Roadwarden
This engrossing fantasy RPG may be predominantly text-based, but one of its finest tricks is entirely visual. A large window dominates the centre of the screen, containing flavourful descriptions of the place you’re visiting or the people you’re conversing with, above the available actions or answers. To the right is a sidebar noting key stats, as well as options to wait, travel or check your inventory. On the left, your location is illustrated in isometric pixel art, using an eight-colour palette of yellows and browns. In key locations, these images come together piece by piece as you explore them, adding to the thrill of discovery.
One delightful early twist on this sees a settlement instantly fill the window as you clamber up to a high vantage point. But it’s often what you can’t see that fascinates you most: when you explore the area around a locked building, leaving a blank space at the heart of the image, or when you arrive at the gates of a plagueridden village and can’t see beyond its boundaries, the text withholding enough to encourage you to imagine the horrors for yourself. That extends to the map of the peninsula you’ve been charged with exploring; it’s the gaps that most intrigue, as you wonder about the mysteries that lie within them, waiting to be found.