Broken Weave is D&D Dark Souls, but with a key difference - hope

gamesradar.com:

If it wasn't for the pandemic, Broken Weave would have been very different.

Seeing as it uses 'post-apocalyptic' and 'tragic fantasy' to describe itself, you might not be surprised to hear that Broken Weave (developed by Cubicle 7 and used in conjunction with Dungeons and Dragons books) is inspired by the likes of Dark Souls. But what may catch you off guard is the fact that it takes those same cues and runs in the opposite direction. Rather than gorging itself on misery, it does an about-turn into hope. 

Why? It's simple: the development team had seen enough misery during COVID. Plus, it showed them something unexpected - the power of community.

"When inspired by Dark Souls, The Dark Tower, and things like that, it's easy to go a very grim route," says Cubicle 7 creative director Emmet Byrne. "But when you look at some other RPGs that have that grim, post-apocalyptic setting, it is relentless… So in this, you're not big damn heroes in the grand scheme of things, but your actions have consequences - you can make a difference. And so hope and actually coming together as a community became a really big thing. We were so detached from everyone [during COVID] that this idea of community and coming together to build something new really rose to the top. The Dark Souls post-apocalyptic setting might lure people in, but I think [hope] is what will keep people around"

Judging by the fact that the Broken Weave Kickstarter campaign (opens in new tab) has exceeded its goal by nine times and counting, that approach seems to have struck a chord.

In Broken Weave, magic is broken and the gods are dead. While that may sound par for the course so far as fantasy goes, it actually upends the status quo for many of the best tabletop RPGs.