Review – Kentucky Route Zero
Released in five separate acts, the third being the most recent, Kentucky Route Zero is part point-and-click adventure game, part stage play and part poem. Beautiful to look at and listen to, the gameplay is quite simple, much like Telltale’s hit episodic series The Walking Dead. It’s an adventure game, but there are no absurd puzzles requiring you to struggle to combine disparate objects in your inventory. Instead, you slip on some headphones and explore a world unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, evoking Waiting for Godot and David Lynch, with haunting soundscapes of emotive electronica and soulful bluegrass. Beyond mere cleverness, the developers have something to say about alienation and debt. It can be as grim as it sounds, but it’s also often funny and warm.
★★★★★
This review originally appeared in INSIDER Magazine with The Irish Independent.