Road 96 Reviews

Really a different one, this is! Everyone who loves 'choices matter' adventure games like the Life is Strange -series. It is an interesting, and thought provoking game - and very cool to do it a way different in another playthrough or two! Or some more :)

Who are you against and who are you for, or maybe neutral?

You can play it through in a variety of different ways and with multiple different characters, everyone aiming to go the same place. Who are you? Who are you not? Don't choose the closest choice of your heart every time.

It was not always so easy for me, a non-US citizen. As a Finnish person this reflected to the certain political waves in a certain country a lot, but you'll be the judge yourself.

I recommend this game for all of us that that love the games without too much of an adrenaline rush.

An excellent indie game! I'd love tho get another game like this one from them, maybe a sequel??

What an interesting game! It definitely has the bones of a Telltale-style "choose your own adventure" game, but with its own distinct wrinkles. (Set in a totalitarian dictatorship, which is a nondescript slurry of present global woes. Pretend it's representing whatever country you dislike accordingly.)

You meet a whole cast of characters during the game: the glitzy "news" anchor, the motorcycling petty thieves, the burly trucker. But the order in which you encounter them is completely random and non-deterministic.

It impacts achievement acquisition. Maybe you'll run into that scenario on the first run; maybe instead on the fifth. No way to force things, really. Just keep on playing until those situations arise.

But every time the game "ends" - you get arrested, or cross the border, or pass out due to exposure - the game puts you in the shoes of another teen trying to make a border crossing. You start anew: encountering the same cast of characters, but seeing a new facet of them, as you meet them in different circumstances each time around. Last time, you heard about why they're out on the open road, estranged from their family; this time, you hear about their romantic entanglements.

If you're going for sheer achievement acquisition, the game could be maddening. You might get the opportunity to knock out some random achievement in 4 minutes, or 40 minutes, or 4 hours.

But if you like these sorts of storytelling games? Road 96 is one of the better ones I've encountered.

A weird blending of a storytelling adventure with randomized events.

Road 96 is like nothing else, well kind of. As you play Road 96, you’ll probably think it’s an interesting visual novel with a choose-your-own-adventure style where the player is trying to escape a totalitarian government, and it is that. It gives whiffs of a Telltale-style game where you go through an adventure as the developer dictates, and tells a good story as you do.

But that will change once you escape the nation or die. Instead of telling you that you’ve won, the game starts again and lets you choose a different character. From there you’re again escaping the country, the stories continue and you’ll get more great storytelling. But the one piece that Road 96 didn’t make fully clear, is that this is a randomized game. My first scene of driving a car while a hacker sits next to me working on a game, probably won’t be yours. There is a progression to some of the scenes, but the order is random, and you’ll earn abilities as you go along that will open up new options which will make a replay a little more interesting at times.

Pick this up if you like storytelling. The central idea of a choices matter game with a totalitarian government is something that’s seen entirely too many times, but the writing of the individual scenes and characters, as well as how they play out at times makes this a must-play. It’s an excellently told story that feels unique, and that’s a great reason to check this one out.

If you want to see more from me: Check out my video on this month of Game Pass games:

Ab. So. Lutely brilliant game, almost gives off Telltale vibes, aside from the fact the routes to the finish line aren't set in stone and that you get to craft your own path there, and even if you don't make it in the end, the fun goes on as you get to restart the chapter with a whole new storyline.

And the soundtrack is nothing to gloss over either, it is perfectamundo. One track thay stuck out to me MASSIVELY was "The Road by Cocoon", which I'm fairly certain is the main theme for the game, this track in particular made me, not emotional, but it made me think how short life is and that theres a whole world out there to be explored and not take life for granted (a slight tangent from the storyline of escaping an oppresive dictatorship, but I digress).

But by all means shape and form, this game deserves 5 stars as it is easily the best game I have played in a looong while, namely as I had lost nearly all interest in gaming during the last few months...