Road 96: Mile 0

A couple of years ago, Digixart launched its narrative-heavy adventure game Road 96, and I reviewed that game and absolutely loved it. The choices you had to make felt weighty and real, the story was compelling and emotionally-conflicting, the character development was excellent, and it was just generally a fun experience through and through. Jump to today and Digixart is looking to expand this series with a prequel instalment that revolves around two characters (one being a very important one from Road 96) and that sets the scene and plot for the original game, all while still featuring a bunch of familiar gameplay elements to keep Road 96 veterans entertained. But, as this prequel is also very different, does it excel to the same degree as the main game? That is something I'm less inclined to agree with.

Because the brilliance of Road 96 came in its random nature. You never really knew what the next level would offer or who you'd come into contact with. You could be having a pleasant conversation with John in his truck, or riding in the sidecar of a criminal's motorbike. That mystery was what made the story so compelling, and the fact that this method also intricately and delicately weaved narrative and character development together in such a way that you had to piece together who the characters were and how they are all tied together made for a truly special and unique game. Road 96: Mile 0 doesn't deliver on this front, for a couple of reasons.

As this is a prequel, the mystery of the story isn't really there from minute one as you kind of know what's coming and what to expect. Secondly, the choices are less diverse as the narrative isn't about doing whatever it takes to escape an authoritarian nation and is rather about challenging your beliefs of the civilisation you grew up in. It's still heavy-hitting and emotionally-conflicting at pretty much every turn, and Digixart still pulls no punches here, but the charm and mystery that made Road 96 so special is clearly missing.

And I think this is partly down to the fact that Mile 0 plays from the perspective of two different protagonists. On one hand, you have Zoe (the young girl you meet multiple times in Road 96), the daughter of a leading government official who is faced with the task of accepting or beginning to question her own existence in a clearly polarised nation. Then on the other hand you have Kaito, who is an individual from a poor background who is working with his parents to do whatever it takes to escape the nation of Petria in the hope of a better life. The two characters are on completely different trajectories and while I can understand that Digixart is attempting to use their two opposite livelihoods to convey the issues that Petria faces, the frequent switching of perspectives takes the sting out of the narrative and its message as you never really connect with either of the two protagonists.

With all of the frequent switching in mind, Mile 0 also doesn't deliver on the same level of character development as that of Road 96, as the supporting cast do not feel even marginally as important and baked into the story as that of the cast from the main game. In fact, it feels as though Digixart has decided that Mile 0's focus needs to be on unusual gameplay elements over narrative, and while there are some quirky mechanics that entertain, Road 96 excelled due to its compelling story first and foremost.

But as for what I'm referring to in regard to the quirky gameplay systems, Mile 0 features a ton of quick-time events and rhythm action sequences, with these two often going hand-in-hand. The rhythm gameplay is entertaining and puts a new challenging spin on the Road 96 formula, but it's also rather rudimentary and comes across as more of a niche addition than a true gameplay evolution. As for the quick-time events, love them or hate them, they're here in droves and do work to keep you on your toes during the most intense story moments. To add to this are a bunch of even more niche systems that pop up out of the blue and add further spice to the gameplay, be it a fighting-style conclusion, small, basic environmental puzzles, or even creative painting systems. They're surprising and fun, but also very fleeting.

And in the spirit of being a Road 96 prequel, there are the choices, which have less of a life or death undertone to them, and are more about the sorts of people that you want Zoe and Kaito to be. For example, should you tear down the propaganda poster or instead fix it? Should you call out the police officer for his barbaric behaviour or let it slide? Should you pick up the flyer asking you to vote in favour of the challenging presidential candidate or simply walk on past it? Each will ultimately affect your personality (which is shown on a bar in the top left of the HUD), with Zoe fighting between either accepting society's indoctrination or running away in the hope of a better future, and Kaito struggling with either going full on revolutionary and looking to join a 'terror group' or instead being more reserved and quiet.

In a similar thought as well comes the animation style, which is pretty unique and unusually realised, but also equally clunky. The characters are peculiar in design and that's a strength, but the way that their lips don't sync with dialogue, and how their walking animation doesn't line-up with their movement, and so forth, all makes for a rather conflicting impression where on one hand you can appreciate Digixart's art style but on the other hand feel a little put off by it.

Generally speaking, this summarises my entire time with Road 96: Mile 0. I still love the world and characters that Digixart has created and continued to develop and explore, and there's plenty of compelling ways that the studio manages to bring the story to life with peculiar and niche gameplay systems. But at the same time, I can't help but feel like this prequel has lost some of the charm of the series by deviating so drastically at times and for that reason I don't feel as though Mile 0 lives up to its predecessor. If you've played and enjoyed Road 96, there's still a lot to look forward to here, but is it an advancement from the fantastic 2021 title? I don't believe so.