Kentucky Route Zero - Act IV Review

It has been more than 2 years since Kentucky Route Zero’s third act was released. Without doubt, the silence of the developers has got some people wondering whether or not it will turn into another indie game that remains perpetually unfinished.  Last week, the fourth act of the game was given to us and I can safely say that getting into it sent me right back into the eerie world created by the people over at Cardboard Computers, as if I had started playing the game just a day before.

Kentucky Route Zero has left a strong impression on me from the start and three reviews in, writing the fourth, I find myself in a difficult position. There’s so much in it that cannot be properly put into words other than those in the very game, not without risking spoiling even a tiny part of the great experience it has been shaped into. The fourth act continues the story of the ragtag band of travellers that have gathered alongside Conway since the very start of the series. By now, sudden, yet natural, perspective shifts and “slips” in the amount of control the player actually has over the dialogue should be no surprise to anybody.

The general mood of the fourth episode drags after the characters’ slow trudge towards apparent destinations. There are no traditional heroes in Kentucky Route Zero and the fourth act does much in the way of emphasizing that. The people you meet, and those you follow, are regular individuals working jobs, often, in remote places. The trudging pace of the story is in tune with that of normal life for such a person. The masterfully crafted dialogue continues its showcasing of subtlety throughout the fourth act.

Kentucky Route Zero is exceptionally good at impressing moods upon the player and the fourth act, I feel, does the best job of it. Certain elements in the dialogue, or in the dialogue choices (as stated before, it’s no surprise by now that what you choose isn’t always what you get and that characters can and will drift off to other “places” while talking) and the atmosphere accentuate the notion that what we’re dealing with are people who are stuck, people who are forgotten, or whose goals, as mundane as they are, are simply imprinted in their behavior without them causing them actual pleasure. The often heavy atmosphere and its dance with silence punctuate this very well, making even the act of (constant) movement, widely associated with freedom, seeming slow and cumbersome.

Different characters will have different takes on the same event. An object may bear equal amounts of importance for different reasons, depending on who’s talking about it. The threads that seemed loose in the past feel like they are finally getting closer to being tied together. The “strangeness” has been slightly toned down in this episode, the musical moments, too, are more subtle. That does not mean they have a less important role. It just acknowledges the inner workings of the act and adapts to better suit it. Really, playing through the fourth act shows how much life can be found in an apparently stale and mundane world. The game gives the impression of being a veritable mechanism that regulates all its elements in order to obtain the perfect harmony in expressing exactly what is desired.

A lonely clerk on a floating barge stays afloat by watching people go by, in their way towards wherever or, maybe, nowhere. In an underground location, someone fixes old phones. Conway himself seems more distracted and takes a less active role. Home is nowhere to be found. The world painted is that of recluses, of people lost, of people forgotten. Memories play a vital role in making its cogs spin, yet these memories and their protagonists never evade their melancholy-filled story-prison. Complete strangers meet, band up, exchange life stories, only to depart from one another and, potentially, never meet again. But when that’s all they have, save for monotonous routine, it ends up meaning a lot.

“There’s dignity in being forgotten” says one character at one point. Yet, when it comes to Kentucky Route Zero, being forgotten would be a loss. The quantity of beauty, its ability to make the player feel so very intimate, yet strangely distant from what’s being shown, alongside all the feelings it evokes make it very, very unique. Should it remain forgotten, we would be missing out on an experience unlike any other. So, if you’ve gotten this far and still haven’t purchased Kentucky Route Zero, do yourself a favor and don’t let it pass you by.

Bogdan Robert, NoobFeed
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