We analyze this masterful narrative adventure of a dreamlike and surrealist nature that offers us one of the most memorable trips in the history of the game.
Seven years have passed since we started one of the most special trips that this blessed form of entertainment has ever proposed to us. On January 7, 2013, the elusive search for an elusive direction dragged us without remission to an ominous pilgrimage in pursuit of the number 5 of Dogwood Drive, and since then the name of Kentucky Route Zero has become one of the myths of the sector. We first heard of him in the distant 2011, with a Kickstarter campaign that proved enormously successful despite the fact that little was known for sure about the game. Behind the promising title was the small independent Cardboard Computer studio, consisting of only 3 members, Jake Elliott, Tamas Kemenczy and Ben Babbitt. The road map initially set by the creatives for their work was radically different from the one finally carried out.
The title would have 5 acts, which would be released independently in an interval of approximately two years. Because the magnitude of the project got out of hand, the reality has been quite different. After the first act launched in January 2013, Act II was launched on May 31, 2013, Act III on May 6, 2014, IV on July 19, 2016. Finally, the fifth and final act saw the light on January 28, when many had begun to lose faith and took for granted the open end that concludes the disturbing act IV. Fortunately, the trip finally reaches its conclusion to close as it deserves one of the titles that have marked the sector during these years.
What is Kentucky Route Zero and why is it so special? The great work of Carboard Computer is a son of his time, from an era where the then emerging independent sector of the video game began to experiment with other forms of narrative, with titles such as Dear Esther, Papers Please or Gone Home giving it a new e Imaginative twist to the way video games told stories, and with Telltale and its episodic distribution system setting trends. Kentucky Route Zero is a surreal and dreamlike road movie influenced by names like David Lynch, Gabriel García Márquez or Haruki Murakami, defined by its own creators as an adventure of magical realism. This charming trip to the unknowable seeks its own path alien to labels, deconstructing the genre of graphic adventure to strip it of everything that characterizes it except the control with pointer and dialogues, to submit the development of the adventure under the yoke of Dense narrative with a masterful rhythm, which drinks with mastery of the influence of the aforementioned geniuses to weave a unique atmosphere that completely absorbs us.
Kentucky Route Zero shines in an excessive way as an experience. It will not be remembered for its playability, simple and in full service of the narrative, nor for its graphic section, although visually and artistically it is a sovereign delight. It does not even pretend to embellish us with a grandiloquent story that remains etched in our retinas. Here we are to share a memorable surreal journey in the company of an eclectic group of lost souls in an everyday world. That is Kentucky Route Zero, a trip, dreamlike and strange, that at times seems more a play in which we play a role than a video game in itself. An experience that transcends the medium of video games, twisting many of its paradigms to try to find its own way, achieving a resounding success in demonstrating the infinite possibilities offered by this form of electronic entertainment.
We are not going to fool ourselves either. It is very likely that we are facing one of those titles that you love or hate, for the unique and personal of your proposal. As a test, you have available on the website of the game for free some interludes to the chapters, also available in the full version of the game. In case the influences mentioned above seem attractive to you, and you are looking for a different, relaxed title, focused on the narrative and where most of the time you are reading and letting your prints leave you enthralled and surprised, Kentucky Route Zero is a must. and one of the defining works of recent years in the videogame sector. Available since January 28 on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4, in addition to PC, if you do not know this dream highway to the unknown, we strongly recommend that you join the multitude of pilgrims who have been looking for a Dodge direction through a bewildering and esoteric underground route beneath the floors of the strangest deep America.
The number 5 of Dogwood Drive
The starting point of this unique trip could not be more mundane. Our pilgrimage begins in the company of Conway, a year-old truck driver who works as a dealer of the antique store of his boss Lysette. Specifically, we see him prepare to make a final delivery, since the business is about to close. Near dusk, he arrives at a lonely gas station, in search of some indication to try to reach the address of that last delivery, which is turning out to be totally elusive. The gas station manager explains that the only way to reach our destination will be through a mysterious route that runs under the underground caverns of Kentucky, a kind of underground highway known as the "Zero." We do not want to tell you more to let you enjoy this great work as it deserves, but we assure you that what happens from here will not cease to surprise you.
Kentucky Rote Zero is the story of a surreal and dreamlike journey through a mysterious underground route, and the characters we know in it. In the words of its creators, it is a story of unpayable debts, abandoned futures and the human impulse to find a community. Halfway between the road movie and the campfire ghost story, always with that halo of magical realism by flag to offer an always surprising and unique atmosphere, we are facing a truly special title. One of its main assets is its personal and intelligent use of the narrative, playing with the multiple options that a medium as versatile as the videogame has to be able to develop it. This narrative is dense, has a masterful rhythm and is written impeccably. At all times it stands as the true protagonist of the game, completely subjugating a gameplay that is completely at your mercy.
Deconstructing the graphic adventure.
