Kentucky Route Zero

I thought this was going to be a fun, enjoyable video game. It is not. A lot what they talk about, like XANADU, is real. This is real stuff that happened in computer science history, like browsing the internet “a single line of text at a time”. If you are one of the few looking for an opportunity to learn about the history of computers in the most off-handed, yet user-friendly way possible, then this is for you. It is a story about how the extremely hard-to-navigate information superhighway of the 60s, 70s, and 80s became the internet. If you’re looking for more, look into how Marc Andreessen developed Mosaic.

This game is an emotional exploration into capitalism and loss, with a touch of authentic Americana. It’s really more of an art piece, like a play, than it is a typical video game. Definitely not for everyone, but if you’re into obscure games that tell a bigger story, this is for you. It’s been months since I finished the final chapter and I still find myself thinking back to this story and its characters often. It’s a low poly masterpiece that makes you sympathize with faceless protagonists, and the music is phenomenally dreamy yet sad.

…Backbone support!

This is not a “game” it’s a very, very, slow choose your own adventure book. If youre on an airplane, in jail or stuck on a 16hr bus, MAYBE you’ll find this amusing. It’s basically like ready a book, one line and a time and clicking to get to the next line. God bless those who have the patience or lack of energy to try and follow this mess.

I absolutely loved this game. The art and music are beautiful as well as the story. However, it is by no means a flashy or fast paced and it frankly felt akin to reading a book in a lot of ways. It’s around 10 hours long and split up into 5 chapters, so definitely longer than what you could play in one sitting. Although I would definitely recommend giving it a shot for the touching narrative and charming cast of characters.

You have to figure out every single mechanic from scratch and when most of them are wildly different from standard, having no guidance is a mistake. I made it to the weird bird thing?? And flew around the entire map for a looong time and made no progress because nothing was explained and there are no hints

I’ve never really had a piece of interactive media that felt so right to me. I play a bit, pause, but I always come back to it, wondering what’s happening next. I see myself in Ezra, Conway, Shannon, Junebug, etc. I can just sit for minutes sinking into the ambience. There are scenes when I’m supposed to be clicking on something to advance but I don’t realize it because I’m content just sitting there and looking and being present. For someone with ADHD who usually plays hyper stimulating games like Valorant or League, that’s saying something.

Just a scum y cash grab from an already scummy company. Can’t even play the game without a Netflix subscription. PASS.

Five Stars for this favorite game. Amazing how such a deceptively simple game can fire curiosity and wonder in a Twilight Zone-like atmosphere. Replays are rewarded with dialog choices that may or may not affect the story, but also lend a wonderful sense of life. Unfortunately, I’ll likely never play the mobile version since I’m not about to purchase a Netflix subscriptions just to play KRZ away from home. Zero stars for that feature —and I so wanted to see how the text dialog boxes were handled on mobile . . .

If you like reading your games instead of playing, this one’s for you! While the animation and art direction here is excellent, it is no game in my humble opinion. It’s something akin to an interactive book — and should be marketed as such so people aren’t duped into investing their precious life minutes on something they thought might be fun. Sorry but, unless you have nothing else to do I’d avoid this “game”.