Kentucky Route Zero: PC Edition

More like an interactive story, with rich influences in the litterary, theatrical and philocophical spheres. Everyone talks about magic realism, and that's exactly what it is about, above all : going through a perfectly normal day and suddenly finding yourself on the Kentucky Route Zero, underground (or is it in another dimension?), being possibly dead and filling papers in buildings which have an entire floor dedicated to bears who stare at you when tou pass by. If you want to leave real life and enter a dream, where things work with symbolism, emotional logic and free association, you will find that Kentucky Route Zero is a funny, moving, tought-provoking and sensual example of such a dream. The audiovisual design is excellent and the main strength of the game. However, if you want a clearly defined novel-like story and challenging gameplay, stay away, this is not for you (and that's perfectly fine). Don't say I didn't warn you.

The crowdfunding for Kentucky Route Zero started January 2011 and now, mid of 2015, there are still only 3 of 5 acts out. This means less than one act per year and at least 5-6 years of production. Well with the optimistic assumption that the 5th act will ever be released. Honestly, I wouldn't count on it. This being said, I really like the visuals and the mood. The thing surely has some truly captivating moments. But the game itself is pretty shallow and traveling on the (lame excuse for a ) map is simply annoying. Besides the acts are very, very short. Even if all five acts come together one day, this will still be a short game with little actual game-like interactions. And well, even after three acts, there isn't much of a story. There are some mysterious pieces thrown together which we all hope may one day culminate in an interesting story. At this point, this is not the case though and honestly, I'm getting the feeling that when/if this thing is ever finished, the story will be crude and disappointing. I somewhat fear the development resembles that of the TV show "Lost". I was enthusiastic after the 1st season, but after 2nd and third, things became weirder and weirder and it became clear that the authors hadn't really developed a plan to explain all of this. In the end, most of the things that appeared interesting and mysterious were either never revolved or in an utterly unsatisfying way. Anyway, my main concern is that the creators have lost the interest in this. Hell, even for a team of two people, the development speed for so little of a game is extraordinary slow. There are no expensive graphics, there is no voice acting, the revenues must be in the millions after all the hype. The only explanation is a complete lack of interest. I can somewhat understand that a developer who has earned millions with something that started as labor of love finds it hard to keep his interest for years. As a consumer, I have to expect that he delivers though.

It's really, REALLY, hard to talk about Kentucky Route Zero. I had some expectations that were flustered along the way. However, "my expectations" couldn't be blander and cliché. Instead, Cardboard Computer chose a different path: to create a unique work, deeply experimental and different than anything else I've experienced in gaming. I studied Electronic Literature during my Master's degree and this definitely helped me to appreciate the game more. Electronic Literature is at the core of KR0 – both as a direct influence and as its main goal. E-lit usually wasn't done as entertainment (most of them actually can be pretty boring, just as KR0). The authors aimed at developing new ways to tell stories using digital language. KR0 pays a beautiful homage to these experiments and tries to incorporate them into a game. Does it work? Not always. But when it does, the result is simply amazing. Even if you like adventure games, visual novels, or reading in general, you may not necessarily like Kentucky Route Zero. It's boring, pretentious, unorthodox, and ignores easy storytelling conventions. It doesn't offer catharsis, big reveals, or an intense climax. However, if somehow you feel attracted to this (sur)real world and their melancholic residences, you may have one of the most unique experiences in gaming. Just try to read some e-lit works, such as Interactive Fictions (Photopia) and hypertext fiction, to know beforehand what's the purpose of KR0.

Kentucky Route Zero is a game that could have been a masterpiece if it had been a little more consistent. As it is, this review comes with the caveat that while I 100% recommend Acts I to III, I can't say the same about Acts IV and V. At its best, this is a beautifully sad game with great, subtle writing and a strange and wistful atmosphere. You have to go into it expecting a deliberately slow experience where your choices only really have to do with the characters' personalities and the tone. But if you like the idea of a sleepy dreamlike story whose high points rely on indirect implications, you'll probably like the first half of the game. The problem is, Acts IV and V finish a different story than Act I began, and I don't mean that in a good, cool experimental sense. Somewhere there is a shift in narrative/themes (not a huge one) and presentation (a bigger one), and the game loses its magic. It makes sense: the game took 7 years to make, and Act V alone took 4 of those. In a sense, the people who started the game are probably not the same people who finished it, and it shows. There's also a general decline in quality. By Act IV, the game bludgeons where it previously would have implied and the beautifully sparse and subtle writing has become grandiose. There are no more "wow" moments which elevated the previous acts so much, and the visuals going in a weird direction is part of that. Act IV manages to hold on to some of the atmosphere, but it's lost almost completely in Act V. This makes everything after Act III sound bad, which it isn't. It's decent. But in KRZ, 'decent' is a disappointment. I hope more people choose to take that as praise for the first half of the game, because it's definitely worth experiencing. Ultimately, you won't lose much if you stop at the end of Act III, maybe IV. Personally I was all for the longer wait if the devs thought it was necessary, so it really sucks that the development time seems to have hurt the game in the end.

This is not by any means a game. I cannot see what the point of even having a cursor and dialog options is, since nothing makes a difference in the flow the story. I really liked the visuals and some of the sub-stories, but overall this experiment is far too slow and boring to enjoy.