It would be easy to dismiss Where the Heart Leads as "we have Kentucky Route Zero at home" and leave it at that, but I think there's more going on here than the obvious influence KRZ had over this game.
The big draw for Where the Heart Leads is the massive amount of choices and outcomes that the game offers. It is genuinely impressive how many decisions big and small have a tangible effect on the way things can play out. The narrative itself is personal, never straying from the confines of the Anderson family and the small town of Carthage. Your choices as Whit define how his life and others play out over the span of a lifetime. Helping Whit navigate his and his wife's dreams and ambitions while also building a life for his young family led to some genuinely great and relatable moments, and the choices involved really made me sit and think about what I wanted to prioritize in Whit's life.
Though I do think that Where the Heart Leads illustrates the limits of this type of storytelling, prioritizing player choice over all else. Having all of these variables and branching paths is cool, but what meaning can there really be when all possible outcomes need to be satisfying in at least some way? Should I pursue a career that is more practical or one that is more fulfilling? Both paths are treated as reasonable, just different, smoothing over any truly hard consequences in service of this ethos. Sure, you can take things off the rails if you want to, but there's always an easily identifiable out given to get you back on track. In the end, the game's only real identifiable message seems to be a lackluster "your choices affect your life in a lot of ways."
In my playthrough, Whit Anderson lived a good life, and was a generally positive influence on the people around him. He took a few risks here and there, but in the end they all worked out. His kids turned out fine, even if they had a few struggles of their own. A life well lived, even if it was one without much to say, despite the pages and pages of text hoping to make me feel otherwise.
So, yeah, we have Kentucky Route Zero at home.
The big draw for Where the Heart Leads is the massive amount of choices and outcomes that the game offers. It is genuinely impressive how many decisions big and small have a tangible effect on the way things can play out. The narrative itself is personal, never straying from the confines of the Anderson family and the small town of Carthage. Your choices as Whit define how his life and others play out over the span of a lifetime. Helping Whit navigate his and his wife's dreams and ambitions while also building a life for his young family led to some genuinely great and relatable moments, and the choices involved really made me sit and think about what I wanted to prioritize in Whit's life.
Though I do think that Where the Heart Leads illustrates the limits of this type of storytelling, prioritizing player choice over all else. Having all of these variables and branching paths is cool, but what meaning can there really be when all possible outcomes need to be satisfying in at least some way? Should I pursue a career that is more practical or one that is more fulfilling? Both paths are treated as reasonable, just different, smoothing over any truly hard consequences in service of this ethos. Sure, you can take things off the rails if you want to, but there's always an easily identifiable out given to get you back on track. In the end, the game's only real identifiable message seems to be a lackluster "your choices affect your life in a lot of ways."
In my playthrough, Whit Anderson lived a good life, and was a generally positive influence on the people around him. He took a few risks here and there, but in the end they all worked out. His kids turned out fine, even if they had a few struggles of their own. A life well lived, even if it was one without much to say, despite the pages and pages of text hoping to make me feel otherwise.
So, yeah, we have Kentucky Route Zero at home.