The games are re-imagining the Road Trip to the Modern Age

Road 96 it promises an open path and unexpected excitement. Freedom perhaps. Maybe death. Plenty in between. The hiking, driving and hitchhiking adventure of the French studio DigixArt, which will come later this year, has reached the spirit of classic road movies. Easy Rider ra Thelma and Louise, where encounters with the outside world are bizarre, life-changing, and potentially deadly.

“The structure of the trip was the perfect canvas for us to feel the random nature of travel,” says Yoan Fanis. 96. way creative director. “When you travel as a backpacker you don’t know who you’re going to meet, what’s going to happen, good or bad. That is the essence of road travel and life. ”

This confrontation with the unknown is a way to prove that games are the perfect hosts of the road genre. What unites road movies and novels, serious or comic, is how they put the social background, shedding light on cultural tensions and marginalization, while the characters reconnect with each other and themselves. The last decades of road games are making all of this especially appropriate in our time.

Road 96 it’s not just about adventure. Set in dystopian territory that mixes 90s Soviet totalitarianism with Arizona, you play a teenager fleeing the border, using all available means. Fanis explained that the political aspects of the game have been important throughout its development. “We started writing this story three years ago,” he says, “mostly inspired by the history of the 1989 Iron Curtain and the struggles of countries like Venezuela or North Korea. But we were recently surprised by the similarities of real events in ‘modern democracies’ like the US.”

As in many stories of road travel, the freedom to travel clashes with conservative values ​​and laws. But there are also signs of resistance and change, because you can make decisions to help yourself and influence the broad political situation. Encounters created by the game procedure should be key here, as each restart creates random combinations Road 96characters, a policeman, a truck driver and a pair of clown thieves.

“This is the biggest innovation for a narrative game,” Fanis says. “Developers don’t know, even from the beginning, what character and sequence you’re going to get.” He explained that the game’s feed alternates with open-air exploration and vehicle travel that develops relationships. “This creates a very nice rhythm and allows for in-depth discussions about the state, politics and the stories of the eight main characters,” he says. Who you decide to travel with and how you relate to them should have a variety of perspectives and outcomes.