I can’t describe Kentucky Route Zero very well.
It’s a game. It’s art. It’s a point-and-click interactive story. It’s magical realism.
The “Zero”, where most of the story takes place, is a fictional highway not quite part of our reality. While you’ll make choices for a variety of characters, most of the time you’ll control decisions for Conway, an alcoholic, middle-aged, delivery man. As you might guess, a deep sense of melancholy pervades most of the story. The search for meaning amidst loss and futility is the game’s main theme.
Not only does the story easily have the best writing I’ve ever seen in a game, but it gives you a sense of agency, allowing you to select from two or more possible responses in most situations.
There are five acts, but you’ll also be able to play through a few mini-games that provide a richer background for some of the characters and events in the game, and there are many interesting diversions along the main story arc. Believe me, this is a game to be savored, not rushed through.
Apart from the satisfaction I get from the writing, the game has a few truly magical / surprising moments, a beautiful ambient soundtrack, and several lovely songs. It’s clear the game was a labor of love for its developers, and it took them several years to complete. One gets the sense that, on every level, it’s the game they wanted to make rather than a game made with any commercial considerations in mind.