Kentucky Route Zero
Kentucky Route Zero is southern gothic saga in five acts. The game follows an ex-alcoholic delivery man and a haunted TV repair-woman, as well as a host of other misfits on a magical-realist journey along a seemingly non-existent road in Kentucky. Drawing heavily from black-box theater, the mode of exploration is that of the classic Sierra-era adventure game, relying on slow exploration and dialog to tread through its themes of loss, capitalist exploitation, and the possibility of making something new in the face of the gravity of history. One interesting aspect for educators is that KR0 has different artistic referents from many other video games (Dungeons & Dragons, superhero comic books, and Star Wars), swapping in a heady dose of Flannery O’Connor and David Lynch, with some overtones of Gabriel García Márquez’s complex regional social structures. There are also clear meta-critical nods to Der Ring des Nibelungen, linking video games to the concept of gesamtkunstwerk (“total work of art”). Also of note are the strikingly graphic, achingly strange environments, often in the guise of stage sets that hint at Ed Ruscha paintings and the aforementioned black box theater sets.
Creator: Cardboard Computer (Ben Babbitt, Jake Elliot, and Tamas Kemenczy)
Link: http://kentuckyroutezero.com/
Connections:
Flannery O’Connor - A Good Man is Hard to Find
Gabriel García Márquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude
David Lynch - Twin Peaks
Liz Young - “Of Blood and Dirt”
Game Skill Rating: 2 (This is an easily navigated point-and-click narrative adventure game that unfolds at a slow pace. But there are a few navigation and puzzle moments that could be challenging to audiences unfamiliar with the genre.)