I’m a huge fan of narrative-focused games, so when Road 96 was announced, I knew it would be my kind of game. Additionally, with its somewhat recent addition to Xbox Game Pass, I went ahead and played it. I finished the game within a couple of days. The game kept me hooked from start to finish, and it was overall a really fun experience.

The game has you playing as different teens each going on road trips, all with one goal. To reach the eponymous Road 96 in hopes of fleeing their home country, Petria – a country ridden with corruption thanks to its current leadership. Throughout the game, it is your choice to decide whether the teens you play as are more rebellious, hope to overturn the government by simply voting, or whether they just want to get out of there. These choices are made mostly in dialogue, but some of your actions also impact the other characters’ views on things.

I really don’t want to reveal too much of the story, because having everything unravel throughout all your different road trips was what made the game the most fun for me. The road trips you send the different teens on consist of different encounters in different places. These range from bus rides to exploring gas stations or even robbing a place to help two of the main characters. Speaking of which, the game has you meet a total of eight main characters during your journey. Each of them is going through their own struggles that impact the overall story.

The characters were all really well-written, but I definitely had my favorites among them. Most importantly, they are all connected in some way to one or more of the other characters. Once again, I won’t spoil it because finding out about these connections is half the fun. On top of that, it’s possible for these main characters to teach you abilities that make future road trips easier. These skills carry over between the different teens.

Each of the consecutive road trips lasted an average of about an hour. Some of them went by faster and some of them lasted a little longer than others depending on the encounters triggered along the way. I can definitely say that all of my road trips were completely different. Because the journey to Road 96 isn’t easy, it is possible for your teens to die along the way.

For me, it happened twice out of eight or nine road trips. Death can happen in two different ways, they can die due to the choices you make, or simply because your stamina runs out. It was pretty easy to keep my stamina at a decent level, mostly by buying food with the money I found. However, I’m sure there are some people that experienced this quite differently.

The game also offers one type of collectible to find. Since the game takes place in 1996, the developers decided on tapes. These tapes each have one song from the game’s soundtrack on them, with the ability to play any song you want in different places in the game. They are mostly playable in cars, just FYI. I easily found all of the tapes in my playthrough, but it was still a nice feeling to complete my collection by the end. The soundtrack itself is quite diverse, though I found it to be somewhat repetitive with certain songs getting repeated throughout the game. I am not sure if that’s normal or if it’s due to the game’s procedural nature.

The game is somewhat procedural, which makes for some decent replayability. The choices you make and the directions you take after each encounter can make the game play out quite differently. You may meet the main characters in a much different order. In fact, that is what happened to me when I dove into Road 96‘s New Game Plus option.

Overall, Road 96 is a narrative-driven game full of interesting characters, somewhat unexpected plot twists, and choices that seem to actually matter unlike in a lot of other games. I recommend this game to any fan of narrative-focused games. However, you’ll have to be okay with the game’s political themes. I enjoyed every minute of it and can’t wait to finish my second playthrough.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Road 96

$19.96

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Great characters
• Intriguing story
• Decent replayability

Cons

• Somewhat repetitive soundtrack