5 ms·

Kentucky Route Zero is an absolute masterpiece in my opinion and is more of an experience than a true game. It really helps to read some critical analysis of th

Kentucky Route Zero is an absolute masterpiece in my opinion and is more of an experience than a true game. It really helps to read some critical analysis of the game after playing it to to get a better understanding and appreciation for the historical background that is being referenced. The game is part adventure, part ghost story, part commentary on the fading american dream, and part artwork. It sounds pretentious, but it never felt that way to me. It is really hard to describe the game and the plot. It is my favorite game along with Journey.

glogla 6y ago
Innuendo Studios has a good 8 minute video essay on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl6OYyU4rl8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl6OYyU4rl8
fetus8 6y ago
Experience is absolutely the right way to describe KRZ. I feel like it shares a lot of the same DNA as Visual Novel style games too. I just finished Snatcher for the first time, and got similar “feelings” while playing and reading through it all.
2bitencryption 6y ago
I agree with everything you wrote, so you sound like me - in that case, try out the game Omori, which just released. It's right up there with Journey and Kentucky Route Zero. It really is That Good.
- scroot 6y ago
  Bookmarking this
- 7thaccount 6y ago
  I'll definitely check that out. When I was younger I loved playing practically any video game, but as I've aged, I only play a few games a year and they generally need to be pretty unusual and heavy on the story side. I want the experience and not the frustration of having to die fighting a boss 10x.
gww 6y ago
Your description reminds me of the Outer Wilds, the creator wrote a thesis on the game. While it is a bit awkward to get used to the time limit it's part exploration, part archeological adventure, part flight simulator and part platforming. The latter parts take a bit to get used to but really make the game fantastic. It's up there for me with journey and it sounds like I should really play KRZ. I just wish I could forget the Outer Wilds and play it again.
- the__alchemist 6y ago
  You've convinced me to play Outer Wilds.
  - dllthomas 6y ago
    Both were published by Annapurna Interactive. Along with Donut County, What Remains Of Edith Finch, and Gorogoa. The only thing I've played that they've published that I felt let down by was Wattam, and that's probably substantially because my expectations were too high.
    - bobthepanda 6y ago
      Eh, for me Donut County wasn’t that successful. Though my frame of comparison is Katamari. Rolling things up, for whatever reason, seems to be more fun than swallowing them into a hole.
      - dllthomas 6y ago
        Yeah, I think that comparison is a little bit of a trap in that they seem more similar than they are. They both offer a fundamentally similar mechanic (and I think I agree that Katamari's expression is more viscerally satisfying), but Katamari is about momentum and control and twitch judgement and pathfinding; Donut County is (mostly) about solving chill puzzles (easy but clever) and following the story. Both have in common elaboration of their crazy worlds, clever dialog (though I think DC has an edge there), and great music (where I think Katamari has an edge). I do think Katamari is quite a bit more replayable. Watching someone new play Donut County is a joy, but revisiting it myself for the Nth time is... not.

glogla 6y ago

Innuendo Studios has a good 8 minute video essay on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl6OYyU4rl8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl6OYyU4rl8

fetus8 6y ago

Experience is absolutely the right way to describe KRZ. I feel like it shares a lot of the same DNA as Visual Novel style games too. I just finished Snatcher for the first time, and got similar “feelings” while playing and reading through it all.

2bitencryption 6y ago

I agree with everything you wrote, so you sound like me - in that case, try out the game Omori, which just released. It's right up there with Journey and Kentucky Route Zero. It really is That Good.

scroot 6y ago
Bookmarking this
7thaccount 6y ago
I'll definitely check that out. When I was younger I loved playing practically any video game, but as I've aged, I only play a few games a year and they generally need to be pretty unusual and heavy on the story side. I want the experience and not the frustration of having to die fighting a boss 10x.

gww 6y ago

Your description reminds me of the Outer Wilds, the creator wrote a thesis on the game. While it is a bit awkward to get used to the time limit it's part exploration, part archeological adventure, part flight simulator and part platforming. The latter parts take a bit to get used to but really make the game fantastic. It's up there for me with journey and it sounds like I should really play KRZ. I just wish I could forget the Outer Wilds and play it again.

the__alchemist 6y ago
You've convinced me to play Outer Wilds.
- dllthomas 6y ago
  Both were published by Annapurna Interactive. Along with Donut County, What Remains Of Edith Finch, and Gorogoa. The only thing I've played that they've published that I felt let down by was Wattam, and that's probably substantially because my expectations were too high.
  - bobthepanda 6y ago
    Eh, for me Donut County wasn’t that successful. Though my frame of comparison is Katamari. Rolling things up, for whatever reason, seems to be more fun than swallowing them into a hole.
    - dllthomas 6y ago
      Yeah, I think that comparison is a little bit of a trap in that they seem more similar than they are. They both offer a fundamentally similar mechanic (and I think I agree that Katamari's expression is more viscerally satisfying), but Katamari is about momentum and control and twitch judgement and pathfinding; Donut County is (mostly) about solving chill puzzles (easy but clever) and following the story. Both have in common elaboration of their crazy worlds, clever dialog (though I think DC has an edge there), and great music (where I think Katamari has an edge). I do think Katamari is quite a bit more replayable. Watching someone new play Donut County is a joy, but revisiting it myself for the Nth time is... not.