Road 96 can be described as a narrative-driven dystopian country road trip simulator where you play as a teen on the run… scratch that, as several teens on the run, one at a time. Ruled with an iron fist by the tyrant President Tyrak, the prospect of a turbulent presidential election and a nation that is divided beyond fixing pushes young kids to the border, and consequentially to inexplicable and frequent disappearances.

Do not let this fool you; Road 96 is a blast of a game, where humor and satire travel hand in hand through hopeless desert roads and rest stops, meeting mysterious characters with masked intentions.

The Kids Aren't Alright

Despite the somber starting point, Road 96 manages to retain a glimpse of hope as you travel across the country of Petria by every means possible: hitchhiking, taxi, on foot, driving, whatever you have at your disposal, as long as your money and your energy allow you to. The goal is to cross the border, something easier said than done – reaching it can be quite challenging, but crossing to the other side is the ultimate test, given the heavy security from the authoritarian regime, where a simple hesitation can send you straight to jail.

You are thrown into this peculiar and surprisingly colorful world with little context to support your first attempt. Stepping into the shoes of a teen, you’ll find yourself amidst a series of separate events that will make up the stories of each of the characters you control in turns –it’s not a single main character, this being one of the highlights of Road 96. It’s a weird beast in terms of linearity, feeling somewhat restrictive in terms of gameplay while managing to deliver something new in each of your playthroughs, your choices impacting your next trip. Your teens will be arrested or simply disappear, and another one will come right after, attempting to escape.

Failure isn’t all in vain; during your progress you’ll meet a host of oddball characters, some helpful, some clearly vicious, but you can learn something from them. Special abilities that you discover are going to unlock some important actions for future runs: hacking, lucky star, lockpicking, cleverness, government pass, and omen vitality. Think of Road 96 as a roguelite of sorts, the most unexpected one in design, where “dying” and restarting will allow you to use your newfound abilities to unlock dialogue and action choices that were previously out of your reach.

While the teens you control are nothing more than blank canvases without a voice or even a body (and they all sound the same while whistling), the characters you’ll meet are drenching with personality and peculiar touches, taking you through all the motions – they can be endearing, peculiar, silly, mysterious, even unsettling in a tone that is too blunt to be taken seriously, although it may resonate with some personas that we see in real life. Reporter Sonya Sanchez, for example, constantly tries to impose her biased takes without any limits or concerns, a cutthroat approach that spares no one.

Choices matter here, and while that is a perk in itself, it avoid the pitfalls of others by providing options that are not straightforward at all times. You’ll second-guess yourself quite often, trying to pick the best answer in order to make your progress smoother, and fail miserably, regretting your choice seconds later. But the truth is that you’ll have fun either way, you’ll enjoy the ride right up to your destination or until it’s abruptly cut short. No matter the ending, the journey was already worth it, and you can always start a new adventure with fresh eyes, or better, fresh teen.

Each trip is different, with the game divided in short scenes. Sometimes you’ll find yourself at a diner playing competitive Pwong and then breaking into a room, other times you’ll be at a motel helping a cop to uncover a suspect in a simple but exciting police investigation gig, among many other creative set pieces. When the scene concludes, it’s time to hit the road and get to the next one.

To the merit of Road 96, the diversity on offer more than makes up for the fairly limited gameplay. Along with first-person exploration and a host of mini-games which are for the most part perfectly integrated into the adventure, this is a game that never gets boring and keeps on throwing surprises at you. While you’re going to meet the same characters over and over again, the approach will be different each time, and so will your link and interaction with them.

The colorful and vivid graphics showcase an accomplished polygonal style which makes each scene quite appealing, even more with the clever use of lighting and colors. It’s not perfect, however, with noticeable issues where items aggressively clip, and it’s hard to ignore the limitless first-person character rotation, which should have been restricted to some degree. The prime example of this is when we are driving a car and we can look to the headrest, or even down to our seat, as if we were nothing but an ethereal character with no solid form.

Spatial sound also works in a strange way. If you spin your character on the spot, the volume of a person or a radio that are right in front of you decrease, as if you had started to slowly walk away. In Road 96, if you’re not directly facing the sound source, the sound will lower. That’s not how life works, the last time I have checked.

And Road 96 has quite the sound! Or to be more specific, the tunes. The synth wave soundtrack is mostly fantastic, with exciting and immersive songs that are just too beautiful to pass on, and the game knows this very well – so much that the collectibles are comprised of tapes that you can play in many places, from stereo systems to car radios.

A Journey to Remember

Road 96 is more than a game to be played; it’s an adventure to be experienced. This is one for fans of immersive narratives, a short book in the form of a playable undertaking, with clever worldbuilding and fairly memorable characters. It’s a simpler take on the Life is Strange games, but equally compelling, and quite original. This is a journey completely worth taking, even if you end up failing to reach the border over and over again – you’ll have a few laughs, maybe shed some tears while attempting to, and it will all be entirely worth it, escape or not.

Pros:

• Rich worldbuilding with quirky characters
• A structure that defies conventions
• Appealing graphics and fantastic soundtrack

Cons:

• Some technical issues
• 48 levels for now seems a bit on the slim side

Rating: 8/10