MARCH 2020 PCWorld 93the attendant asks for your dog’s name. Three
options pop up: “Homer,” “Blue,” or “Just
some dog, I don’t know his name.”
Moments later the attendant tells you to log
into his computer, says the password is
something “lyrical,” and that you’ll “feel it out.”
Again, multiple options are given, lines like
fragments of a poem.
“Wheels slide loose,”
“The stars drop away,”
“You just breathe
road,” and so on.
There is no right
answer, no puzzle to
solve. Whatever you
choose, that’s his
password. The
decision matters
because you chose it,
not because someone references it six hours later.
Even by 2020 standards, with many of the
games it inspired already in the rearview,
Kentucky Route Zero has a remarkable view of
the player’s role. It’s authorial almost, allowing
you to not only define the character you’re
playing but the world he lives in. And even