It’sstrangehavingtoreviewagame
that I’ve been playing for over seven
years. In some ways it’s a weirdly
nostalgic experience, a reminder that
I’m a completely different person
from when I started playing back in- While I think
many will have the
same realisation,
Kentucky Route Zero’s
message about the
struggles of rural
America and the
working class remain
as relevant today as
they were then.
The story follows Conway, a truck
driver and self-described drifter who
delivers antiques. After the small
store he works for shuts down, we
follow his delivery to 5 Dogwood
Drive, a place that no one seems to
have heard of, but apparently lies
somewhere along an ethereal
highway called the Zero. As Conway
searches for his destination, he’s
slowly joined by a number of fellow
wanderers, and the group travels
across Kentucky together, looking for
a place that may or may not exist.
Theirroadtripisfarfromjusttyre
on tarmac. KRZ takes you through a
number of surreal pit stops
throughout its five acts as you
point-and-click your way across
different scenes. Rather than puzzles,
the focus here is on
weaving an evocative
atmosphere and
memorable moments.
On KRZ’s ethereal
highway, a building is
never ‘just a building’- there’s always a little
poetic twist, such as an
old cathedral that’s
been converted into an office
building, or an empty gas station
that’s shaped like a horse.
ROAD TO NOWHERE
As Conway’s group grows, each
character fades in and out of the
foreground, and you’ll play as each of
them when they take centre stage. As
you chat with NPCs you’re given
choices that reflect a character’s
inner thoughts and, as you decide
which of these will be expressed, it’s
like you’re slowly moulding thecharacter.You choose if they’re
completely over a lost lover, or still
shakenbyan event from their past.
Whiletheroad that KRZ takes is
linear,it’sthese decisions that make
thecharacters feel like your creations,
theirstories becoming yours.
Thegame is mainly an anthology
ofthesesmall stories and you’ll hear
many of them through descriptions,
ghost stories, lore, and mythos. They
all join together to conjure up a bleak
portrait of rural America, of people
struggling to survive in times of
economic hardship.
There were moments when I got
lost in KRZ’s stories. A character
would mention a name that I felt like
I’d heard before, or a place that rang
a bell at the back of my mind, like
remembering a dream after you just
woke up. Following all the narrative
threads can be a bit disorienting, but
never frustrating. I never felt that
KRZ ever wanted anything from me- more that I was just a casual
observer in its ethereal world.
This ties in with the group that
joins Conway on his search. They’re
drifters, pilgrims, loners, and
wanderers. People with nowhere to
go, no home, no boundaries. This
vagabond lifestyle almost sounds
romantic, but in KRZ these unlikely
heroes reveal ugly truths about rural
America. Stories of unpayable loans,
debts, and people being forced into
difficult financial situations through
no fault of their own.
But KRZ isn’t all melancholy. The
last chapter is warm, hopeful, and
feels good regardless of whether it
took you seven years or seven hours
to get there. Its storytelling is slow
but purposeful, and blends fiction,
history, and the supernatural to
conjure up an absorbing portrait of
theUSanditsinhabitants.
NEEDTOKNOW
WHATISIT?
Apoint-and-click
adventuregameof
Americanaand
weirdness
EXPECTTOPAY
£19
DEVELOPER
Cardboard Computer
PUBLISHER
Annapurna Interactive
REVIEWED ON
Intel Core i3-8350K
CPU, 8GB RAM, GeForce
GTX 1060
MULTIPLAYER
No
LINK
kentuckyroutezero.com87
A compelling story
about rural America
that is both surreal
and thoughtful, if a little
disorienting at times.VERDICTKRZ takes you
through a
number of
surreal
pit stopsI
t’s taken seven years for developer Cardboard Computer to release
all five episodes of its otherworldly adventure. It was first
Kickstarted in 2011. Where games like The Walking Dead or Life is
Strange will drop episodes at most months apart, Kentucky Route
Zero irregularly wandered into our lives with two hours of surreal,
evocative story before disappearing once again – slinking back into the
aether until it was time for the next episode.ROAD TRIPPIN’
KENTUCKY ROUTE ZERO’s surreal adventure follows the
drifters on America’s highways. By Rachel Watts
ZERO CLUE Some tips if you get lost on Kentucky’s ethereal highways
1
RETRACE YOUR
STEPS
The highways morph, so
go back the way you came
and you might find
yourself somewhere else.2
LISTEN TO
RADIO STATIC
If you listen closely, you’ll
be able to hear a ghostly
voice in the static with
helpful directions.3
FEEL WHERE YOU
WANT TO GO
If you put your complete
trust into the road, the
road will certainly reward
your loyalty.4
LOOK OUT FOR
GIANT BIRDS
They might not take you
where you want to go but
they will take you
somewhere. That’s good!Kentucky Route Zero
REVIEW