PC World - USA (2020-03)

MARCH 2020 PCWorld 91

Kentucky Route Zero: The game

that defined (and was defined by)

a decade

Wild horses couldn’t drag me away. BY HAYDEN DINGMAN

It’s said that Velvet Under-

ground’s first album sold

dismally, but that everyone

who bought a copy later

started a band. Kentucky Route Zero didn’t sell

quite so poorly, but it’s destined to take up a

similar position in the game industry’s psyche

I think. It defined a decade, and was in turn

defined by that decade.

I hadn’t touched it until this week. The first

chapter released in 2013, before I got paid to

write about games. I naively thought, “I’ll play

it when it’s done.” Now I’m seven years older

and coming up on my seventh anniversary at

PCWorld. Everything has changed. Kentucky

Route Zero has finally finished.

And oh, what a journey.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Coming to Kentucky Route Zero this late is

fascinating because there’s a sense of familiarity

that I doubt existed in 2013. It is still one of the

IMAGE: HAYDEN DINGMAN