Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition review – Journey over destination

First a little background about Kentucky Route Zero, from indie developers Cardboard Computer and publisher Annapurna Interactive. This narrative adventure began life as a Kickstarter in 2011, with its five Acts releasing for PC in episodic format between 2013 and 2020. With the final Act, and story concluded, a complete TV Edition of the game (including all bonus “interlude” content) was simultaneously unveiled for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

In short, Kentucky Route Zero has been around for a while, but now’s your chance to experience this BAFTA Games Awards winner rejigged for the latest generation of consoles. Much like Annapurna Interactive did for similarly acclaimed Outer Wilds, as of 17 August, Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition has been available for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

In magical realist and moody Kentucky Route Zero, players step into the shoes of a growing, eclectic band of drifters, who are navigating a secret subterranean highway and river system in the caves below Kentucky. It starts in Act One with a greying driver – a recovering alcoholic – trying to make a final delivery for a shuttered antique shop. In searching for the mysterious address of 5 Dogwood Drive, he is joined by an emotionally guarded young woman surrounded by ghosts; an abandoned boy who claims a giant eagle is his brother; and a pair of robot musicians.

If you’re already gaping at that synopsis, straight up let me say that Kentucky Route Zero won’t be for everyone. The game has a similar, slightly offkilter energy to the work of Neil Gaiman, so if that’s your jam, hop right in. For the record, Cardboard Computer have listed Gabriel García Márquez, and David Lynch among their creative influences, if you need a further indication of what to expect – namely the matter-of-fact acceptance of the bizarre (for us).

Magic realism is a genre that attracts and repels in equal measure with its weirdness, often feeling like our familiar world has been given the unsettling Uncanny Valley treatment. In the case of Kentucky Route Zero, that means trying to navigate horribly knotted and unhelpful bureaucracy in a government building. Said building includes a whole floor known as the Department of Bears.

That said, for all its peculiarity, Kentucky Route Zero is a game that takes interactive storytelling into uncharted territory. Its experiments don’t always work, and the episodic format means that not all Acts, and their separating interludes, are as engaging (Act IV aboard a ferry is a highlight, while interlude The Entertainment memorably goes from mundane to chilling), but Kentucky Route Zero is a prime example of video games as art.

There really is nothing else like Kentucky Route Zero, despite how much it calls to mind text-based games from the 1980s. The closest in recent times is Obsidian’s Pentiment, with its switching player characters, vast cast and primary gameplay mechanic of dialogue selection, mixed with point-and-click exploration. Kentucky Route Zero feels more “highbrow” though, with a lot to say, and in a consciously artistic way.

That “lot to say” is pretty veiled though. Do not expect clear answers and explanations from Kentucky Route Zero. It revels in the opaque, and peculiar choices, pulling you away from characters as you’re starting to get a grip on them. Sometimes literally. Just as often, two Acts down the line, you’ll encounter a line of dialogue or flashback that completely alters your perception of them. If you want, you can even tick off the Acts and interludes in a non-linear order – although I personally wouldn’t recommend that approach for the narrative confusion it causes.

What I took home from Kentucky Route Zero is that it’s a melancholy, but not hopeless, look at the transience of life; people moving on but having a lingering influence on those left behind. It’s made more hard-hitting in that it exists in its own version of Late Stage Capitalism, where people live under crushing debt, scrambling for mundane jobs to keep up their productivity, and avoid the wrath of the callous mega corporations that exploit them, and have contributed to climate disaster. Not exactly unrelatable.

Then again, Kentucky Route Zero is very much about the journey, not the destination. Everything about it seems designed to slow down objective-hungry players; to get them just taking in the moment. Dialogue captions are automatically advancing unless you change the setting, forcing you to advance at the game makers’ pace. You’re continually faced with the choice “Time to go. / Not yet.”

There’s a lot to mull over, with a combination of some of the most beautifully poetic and philosophical writing you’ll encounter in a game, and striking, stylised environments that feel more like a diorama as the camera advances deeper through them, slicing away the sides of buildings and other structures. Despite its use of flat colour, this is no 2D side-scroller.

With so much to contemplate and appreciate, Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition is ideal as a console game. You can reflect on it from the comfort of your couch, although it’s such heady, text-heavy stuff that I’d recommend playing through one Act per gaming session to avoid fatigue. For the record, your choices throughout the game won’t impact the story, but they will unearth different details about the characters and world, encouraging replays. Meanwhile, a single, thorough playthrough sits around the 10 to 11-hour mark.

As already noted, Kentucky Route Zero won’t be to everyone’s taste but it’s still a haunting expedition worth taking. For me, the experience was like the video game equivalent of watching Ari Aster’s Hereditary. In both cases, I arrived to the party late, well aware of the hype, and even though I wasn’t always into what was happening on the screen, it stayed with me. I keep mentally returning to Kentucky Route Zero time and time again, and that’s rare. And quite special.

Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition is now playable in native versions for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One. You can also play the game on PC (the PC Edition), as well as mobile devices (Android and iOS) through Netflix Games.