Choice of Broadsides Demo

Sailing the sea can still be quite the adventure, but thanks to GPS and computers, the mystery is not what it used to be. Granted, this also eliminates a lot of danger from the equation, so there are far fewer people getting lost out on the ocean. Hence, the only way you can enjoy a proper naval adventure nowadays is through books, or in this case, an interactive video game.

Choice of Broadsides is a text-based adventure game with role-playing elements, in which you get to create a character and use it to mold the story as you wish. As you might have guessed, there are no graphics to help you along, so the imagination is the only tool at your disposal. If you are an avid reader, this shouldn’t be a problem, but the audience for the genre is clearly quite limited.

You start by deciding a few things about your character’s past, which is a neat way to customize your alter-ego in certain regards. Thus, the opening scenes should allow you to decide whether your character is violent, strong, intelligent or a combination of those. Not only that, but the decisions you take in this phase can affect what your character can or cannot do later on in the story.

Although many games promise multiple possible endings, Choice of Broadsides also features multiple routes you can take before you get there. Hence, your choices affect the next scene and so on, which means that you can go back to the start and have an entirely different adventure the second time around. Granted, some of the choices are quite predictable, but that’s not always the case.

You can also form relationships with other characters, although this is not enforced upon you. Romance is a possibility too, depending on whether you want to find a partner or just continue on your own. As mentioned before, there are no graphics whatsoever, so everything must take place in your head. It’s not a deal breaker for those who enjoy reading, but some gamers might not be pleased by this aspect.

Choice of Broadsides is obviously focused toward a restrained audience, but it’s pretty well-written, and the subject is fairly uncommon. The freedom to go back and make different choices is always a great selling point.