Roleplaying games, depending on their subgenre, are always fascinating in how they deliver their stories. Most of them are divided into certain subgenres, such as action roleplaying games, Japanese roleplaying games, Western roleplaying games, etc., due to their distinctive way of playing through a well-assorted storyline. There is a different aspect to this, though; most roleplay games nowadays are played through consoles or computers. This was not the case when technological advancement wasn’t that established; people usually played table-top roleplaying games with cards and built-in systems with the magic of pens and papers.

With the advancement, though, most of the roleplaying aspects moved over to computers and video game consoles, which also led to larger audiences being interested in said genres. The game we are about to cover is also a highly detailed roleplaying game that complements both tabletop and computer roleplaying games with its detailed aspects and strong storytelling. Book of Hours was a very established and properly managed roleplaying game that felt like a real story that actually happened in our timeline with its rich elements.

The story starts with our character being beached in one of the UK’s grittiest beaches, being unconscious, unaware, and pretty much lost in limbo. While trying to sort out where you are, there are items you carry along with you to help you find your identity, your mission, and what you have to know about your presence in the town. Your goal is to reach the sacred library on top by getting along with locals in this little British town by gathering information, acquiring skills, and revealing your true identity during your journey to becoming a true professional librarian.

Now, I am pretty sure the people who are very much into CRPGs will not have any problems starting Book of Hours, as the game starts with a sudden drop onto the play area, the map itself, with very few things to note. Every single bit of information, action, and items are added to your inventory once you find a way to interact with them. At first, the interaction menus are sorted very differently, and the game gives you zero clear way of what you should do. Unless you read every single bit of the given dialog and paragraph, that is going to be the most appealing part of Book of Hours is that it will be surely liked by people who tend to read every bit of word to get a grasp on the current situation and what they should come up with next.

Since I am not familiar with the genre, it took me some time to get along with Book of Hours, and this could be the only problem so far with the title. It is not so very welcoming to people who want to try out new roleplaying experiences other than Western or action roleplaying games on the market. Although they are putting forward the nifty factor of how their previous title, Cultist Simulator, is way harder, it is certainly making me feel like I have taken a task that was way above my range. No matter, once everything is sorted and you can pick up pieces by adding events together, Book of Hours slowly starts gaining your interest and becomes almost like a book- yes, the pun is intended.

Book of Hours follows the idea of a living town with very likable characters and a slow progression system built around cards given to you on that day. Since it is pretty much a real-life simulator, there is a big day and night cycle throughout your adventures, and you need to keep track of the weather too. There are some game mechanics that make Book of Hours at least a bit bearable, with quicksave options if you were to make a mistake or pausing and fast-forwarding the time in order to see the consequences of your actions. The developer, Weather Factory, claims these are some new mechanics added to welcome new players to the genre.

In one of their streams, Weather Factory goes over the UI and how it was subject to change in later builds, and they seemed to deliver a nicer and sharper UI compared to their previous builds. Although I give credit to the improvement, the interface became clunky to use from time to time. Especially when you are trying to close a window but end up getting a notification of the whole dialog becoming copied to the clipboard. It wouldn’t have been a problem if you did not actually spawn the boxes for the amount you clicked. So you end up with 10 boxes covering the whole screen while trying to keep going with the story.

Since the setting is 1930s British moors and gritty beaches, you are sometimes inclined to know the cultural aspects of the time. Pre-war people and their own ways of seeing the world differently affect your story. Book of Hours employs that perfect human relationship with both love and hatred; it allows players to have some sort of a bond with certain characters or have a blinding vision of the current events. In order to find those unique people, it is best to hang out in a pub which most people tend to visit. A depressed artist, a chemist, and a sailor are some of them, and their intentions change depending on your mood and their mood as well. Therefore, the overall atmosphere plays a huge role in terms of progression, and as you could expect, with Britain’s highly-depressed, rainy weather, it could be a great chance to commit some actions during cloudy or sunny weather.

Let’s talk about the gameplay. It is mostly drag and drop your cards on selected spaces to make a move. Making a move advances the story and your faith, and therefore sometimes you have to stop, think about the outcome, and then make a move. But as we said earlier, the save and load system does make some decisions easy, as you can revert back to a time before your decision was made. Just like how this is a real-life simulator, everything is set on a timer, and if you do not make a move in a jiffy, you might just miss an opportunity to add information to your memory or learn a skill. Information, skills, and memories are important for your character's development as they heavily affect their personality and ultimately make the librarian you want them to be.

Now it wouldn’t be a proper review without mentioning how Book of Hours look, feel, and sound. With its theming of an early 1900s British coast town, the soundtrack, haze, and overall visual representation fit the game perfectly. Though the developers’ previous game makes another return for the review, and we can easily see the cards and icons used for Cultist Simulator have been reused, or slightly changed, making it some sort of repetition for the people who played that game too. Nonetheless, their care and intention of bringing a proper title with simplistic icons, cards, and shapes make it stand out from the other CRPGs on the market. With its immensely well-thought, tightly-knitted gameplay, Book of Hours can lead to extreme amounts of replay value with builds or choices you can make in your adventure. This, of course, leads to every single playthrough being different from another, just like the rouge-like genre that is getting more popular day by day.

The difficulty curve of Book of Hours is actually quite steep if you are not familiar with the genre. The lack of tutorials mixed with confusion sinking into both you and your character, plus being in time limitation, forces you to opt for things you haven’t tried before. It usually involves dragging cards or items to every single empty space and expecting it to work. If you are very much used to CRPGs, however, the title will be a nice way to earn your own name in the library you are trying to get in.

My favorite part of Book of Hours was how everything was narrated. It will surely make you feel like reading through a book with excessive details, a pinch of sarcasm in the narrative, and the hopefulness you are going through while watching your character go around the town. It is amazing how a simple yet in-depth game can lead to such a neat way of narrative that puts you into the perspective of the protagonist while you are the one who is ultimately deciding their fate.

Overall, Book of Hours, with its narrative and properly implemented story elements, is what a dedicated CRPG fan is looking for. It is not too excessive nor too flashy on the eyes. Simplistic design, loveable characters, a huge map to play on, and complete freedom of the protagonist allow the player to freely choose their own way of getting themselves back on track. Book of Hours is going to be published on Steam on the 18th of August, and we thoroughly and thoroughly recommend checking it out.

Atilla Turan (@burningarrow)
Editor, NoobFeed