Unfortunately, this is the first time I am not going to recommend a game. I always strive to be positive in my reviews, but Road 96 just left a sour taste in my mouth. I thought it was just going to be a fun road trip, but I had no idea how political it was going to be. It is also clear as day that this game is based on American politics: red are Republicans and blue Democrats. But what really irritated me while playing, is how politically one-sided it was. This game is supposed to be about choices, but choices only matter in a life or death situation. When it comes to making a political choice, you are always pushed towards siding with the 'Democrats', because the 'Republicans' are, of course, "evil". You cannot even be politically neutral, which is strange, because before I started the game, I was asked several questions and my answers were that I am apolitical and use video games as escapism.

Now let us talk about the 'Republican' president Tyrak, who is clearly based on Donald Trump. Not only is his facial structure similar (poster version excluded), but this whole border/wall thing is probably inspired by Trump's wall at the Mexican-US border. In Road 96: Mile 0 there is even a stall on the day of Tyrak's speech that has red hats with the white letters 'Tyrak' on it, resembling MAGA hats. It could not be more on the nose and if I go full conspiracy theorist here, I like to point out that Tyrak and Trump both start with a 'T' and are 5 letters long and that the 'Democrat' president Florres has 6 letters, just like Clinton, who happened to run against Trump in 1996, the year in which this game takes place. I highly doubt this was all coincidental.

This gives us insight on the political stance and ideology of the developers. I personally like to make a difference between Democrats and Liberals. I see Democrats as people you can still have a conversation with and Liberals as absolute lunatics. Liberals are also the ones who see Donald Trump as the second coming of Adolf Hitler. They have an irrational, almost childlike fear of this man. Trump was in office from 1996 to 2020. Surely, if he was like Hitler, we would have noticed it by now, right? Did he cause a war or put the people in concentration camps? No, he did not, but that does not stop Liberals from panicking that he might get re-elected again.

In this game it is alluded that Tyrak's party are Nazis. You can tell, because throughout the game you will find several posters of Petria's Youth Program, which I believe is based on the Hitlerjugend. Cops are all 'white' and referred to as 'fascists' and 'pigs' and the only good cop is a 'black' woman (it is painfully obvious why they did this, because God forbid there are any good 'white' cops out there). At a certain point in the game you hitch a ride with a man named Geoff and his wife. During a conversation with his wife, he says: "Looting is reasonable when the system is so broken." Yes, because it is perfectly fine to steal things from honest, hardworking folk who never wronged you. This genuinely angered me, because I know Liberals really do have this demented mindset (just think of the BLM riots, back in 2020). Liberals always accuse Republicans of being bigots, fascists, racists and a threat to democracy, while in reality the Far-Left has become exactly that and they do not even seem to realize it.

Alright, I know I already wrote a lot, but I had to get this off my chest. Believe it or not, I have always been politically neutral. I generally try to stay away from politics and be kind to all people, even if I do not agree with their worldviews. However, so many crazy things are happening these days, that I can no longer be silent about it. Sometimes I just need to vent.

Anway, it is such a shame that my gaming experience was overshadowed by these negative feelings about the one-sided political propaganda in this game, because I do like the road trip concept, which is why I bought this game in the first place. But politics and personal feelings aside, in this game you walk too fast for my liking and some characters are really unlikable and annoying when they speak. Alex, for example, with his "homegirl" and "ex-mom". I realize now that this game was made for teenagers, so maybe it is funny if you are a kid, but as an adult it irks me when people speak like that. Personally, I think this game is overrated and the soundtrack, which everyone is so full of praise of, gave me erectile dysfunction.

So... to conclude...

Had I known how political and politically one-sided this game was, I would never have bought it. It was an off-putting experience to me, although I did spent several hours playing it, just to see if my choices really mattered (spoiler: they did not). This game is clearly aimed at kids and it is a fine example of political grooming. Like a lot of teachers in US public schools today, the developers of this game do not teach kids HOW to think, but WHAT to think. It does not help to bridge the gap between people, already on edge in a divided, hostile political climate. Finally, I will quote one of the reviewers of this game, who described it perfectly: "This game is not about choices. It's political indoctrination towards kids covered up by cute animation and music."

한줄 평가

-한번은 멋지고 두번은 못하겠다-

의도적인 느린 진행, 모르면 죽어야지, 얘(스토리 무관한 엑스트라) 살리면 니가죽어 몰랐지?, 로드없는 죽음의 미니게임

상시 사용 스킬 해금이 유지된다는 것이 위안이긴 하더라도 도저히 할 엄두가 안나는 진행에 유튜브를 뒤적이거나 아예 그냥 그런 게임으로 머리에 남기고 뒤로하게 된다.

신선한 첫 진행은 그럼에도 몰입감이 엄청나지만
한 3~40퍼센트쯤 진행하면 그저 엔딩을 향해 달려간다는 느낌만 들고 스타팅 선택 3명에서 밸런스가 늘 안맞는다는 느낌도 들고..

아무튼 특유의 스토리 진행 방식이 게임 구성 기본 틀의 악랄함과는 별개로 좋았다.

스토리 게임 좋아하면 한번은 꼭 해볼만한 게임.

€ PRICE / QUALITY

☐"IT'S A TRAP!"(Admiral Ackbar)
☐ "That'll do, pig. That'll do."(James Cromwell)
☑"SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!"(Philip J. Fry)

PC REQUIREMENTS

☑ Minimum
☑Medium
☐High
☐ Extreme

GRAPHICS

☐Cheap
☐Acceptable
☑Masterpiece

GAME TIME (hours)

☐0>2
☐2>5
☑5>15
☐15>30
☐30>50
☐50>75
☐75>100
☐100>?

STORY

☐ None
☐Bad
☐Good
☑Amazing

DIFFICULTY

☑Simple
☐Easy to learn, hard to master
☐Hard
☐Blackhole (FiolaSoft Studio)
☐Impossible

BUGS

☐Game itself is one big BUG
☐Bugs destroying the game
☐Bugs
☐Few little bugs
☑Perfect