Escape from a dictatorship in search of freedom! Road 96" review for PS4, a masterful road trip adventure that is just like a movie!

Dear Akiba Research Institute readers, how are you doing? This is Nero Hyakkabe, a writer who buys too many games. I'd like to ask you, do you like to travel?　The charm of travel lies in visiting unfamiliar places and enjoying the scenery, food, and interaction with people, but in the past few years, travelers have been unable to travel as much as they would like, and I think those who love to travel must be spending their days in a state of anguish. For this reason, we would like to introduce "Road 96," a film in which you can enjoy the story of such a "journey.

The story takes place in the fictional dictatorship of Petoria. The long journey to "Road 96" to escape from the country begins at .......

Road 96" is the second grand prize winner of the "INDIE Live Expo Awards" for the best indie game and has already been released for PC/Switch, and on June 16th, the PS4/PS5/Xbox versions were released. This time, we will be reviewing the PS4 version.

The genre of the game is a road trip adventure game that unfolds from a first-person perspective. The player travels through a world depicted in 3D graphics, examining various things, conversing with characters, and making various choices to reach the end of the story. The game is a so-called "walking simulator" type adventure game, and features highly immersive gameplay.

The most notable feature of the game is the graphics that color the game. The graphics in this title are not realistic 3D, but rather a simple comic style, but the quality is high. In particular, the vast plains and dense forests that spread out before the player's eyes, as well as the night sky with stars and the moon shining brightly, are beautifully and impressively depicted. The ambient sounds and background music provide the player with a unique sensation of excitement and uneasiness, as if he or she is traveling in a strange land. In particular, the 90s-style background music, which matches the period setting of the work, has a nostalgic and sentimental taste, and is of must-hear quality.

If this were all, it might not seem like an unusual type of adventure game. However, one of the major characteristics of this work is its use of "procedural generation. Procedural generation is an automatically generated function. It may seem that an adventure game in which you enjoy the story and an auto-generated game in which you can enjoy different random elements each time you play may not be a good match, but in this work, they are perfectly matched to create a unique play experience. I will explain how the auto-generated elements are utilized later, but first, let me introduce the general storyline of the game.

The story takes place in the fictional dictatorship of Petria. The protagonists of the game are young people who are trying to escape from Petria, which has been oppressed by the current president, in order to be free from the oppressive regime. Their goal is to reach Road 96, the site of a tragic terrorist attack by the Black Brigades 10 years ago and Petria's only border crossing, and escape the country safely. It is the objective of the protagonists to reach Road 96, which leads to the only border in Petria, and to escape the country safely.

The time period of the film is set in the summer of 1996. The next presidential election is scheduled for three months after in-game time, and the journey the player takes is littered with fliers and posters of the current president, Tilak, and his opponent, Flores. How the politics of this autocratic state of Petria will turn out is also a key part of the storyline of this game.

The protagonist is not alone!　The auto-generated elements allow for repeated enjoyment!

I mentioned earlier that the protagonists of this work are "young people. There is a reason for this. The player is not alone in controlling the main character in this game.

After the journey of the first protagonist, the young man, is completed, the player chooses a new protagonist to control next. When the young man's journey is over, the player chooses the next protagonist. This cycle repeats itself until election day three months later.

The story centers on a journey, a road movie of sorts, and the addition of this system, in which the main character changes each time, makes the film more like an omnibus-style ensemble drama than a single epic film.

Another major feature of this work is that detailed information about the main characters is not revealed. Although this seems to be a rather unusual case for an adventure game, the main characters in this title do not have names. Furthermore, since the game is played from a first-person perspective, the player does not know the physical characteristics of the protagonists, such as their faces, hairstyles, and statures. The appeal of this game is that the main character is literally a "nameless young man," which, combined with the first-person perspective, makes the story highly immersive, and allows the player to feel as if he or she is traveling as the protagonist of the film.

Now, let's return to the aforementioned "auto-generated elements. I mentioned that there are multiple protagonists in this title. The origins of these protagonists, the distance from the initial point to the border, the route they travel, their money and strength at the start, and other factors are all randomly determined by the automatic generation system.

Money and physical strength are very important in this game. Money is necessary to recover energy by eating and drinking, and to use transportation such as buses and cabs, while physical strength is essential to continue the journey. Since these initial values are determined at random, the degree of difficulty of the journey can vary greatly depending on the protagonist, from a hard journey with zero money, to a journey with a good amount of money.

Of course, you can recover your strength and obtain money during the journey, but whether or not you will get those opportunities is also random. Whether you take a bus or a cab to save your strength, or hitchhike or walk to save money, you can find out at ....... This tingling sense of play, of exploring the field and making critical decisions while keeping an eye on your stamina and money, may be said to be similar to a survival game.

If the initial status of the protagonist and the starting conditions were to change, but the same storyline were to be experienced each time, the second and subsequent journeys would become tedious and work-intensive. However, Road 96 incorporates an auto-generated element in the story structure.

Road 96" has a vast number of pre-made events that occur in a random order at different places and times. Not only the order, but also whether or not they occur is random, so you will not be able to see all the events in a single playthrough. In short, this is the fusion of "adventure game" and "auto-generated elements" that this title has achieved. This allows the player to enjoy a completely different journey each time he or she plays the game, making it a game that can be played over and over again without getting bored.

