The GWJ Adventure Game Club - Game 26: Kentucky Route Zero

Welp. It was bound to happen again. I'd bounced off of Last Express, and it's now official, I've now bounced off of KR0. I tried, folks, I promise, I really, really did, but I just couldn't get into it. Weird and disjointed narrative aside, I ran into some pretty bad sensory issues. The clicky lights at the beginning of act 2. The skipping record. Other sounds in the first act (I'm visibly wincing on stream, I'll bet). Some of it was grating, some of it was incredibly distracting (the pattern of those click construction is slight out of sync, it's... yeah, I couldn't focus on the text).
I'm feeling a bit of FOMO, and wondering what all the fuss is about, but... yeah, it's just not for me, sadly. =/

Ah well, at least you gave it a shot. If we all enjoyed the same games it would be a bit boring right?

Now I must get to the last act of KR0 myself so I can actually finish the game!

Completely understandable Eleima. I wasn’t sure about the game for the first two and a half chapters. I liked the art style and enjoyed certain scenes but I, like you, was pressing on in the hopes of encountering the level of awesomeness others were experiencing. It was only when I went into the dive bar, and witnessed it’s transformation as June Bug sang, that it started completely working for me.

I wasn’t convinced by the inclusion of animals and birds in incongruous places early on. It felt like surrealism for surrealism’s sake but there is one creature, who holds down a quite technical job, in later chapters who I found a joy and the conversation that creature has with the protagonist of that chapter

Spoiler:

a cat

was a joy.

I also enjoy open ended stories where you are encountering elements of a narrative but only ever getting a vague sense for what happened in the over arching story (something the game shares with the Dark Souls series.)

Neutrino wrote:

If we all enjoyed the same games it would be a bit boring right? ;)

That is completely true, but I really, really wanted to, which is what is kinda bumming me out!! ^^

Higgledy wrote:

It felt like surrealism for surrealism’s sake but there is one creature, who holds down a quite technical job, in later chapters who I found a joy and the conversation that creature has with the protagonist of that chapter

Spoiler:

a cat

was a joy.

Oh my gosh, that sounds kinda amazing!! Wish I'd experienced that.

Higgledy wrote:

It felt like surrealism for surrealism’s sake but there is one creature, who holds down a quite technical job, in later chapters who I found a joy and the conversation that creature has with the protagonist of that chapter

Spoiler:

a cat

was a joy.

Oh my gosh, that sounds kinda amazing!! Wish I'd experienced that.
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I was tempted to tell you about it for sure.

I polished off Acts one and two (as well as the short "intermissions"); is any of this going to eventually start fitting into place story-wise? I am really close to bouncing off this one hard. I thought it was being purposefully difficult to follow, but things would start making sense. But to play for a handful of hours with still only the thinnest thread of a story that is not making a lick of sense is a lot to ask. Thoughts?

One year on after finishing it, and I'm still not really sure of what I had played. I would say it's less about story, and more about the experience and an atmosphere that is still unique in games.

I didn't love it, but I was very intrigued and am glad I played it.