Book of Hours Review

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 role-playing games nowadays are played on consoles or computers. This was not the case when technological advancement wasn’t as established; people usually played tabletop role-playing games with cards and built-in systems, powered by the magic of pens and paper.

With the advancement, though, most of the role-playing 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 role-playing game that complements both tabletop and computer role-playing games with its attention to detail and strong storytelling.

Book of Hours was a well-established, well-managed role-playing game that felt like a real story that actually happened in our timeline, with 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 at the top by getting along with locals in this little British town, gathering information, acquiring skills, and revealing your true identity as you journey toward 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, the most appealing part of the Book of Hours is that it will surely be liked by people who tend to read every 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 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 emphasizing the nifty factor that their previous title, Cultist Simulator, is way harder, it is certainly making me feel like I have taken on 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-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 seem to have delivered a nicer, sharper UI compared to their previous builds.

Although I credit the improvement, the interface became clunky to use at times. Especially when you are trying to close a window but end up getting a notification that the whole dialog has been copied to the clipboard, it wouldn’t have been a problem if you had not actually spawned the boxes for the amount you clicked. So you end up with 10 boxes covering the whole screen while trying to keep the story going.

Since the setting is the 1930s British moors and gritty beaches, you are sometimes inclined to learn about 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 form a bond with certain characters or to have a blinding vision of current events.

To find those unique people, it is best to hang out in a pub that most people 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 progression, and, as you might expect, with Britain’s highly depressed, rainy weather, it could be a great time to take action during cloudy or sunny weather.

Let’s talk about the gameplay. It is mostly drag-and-drop your cards onto selected spaces to make a move. Making a move advances the story and your faith, so sometimes you have to stop, consider the outcome, and then make a move. But as we said earlier, the save-and-load system does make some decisions easier, as you can revert 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 the Book of Hours looks, feels, and sounds.

With its theming of an early-1900s British coastal town, the soundtrack, haze, and overall visuals 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 to provide a proper title with simple icons, cards, and shapes make it stand out from other CRPGs on the market. With its immensely well-thought-out, tightly-knit 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, means every single playthrough is different, just like the rogue-like genre, which is getting more popular by the 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 under time limitations, forces you to opt for things you haven’t tried before. It usually involves dragging cards or items to every single 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 into.

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 narrative that puts you in the protagonist's perspective while you are 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, lovable characters, a huge map to play on, and complete freedom for the protagonist allow the player to choose their own way back on track. Book of Hours will be published on Steam on August 18, and we thoroughly recommend checking it out.