The unusual online role-playing game Book of Travels was released a week ago in Steam Early Access after being postponed in August. The developers refer to it as a TMORPG and take a completely different approach in many ways than genre representatives.
What is a TMORPG? The term TMORPG stands for ‘Tiny Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game’, which is the opposite of an MMORPG. There, the first ‘M’ stands for ‘massively’, meaning: large.
In the case of Book of Travels, the ‘tiny’, meaning: tiny, is the program. Only seven players can be on a server at one time. This is not a technical limitation, but a core component of the game concept.
After a postponement, Book of Travels has now been released on Steam and is well-received there, despite, or perhaps because of, the new concept.
Book of Travels literally goes new ways – What does it offer?
This is how it plays: In Book of Travels, your journey begins with the classic creation of your character. Its personal development is at the center of your upcoming journey. You also choose your starting point in the game world, but from there, the game does not assist you further.
Book of Travels does not hold your hand and actively requires that you discover quests, the game world, and mechanics on your own. You should always have paper and pencil ready since there is no quest log or diary. For some players, this has already become a downfall: they accepted multiple quests without knowing about the missing log (via youtube.com).
There are missions in Book of Travels that force you to interact with other players. However, you cannot talk to them; gestures are how you communicate. Due to the limitation of seven players per server and the gigantic game world, it can be tricky to find a partner for a two-player mission, the community states.
However, the rarer you meet players, the more special it is when it does happen. This is reminiscent of a modern classic: In Journey you experience the entire adventure alone, but occasionally meet companions who make the beautiful, yet lifeless world seem a bit more hopeful.
What is the goal in Book of Travels? The only goal and at the same time the only limit that Book of Travels sets for you is the game world itself. As mentioned, it is very large and offers many different biomes, cities, villages, and sights.
Your goal is simply to travel this world, which can already take around 20 hours or more in the early access phase. In the future, more chapters with even more quests will be released, expanding the world and lore.
Great atmosphere, many bugs: The first reviews of Book of Travels show this
Shortly after the launch of Book of Travels, most reviews were negative. By now, the ratio of positive to negative reviews has reversed, and the Steam ratings are at “Mostly Positive” (via Steam).
What is being criticized: One of the biggest criticisms, especially at launch, was bugs. Players criticize that the game is still unfinished, and the bugs are said to even cause save files to become corrupted. As a result, all invested time is “lost.”
Additionally, Book of Travels uses a day-night cycle that runs in real-time. This is irritating, as some events depend on the time. The user Cwispeydut gives a somewhat longer opinion on the game:
I currently cannot recommend BoT to anyone. It suffers from many bugs and the questing is too simplistic and unfinished. The first mission only sends you to some larger locations; the following quests with NPCs are all interchangeable.
Cwispeydut via Steam
What players praise: Some of the biggest plus points that players mention include the graphics and gameplay. The picturesque graphics remind one of paintings that players can directly explore themselves.
The game itself gives players the freedom to explore and how they want to play. There is no predefined story; instead, you essentially write your own – or collaboratively with others. Combat is not so much at the forefront; exploration and discovery are much more important goals.
The user Neilsteck praises:
Book of Travels offers a relaxed RPG experience with beautiful landscapes in a unique art style. It does not impose a story on the player; you write your own story — in theory. Book of Travels is in Early Access and has correspondingly many bugs.
Neilsteck via Steam
Since Book of Travels is still in Early Access and is an indie title, a certain development in the reviews should always be taken into account. However, the developers are apparently diligently sending out bug fixes and patches, which has helped the game quickly receive better reviews.
What do you think? Would you play Book of Travels? Are you fascinated by the art style and gameplay, or is this all not for you?
