![]() ![]() ![]() Kentucky Route Zero rewards picking apart its every scene, but it’s also a joy to simply exist within its world. It’s about found family and lost family, the burdens of capitalism and the ways we define ourselves by our work, the slow decline of rural America but also the mythology around it, self-determination versus community, gentrification, the small rituals we perform daily.Īnd sometimes it’s about none of that. It’s unlikely that every part of Kentucky Route Zero will resonate with every person, but you’re almost guaranteed to find something to latch onto. The entire undertaking is sprawling and unwieldy and messy and disjointed, and in some way I think that’s why it’s successful. You’re the writer, the director, the actors, all of it. And even that’s not entirely correct, as Kentucky Route Zero soon expands to multiple characters with multiple viewpoints, and you’re often controlling both parts of a back-and-forth conversation. It’s authorial almost, allowing you to not only define the character you’re playing but the world he lives in. Like Heaven’s Vault though, or Disco Elysium, the walking is only ever in service of more reading and the occasional stunning vista.Įven 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. There is walking between conversations, and a genre purist might call it an adventure game. Kentucky Route Zero is a game of conversations. ![]() I recognize so many other games within Kentucky Route Zero though, or rather the reverse. It’s hard to point fingers and name names, to say “Well this game was clearly influenced by Kentucky Route Zero.” Not without the developers copping to it, anyway. And the list goes on, a list that includes Night in the Woods, Paratopic, maybe even Control. Celeste, and how it handles conversations. Inkle’s games, and the idea that lots of small choices are more important than a few massive ones. Where the Water Tastes Like Wine and its Americana folklore and fascination with the open road, that’s another. Disco Elysium seems like an obvious heir, its prosaic and dreamlike writing very reminiscent of Kentucky Route Zero. ![]()
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