Developer: Digixart
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified
Rrp: £10.96 (Humble and Epic), £11.96 (Gog.com, Steam)
Last year I finally got around to playing Road 96 and it ended up becoming one of my favourite games of the year due to its well crafted and highly engaging story. So when I found out that the developers had created a new game in the same universe, a prequel no less I couldn’t help but find my interest piqued.
As I mentioned earlier this is a prequel to Road 96 where you play as one of the other characters you meet on the road, specifically a character called Zoe. You also play as another, new, character named Kaito. These two are from different backgrounds, Zoe is the daughter of a high ranking politician and lives luxury while Kaito is the son of two low level workers who effectively live in a slum. This is the story of how Zoe ended up out of that luxury and on the road trying to escape the country.
Now on its own merits this game is… fine, and sadly that’s the best I can truly give it. It absolutely fails to achieve what Road 96 did and I feel that this is in large part due to the fact it’s a prequel. The game is constrained by what narratively has to come next in Road 96, as such many of the stakes presented to you just don’t feel that meaningful.
I also can’t ignore the fact that this game has a lot of QTE’s for the length of it and really liked to throw a skating mini game within each chapter. I get that these mini games were supposed to represent the character performing a task or dealing with their mental state but it felt so strange when compared to Road 96. Sure, that game has some goofiness to it but it wasn’t as concentrated as this.
Do I feel it’s worth playing? That’s a difficult question for me to answer. I won’t lie, I felt disappointed by this game. I’m glad I got to know some of the backstory to Zoe but this whole game just felt a bit lacklustre.
