Plague Road

About

Plague Road is a single player role playing game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Arcade Distillery and was released on May 23, 2017. It received negative reviews from players.

Rescue survivors, fight monsters and explore a once great city fallen to plague in a dark fantasy game combining turn-based tactical strategy and roguelike elements.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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30%

Audience ScoreBased on 23 reviews

graphics9 positive mentions

grinding6 negative mentions

The art style is visually appealing and colorful, reminiscent of comic book aesthetics.
The game features a unique premise of playing as a Plague Doctor, which adds an interesting narrative element.
The soundtrack and voice acting, particularly by Jim Sterling, are well-received and enhance the overall experience.

The gameplay is repetitive and grindy, with frequent battles that lack depth and variety, leading to a tedious experience.
There are numerous bugs and technical issues, including game-breaking crashes and poorly implemented mechanics.
The game feels unfinished, with minimal guidance for players and a lack of meaningful progression or rewards for combat.

graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
82%
27%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their cool and vibrant art style, with many reviewers highlighting the impressive visuals and character designs. However, some criticism arises regarding the color choices in certain environments, which can appear overly light. Overall, while the aesthetic is a strong point, opinions vary on how well it complements the gameplay experience.
- “The art style is really cool (even if a little convoluted).”
- “It has classical turn-based RPG elements, nice soundtrack, and great visuals.”
- “The graphics are amazing!!”
- “Disclaimer: I'm a Kickstarter backer, and the reasons I backed it were the art style, Jim as the voice actor, and the demo was quite promising. Sadly, it didn't improve much for the combat in the final product.”
- “The graphics feel outdated and lack the polish expected from a modern game.”
- “While the art style has potential, the execution falls flat, making the visuals feel inconsistent and unrefined.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and time-consuming, often requiring significant hours to progress, especially in the early stages. While some appreciate the grind as a background activity, many feel it detracts from the overall enjoyment, making gameplay feel repetitive and boring.
- “The gameplay gets pretty boring and grindy fast, but I found it to be a fair enough game to play in the background while doing something else.”
- “Especially in the beginning, you need to grind a lot for people until you have a useful party, then you start grinding for the buildings for the stats and skills.”
- “Now I don't mind a grind, but if you want to get out of the first area, be ready to spend 6+ hours grinding it.”
gameplay
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The gameplay is criticized for being repetitive and grindy, quickly becoming boring and lacking clear objectives. Players find the mechanics frustrating, particularly due to relentless enemy encounters and a reliance on luck for party formation, which detracts from any potential tactical depth. While the art is appreciated, the overall gameplay experience fails to engage or motivate continued play.
- “The gameplay is '2.5D' in that you scroll left to right while also moving forward and backward, finding random encounters and relentless enemies. Seriously, they will hunt you until you leave the screen, meaning that if you aren't at full health, it can be quite annoying.”
- “The gameplay doesn't differ at all from the 'pre-pre alpha' we were shown.”
- “There's progression somewhere, but the core gameplay loop is just not there to make me want to come back.”
- “The gameplay gets pretty boring and grindy fast, but I found it to be a fair enough game to play in the background while doing something else.”
- “It doesn't do much to explain what you're meant to be doing, and the actual gameplay just isn't fun.”
- “The gameplay is '2.5D' in that you scroll left to right while also moving forward and backward, finding random encounters and relentless enemies. Seriously, they will hunt you until you leave the screen, meaning that if you aren't at full health, it's just annoying.”
story
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
67%
The game's story is perceived as minimal and lacking depth, primarily consisting of brief narration by the character Jimmy when entering new areas. While some players find the story unique, they criticize the short ending and feel that the overall narrative feels unfinished and poorly explained, with limited guidance beyond the initial introduction.
- “The story for the game is good and unique, but the ending sequence was very short.”
- “I really wish there was a neutral button for reviews; it's not bad, just feels very unfinished. There are controller commands for keyboard users, and nothing is really explained apart from the intro story, which to be honest, I can't listen to (this coming from a massive fan of Jim F. Sterling).”
- “Also, the game basically has no story other than a bit of Jimmy's narration whenever you reach a new area.”
- “I really wish there was a 'neutral button' for reviews. It's not bad, just feels very unfinished. There are controller commands for keyboard users, and nothing is really explained apart from the intro story, which to be honest, I can't listen to (this coming from a massive fan of Jim F. Sterling).”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game is praised for its soothing quality and complements the classical turn-based RPG elements, featuring a nice soundtrack and good voice acting that enhances the overall experience.
- “It has classical turn-based RPG elements, a nice soundtrack, and great visuals.”
- “The soundtrack and voice acting are quite good.”
- “The music is kind of soothing.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Users report issues with stability, particularly noting that certain achievements, like the "Resilient" achievement, are buggy and unlock unexpectedly, leading to confusion about the game's mechanics.
- “The achievement for Resilient is buggy; I never got poisoned in the first forest part but used healing over time and suddenly unlocked it.”
- “The game crashes frequently, making it nearly impossible to progress without losing hours of work.”
- “I experienced constant frame drops and stuttering, which severely impacted my gameplay experience.”