path.
- Mystical Tasks: They provide a way to interact with the magical side of the world. These are also easy to solve alone but can also be tackled together. These tasks involve praying at a shrine or singing together.
- Social Tasks: Here it’s about interacting with the NPCs in the world. You will find masters who do not want to teach you anything. With these tasks, you can make them do so.
- Mechanical Tasks: Most other games would probably call them puzzles. They should be particularly fun with several players and have the greatest impact on the game. An example of a mechanical task mentioned by the developer is repairing a boat in order to travel to a new part of the world.
In this video, the developer presents the Endeavours in more detail:
The Endeavours are all designed so that you do not necessarily have to solve them and are under no time pressure. You can return to the task at any time to solve it another time.
The interaction with other players can work well, as proven by games like Journey and Meadow. The latter even comes from the same developer as Book of Travels.
When can you play? There is currently no exact release date. However, after a delay of three weeks, the game will now enter Early Access on August 30 on Steam (via Steam).
Additionally, you can currently pre-order the game through Kickstarter. The cheapest version costs €23.50 and gives you access to the game, your name in the credits, and the game Meadow as well.
What do you think of Book of Travels? Do you find the system good, or does it put you off that there is no chat? Leave us a comment.
If you are interested in more games on Steam, we have collected the 10 MMORPGs with the best ratings.
