Kentucky Route Zero Image
Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 70 Ratings

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  • Summary: Kentucky Route Zero is a magical realistic adventure game about a secret highway in the caves beneath Kentucky, and the mysterious folks who travel it.

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Kentucky Route Zero - IGF Trailer
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 10
  2. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. Feb 12, 2020
    100
    A magical adventure almost a decade in the making, Kentucky Route Zero is every bit as good as you've heard—and maybe more.
  2. Jan 27, 2020
    100
    Melancholic, all too real, but in the end, hopeful, Kentucky Route Zero is a reflection of what it's like to survive as an everyday American. It's an adventure concerned not just with our country's endemic issues, but with the people at the center and their undying perseverance in the face of economic cruelty. As an adventure game, it is perhaps one of the finest games ever written, ebbing and flowing between the perspectives of not just other characters, but the lens we see it through. All considered as the sum of its many, equally magnificent parts, Kentucky Route Zero is a game I won't forget for a long, long time.
  3. Feb 3, 2020
    93
    Quotation forthcoming.
  4. Edge Magazine
    Jan 30, 2020
    90
    By the final cut to black, we're looking forward to making more connections like the ones we find here, before we take our final turn off Interstate 65 and fall into the Zero's dark, enveloping embrace. [Issue#342, p.102]
  5. Feb 12, 2020
    87
    A compelling story about rural America that is both surreal and thoughtful, if a little disorienting.
  6. Feb 3, 2020
    75
    Stylistically impressive story about fates and memories. One that lacks a central theme as well as gameplay direction, though.
  7. CD-Action
    Feb 18, 2020
    50
    Exceptional dialogue served even in most exquisite forms (mini-games, different perspective, mixed chronology) are still not enough for the story to be compatible with this medium or to be worth telling altogether. The result is slow and difficult to ingest and sometimes even unpleasant in its archaic mechanics. [03/2020, p.54]

See all 10 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 21
  2. Negative: 11 out of 21
  1. Aug 24, 2014
    10
    Even though I have only played the first two acts, I have to say that Kentucky Route Zero is one of the most wonderful gaming experiences I'veEven though I have only played the first two acts, I have to say that Kentucky Route Zero is one of the most wonderful gaming experiences I've ever had. Apparently a point-and-click graphic adventure, this is actually much closer to an interactive graphic novel. It's really good literature, or art, or however you may categorize it. Obviously, though, the "game" dimension is only the method used to put the player in the middle of the story. The difficulty is trivial, and it consists merely in finding the way through the different locations on the map and sorting out the meaning of the quest, which is but an excuse for a compelling story about lonliness, frailty and oblivion.

    Now, about the script: it's more than excellent, it's really over the scale. Whoever has written the texts in this game has obviously read a lot and written a lot, and knows who Don Delillo or Faulkner are. Very often the choice of dialogues does not have any consequence on the development of the story --- it's just meant to let the player co-author the story, add and choose the details that frame the main characters.

    You won't like this game if you're looking for shiny entertainment and action, for real-time emotions where you can prove your gaming stamina. You will love this game if you enjoy art, design, reading a good story, and obviously if adventure games were your favorite genre. It's very hard to explain how fabulously original, simple, light and complex is the graphic aspect of this game. The map interface is a great idea and the medium by which minigames find their right place into the game, creating a spiraling sensation that destroys the common notion of space as the story approaches the zero. Slowly, also the environments lose features of reality and represent in a fascinating way the tricks of immagination, irrationality, oblivion and selflessness.

    Just play the game, you won't ever forget it. Especially if you like good literature and contemporary art & design!
    Expand
  2. Jan 6, 2018
    10
    Very special, dreamlike and artful game centered around dialogue. You choose what your character says, but pretty quickly it becomes apparentVery special, dreamlike and artful game centered around dialogue. You choose what your character says, but pretty quickly it becomes apparent that your choices does not affect the game outcome in any shape or form. The only thing you really choose is your own poetry, your own inner narrative. You have no control over where the game takes you. I found this absolutely fascinating and thought it elevated the game to greater heights. It's beautifully done. This game is for dreamers enjoying a mystery that maybe never will make sense. Expand
  3. Apr 24, 2023
    9
    Who ever says the game is boring, then this is not for you. I guess this isn't your tastes in game. The game is a journey. A journey which weWho ever says the game is boring, then this is not for you. I guess this isn't your tastes in game. The game is a journey. A journey which we create ourselves. People with the taste for a minimalist story telling will enjoy it. If you want something else, buy that rather than berating all the negativity which you couldn't enjoy. The game has its beauty. If you don't like it, don't buy it then. Expand
  4. Aug 12, 2023
    3
    Inconsequential, drab, and unsubstantial story that hopes people will misread its disorganized ramblings as something deeper that it is.
  5. Apr 4, 2020
    3
    Kentucky Route Zero is a boring animated comic book. Although the graphic design is appealing, the most interesting thing in the story is toKentucky Route Zero is a boring animated comic book. Although the graphic design is appealing, the most interesting thing in the story is to discuss with the dog Homer...
    Nothing to solve and the interaction is basic.
    Expand
  6. Feb 29, 2020
    2
    Jugados dos primeros actos e interludio. No puedo continuar, siento que estoy perdiendo el tiempo. Mientras que el estilo me gusta, laJugados dos primeros actos e interludio. No puedo continuar, siento que estoy perdiendo el tiempo. Mientras que el estilo me gusta, la interacción me resulta tediosa e inútil. La historia no existe y lo poco que te cuenta lo tienes que interpretar sin mucha ayuda. Leí y escuché reviews que hablaban de obra maestra que era para todo el mundo y sinceramente me cuesta pensar quién podría disfrutarlo, yo personalmente no. Expand
  7. Dec 21, 2021
    0
    Ultimately, a waste of time. Incoherent. boring. wall-of-text red herring ramblings with minimal playability or plot. Suffered through it onlyUltimately, a waste of time. Incoherent. boring. wall-of-text red herring ramblings with minimal playability or plot. Suffered through it only to find out nothing got solved in the end.

    Avoid if you like games.
    Expand

See all 21 User Reviews