We are facing a title that seeks its own way beyond genres and labels. What at first glance might seem like a graphic adventure ceases to be as soon as we enter the unique and disconcerting experience of this trip to the unknown. The control is carried out with a pointer, very curious, by the way, since it mimics the game of throwing the horseshoe. We move the characters based on clicks through the scenarios, and at certain points contextual icons will be displayed to interact with certain elements. We have many dialogues to choose from, in countless conversations. But there ends all similarity with one of the genres of our loves. There are no puzzles, there are no objects or inventory, just interaction tools for the narrative to do its work, very efficiently as already mentioned.
We must also highlight the theme of the elections that are presented to us in the adventure, both in the form of dialogues and decision making. They really have no weight in the future of adventure, but they are not empty as in other games that deceive us by offering us elections without the slightest importance. Indeed, our decisions will not change the plot a bit, but what they really want is to reflect how we understand that the characters feel about what is happening, and to some extent how we feel ourselves also to all this. Hence what we said that at times it seems more that we are playing a role in a play and not playing a video game. The script is written and immovable, but the dialogues run on our own and serve to reflect the mood and motivations of the protagonists of this surreal and mysterious work. Again, in order to reinforce that masterful narrative that elevates this jewel to the altars in an unappealable way.
The duration of the 5 acts is variable, to which we must add those interludes that are as important as the main acts themselves, so we have a duration of around 8-10 hours, depending on the laps that we give for the scenarios, of which we deepen in the dialogues, and of the number of times that we remain bewitched before the beautiful prints that the game offers us. We warn you that there are many details that are very easy to ignore, so we invite you to taste the trip calmly and stop to inspect every detail. Fortunately, given the huge amount of texts to read, this full version has a correct translation into Spanish among many other languages, both in PC and consoles. For the latter, the control has been adapted to the pad in a more than efficient way, the control on the Switch being also very attractive due to the capabilities of the Nintendo console.
Recreating the most dreamlike deep America
If you make a special title like this, and you have the ability to provide it with a masterful artistic section at the height of that superb narrative that Cardboard Computer's work shows, you end up finishing off the task. Both visually and loudly, this esoteric journey through hidden places of deep America is a real delight for the senses. Believe us if we tell you that the captures do not do justice to the great graphic work done by this humble independent team. Behind those patterned parcos in details and cubist aspect, and those flat textures, an authentic ode is hidden to good taste and know-how. The lighting work in each scene is noteworthy, the use of cameras is spectacular, with masterful frames and surprising transitions that completely immerse us in the dreamlike and surreal setting of the title. The artistic direction employed is fresh, groundbreaking and risky, but knows how to succeed in delving into the personality of this great work.
The soundtrack, mixing country, bluegrass, electronic and ambient music appears in specific moments, sometimes in surprising ways and again as part of the narrative, reinforcing the spirit of the game and marking its southern air. The characters do not have voice dubbing, to reinforce that commitment to the dense narrative and the marked rhythm, making much of the time we are facing this special videogame to do so by reading texts. The good choice and variety of sound effects nuances the atmosphere and gives packaging to the excellent atmosphere of the title. And is that Kentucky Route Zero not only exploits the new narrative pathways that the increasingly thriving independent sector of the video game opened at the time, but that embraces without complex the new forms of artistic expression that this exploration of creativity brought to the middle, and it represents an incontestable demonstration that in order to capture on screen a superb artistic display full of freshness and personality, the most advanced technologies and the most expensive means are not necessary.
CONCLUSION
The wait has been long, but it was worth it. Kentucky Route Zero is a stark commitment to sublimate the art of narrative within the videogame sector, using the tools that such a versatile medium can offer. We are facing a risky and personal fusion of road movie with a ghost story told in the heat of a campfire, blatantly influenced by the work of geniuses such as David Lynch, Gabriel García Márquez or Murakami, to offer us a dreamlike and surreal dream trip, where That really matters and shines brightly is that, the journey itself and the characters we know and with whom we share the same.
Betting on a point and click control, the gameplay goes into the background to be put under the yoke of a dense, rich narrative with a masterful rhythm. Kentucky Route Zero has been a myth since that distant January 7, 2013 when its first act came to light, and what the small independent studio Cardboard Computer has achieved with its brilliant jewel is to show all that such a special form of entertainment and wonderful as it is the video game has to offer within the new paradigm that led to the explosion of independent development. A leisurely, risky title, with one of those proposals that you love or hate. If you have the great fortune of being in the first group, you will understand why this wonder is considered in not a few circles as one of the defining works of the last 10 years in this blessed form of entertainment.
THE BEST
- It offers a dreamlike and surreal trip really memorable.
- The narrative is presented in a superb way, is written with mastery and has a masterful rhythm
- Artistically, both visually and soundly, it is a sovereign delight.
WORST
- Some time when excess text becomes somewhat dense.
- Let loose some ends that we would have liked not to be so.
Excellent
A benchmark title in its genre, which stands out above its competitors and that you will enjoy from beginning to end, surely several times. A game destined to become a classic over the years.