The main characters, whose names and appearances are unknown, and whose origins and journeys are different, have only one goal in common: to reach Road 96 and escape from the country.
In most games, the game is over if the goal is not achieved, but in this game, even if the goal is not achieved, the game itself does not end. Some young people succeeded in escaping, some failed, some did not make it to Road 96, some were arrested just before escaping, and so on, This is the unique point of the film's structure. In this sense, it could be said that the true protagonists of this work are not the young people controlled by the player, but the country of Petria itself, which is gradually changing through the actions and choices of the young people.

The characters who color the journey are introduced!　A runaway girl, a cop, a newscaster, and a pair of masked criminals!

I mentioned earlier that the true protagonist of this work may be Petoria itself, but there is another entity that can be called the protagonist of this work. But there is also another main character in this work, the unique characters you will meet along your journey.
There are seven sets of sub-characters in this work, six plus a couple of others. One of the most exciting aspects of this work is that you will meet and interact with these characters of different ages, genders, occupations, and even their views on the current state of their countries during your journey, and get to know their episodes.

As mentioned earlier, the events in this title are auto-generated, meaning that the order in which they occur and whether or not they occur are random. In other words, the order in which you meet the characters on your journey, and in which order you do or do not meet them, is also random. It is said that every encounter on a journey is a once-in-a-lifetime encounter, and by adding a random element to encounters with characters, this system allows the player to truly experience a "once-in-a-lifetime encounter on a journey".

In addition, as mentioned earlier, this work employs a system in which the main character changes one after another. Even when interacting with the same character, the first protagonist and the second protagonist will have different episodes, allowing the player to see different aspects of the characters throughout the course of a single playthrough.

The key point of this work is that as information about the characters accumulates over the course of repeated journeys, the characters are depicted more and more three-dimensionally. The more you play, the more you learn about the characters, which naturally motivates you to play again and again.

From here, I would like to introduce some of the characters that left a particularly strong impression on me from among the seven sets of characters that appear in the game.

First, there is Zoe. She is a runaway girl who left home at the beginning of the summer to escape from Petria. Her purpose of escaping from the country and her age as a young person match that of the main character, so as a player, she is probably the character you can relate to the most. Incidentally, when the author played the game, when he met Zoe, she invited him to play the trumpet, which triggered a mini-game in the style of a sound game. This scene, in which the two of us sat around a bonfire in a trailer park at night when the stars shone brightly in the sky and laughed at the poor trumpet playing, had an emo feel like a scene from a coming-of-age movie, and was very impressive.

Next, Sonya. She is the news show anchor that you will often see in the course of playing the game. Accuracy and fairness are the basis of journalistic ethics in the real world, but in the world of "Road 96," Sonya's news show is a so-called propaganda broadcast with the intention of leading people to a certain public opinion or consciousness. She is such a super celebrity who travels in a luxurious limousine. The time you spend with Sonya, one of the most intense beings in this film, is sure to be intense and unforgettable.

Next up are the duo of Stan and Mitch. Wearing eye-catching hats, they are as mysterious as they look (?). They are a pair of misfits who do crime for a living. Unlike the main character and Zoe, who are trying to escape from Petria, Stan and Mitch seem to think that this country is a good place for them, where they can survive by stealing. They have a darker side, as they struggle to protect Sonya from someone who wants to assassinate her. Stan and Mitch have an unfathomable fear of being criminals, but their conversation is somewhat cheerful and comical. The unique moments spent with these super-individuals will be a great addition to the main character's journey. Incidentally, when I met them, I experienced a thrilling mini-game in which I had to ride in the sidecar of the motorcycle they were driving, moving left and right in the lane and avoiding other cars. The speedy and high-octane mini-game, which was completely different from the mood of the journey so far, seriously made my hands sweat. ......

Another woman I would like to introduce to you is Fanny. Her profession is, without a doubt, a policeman. In Petria, it is illegal to leave the country, so the police are the main character's nemesis, so to speak. The events that unfold when she encounters Fanny make the world of this film even deeper and more intense.

As I mentioned in the introduction of Zoe and Stan & Mitch, mini-games sometimes occur during events with characters in this work. The variety and volume of these games are quite extensive, including some that are sound game-like and others that are racing game-like.

There is also a growth element in which you can learn skills that will help you on your journey as you interact with the characters. Skills learned are carried over even if the main character changes, so they not only help the player to conquer the game, but also function as a kind of challenging element.

I felt that these game-like elements, such as mini-games and skills, made the game even more fun to play.

Road 96" offers a superb cinematic gaming experience!

So, that's my introduction of "Road 96.

The game offers a "cinematic game experience" through the combination of a storyline featuring a storyline in which players attempt to escape from a dictatorship and a cast of unique characters, each with his or her own unique personality. The game's auto-generating function makes it impossible to predict what will happen next, making for a thrilling game experience that always keeps you on the edge of your seat.

If you are interested in this game, please try it out and experience the journey to Road 96.

• Title Information
• Road 96" (Koch Media)
• Genre: Adventure
• PS4 version: June 16, 2022
• Price:
• Package version: PlayStaton4 3,828 yen (tax included)
• Download version:
• PlayStation4, PlayStation5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X: 2,480 yen (including tax)
• Nintendo Switch, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store): 2,196 yen (including tax)
• Copyright: (C) 2021 Koch Media

Author：Nero Hyakkabe

Freelance writer who buys too many games. I currently have more than 300 games in my stack. Also a novelist. His works include "Yubisaki Kaidan: 140 Scary Stories" (PHP Kenkyujo) and "Goa-ken: Unrated Edition" (Kodansha).

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