Almost awful gameplay accompanied by a less than interesting narrative that makes the first game look like an undisputed masterpiece. While I had my issues with Road 96, I overly enjoyed it's narrative, concept and atmosphere, which this game almost completely takes a giant dump on.

I think the conceptual approach is what really breaks this game. The first wasn't that heavy in the gameplay department, whilst taking place mostly in it, it was the almost episodic feel of each new and different adventure that made it feel refreshing and didn't overstay it's welcome. Road 96: Mile 0 completely looses that substance and feels like a single journey stretched out for 7 hours too long. Digixart tries something almost drastically different with tedious platforming that does not bode well for the game overall and serves as an episodic ending to the structure that is not that satisfying at all, hence the tediousness.

Narratively, it didn't gripe me as much as the first at all. What sold me on the original game was the intrigue of mystery, which is obviously completely lost here. If I cared about Zoe in the first game, maybe I would have cared about the narrative here, but Zoe kind of annoyed me initially and annoyed be doubly so here. As for Kaito, I am not familiar with this character at all so there wasn't much to work with. Adam unironically was my favourite character throughout the whole thing, that was how dull everyone else felt to me.

A definite fall from grace, even if the first game wasn't the best either. I honestly have a newfound appreciation for Road 96, though, so I guess this game had at least one positive thing to say about it.

Reviewed on Mar 23, 2024


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