Steam “Route Ninety Six” trial version is free to play, every time is a unique journey of escape from the border | 4Gamers

In order to escape the dictatorship and tyranny of the country and set foot on the road trip to the border alone, “Route 96” is a story-oriented narrative adventure game, but it escapes the established “linear story frame”, allowing you to A game is a unique journey and story.

Does this kind of storytelling really exist? some.

In 1998, the children’s book series “Choose Your Own Adventure” (Choose Your Own Adventure) by Bantam Books, an overseas publishing house, will let readers make a “choice” at the end of each chapter of each story, and then jump to different chapters depending on the result of the selection. , And finally lead to a different ending.

Such a unique narrative method has a strong sense of substitution, so the series is also called a game book, and there is no lack of the same type of narrative method in the field of video games or film and television, the Telltale Games series of game “The Road of the Dead”, or The Netflix interactive movie “Black Mirror: Pandanski” is the best example.

However, what the “Route 96” development team wants to develop is that each player’s game experience is a unique and irreversible journey.

The story of “Route 96” describes a country called “Petra”, because the newly elected president “Terrac” is a brutal and innocent dictator who triggered civil resistance organizations under his oppressive power. The “black brigade” secretly carried out a revolution. This background caused social turmoil and the country’s situation was precarious.

The game is played by playing as a teenager, in order to escape tyranny and go to freedom, embarking on a dangerous road trip alone.

Before the trial version of the game starts, a basic questionnaire will be done to ask you how to deal with or react to something, and your answer seems to affect a certain mechanism.

After entering the game, you will see how many miles there are from the border. The smaller the number, the closer you are to the destination.

Then, I was in the auxiliary seat of a heavy locomotive at the beginning, and the owners were Stan and Mizi. Through conversations, I realized that they were a pair of thieves who had just robbed the bank. This also explained why they were covered. There is a large pack of cash reasons behind the car.

I started to wonder, why did the boy I play get on this car?

In order to escape from this country, in order to go to the border, if you want to hitchhike, would you choose to get on a speeder party car like Stan and Mitch that doesn’t look like normal business?

Or is this country so bad that you would rather get on a Speeder Party car, making you want to go to the border and fly high for a moment?

I have to say that there are quite a few descriptions and choices in the story. I know that Stan and Mitch are robbers, but I believe they are so-called “righteous thieves.” I am afraid that I will be stupid to Stan and Mitch. So as not to offend them, you can even choose to steal their money, but I didn’t do that.

Then, a police car rushed up. I followed Stan and Mizi’s instructions to smash the police car with money. I never heard such a request in my life until the police car stopped. Yes, the police in the car are still yelling to make a fortune. To some extent, this country seems to be completely corrupt.

Finally, after Stan and Mizi took me for a ride, I came to a gas station late at night and met a teenager who was also heading to the border. At the same time, he was threatened by the gas station owner, claiming that if I did not help him, he The police must be notified.

I was reluctant in my heart, but there was no alternative at the moment, so I had to reluctantly go to work, try to make mistakes deliberately, and see if I can let the boss get rid of it.

Unexpectedly, the last one to refuel was a police car carrying a policewoman. Afterwards, even the border police came and arrested the boy I had just met who wanted to hitchhiking, and I was released under the cover of the policewoman.

Yes, when you think that the story may be over, certain characters will bring you a different transformation.

Afterwards, I learned that the characters including policewoman Finney, Stan, and Mitch are all the characters that are scheduled to appear on “Route 96”, but you may not meet them every time.

In the second round of attempts, I answered the questionnaire. This time I was 772 miles away from the border, which was 184 miles farther than the first time. At the same time, I also found that there seemed to be different skills in the lower left corner.

Only then did I understand how the unique experience of each road is roughly achieved.

In the second round of experience, the boy I played had a car, which was more fortunate than the one last time. I met Alex, a genius computer child, and I asked him to hitchhiker to a certain In this place, the two of them were talking about each other.

In the end, through conversations with Alex, I learned that there are quite frequent terrorist attacks in Pitra, which all originated from the conflict between President Terak and the Black Brigade.

It is worth mentioning that Alex has designed a very interesting chariot game. You can even provide suggestions for him to add designs. This is also one of the interesting little games in this game.

In fact, in the first round of experience, there is also a video game machine in the gas station to play. “Route 96” not only tells the story, but also adds some exploration fun to the map in many chapters.

In this way, both experiences ended when I hitchhiked and wanted to move on. This demo version can only be played for about two rounds, and then I cannot play again.

Overall, the game style of “Route 96” is similar to Campo Santo’s “Fire Watch”, but through multiple random elements and selection mechanisms, it creates a narrative exploration experience that will not be repeated.

The player character in the game has the concept of life value. It is speculated that travel also requires physical strength. When physical strength is weak, it is likely to fall and die. Choosing to hitchhiking or walking is also risky.

Next, there is a money design in the game. Of course, money cannot buy equipment or do anything, but you will find that money is needed in many situations, including calling or calling a taxi, or even bribing others.

Finally, there seems to be a total of 7 main characters in the game. According to the percentage of completion, they seem to represent which content of the character has been unlocked by the player. Each time you experience, you may encounter these characters randomly. Under different conditions, they There will also be different situations and dialogues.

Every time you pass through a station, you will encounter strangers who are indistinguishable from good and evil, encounter emergencies, and face important choices. Maybe Stan and Mitch are just in a good mood to take you for a ride. In another situation, they might be vicious robbers.

In the worst case, you may die, but the game will not end. It’s not that the wolf will come back to life, but that you will play another protagonist and embark on the journey again.

Because the story does not have specific chapters and bridges, there are many variables between the beginning and the end, and in some form it is very close to the concept of life.

Between life and death, everyone will encounter different things, but some people will be the same. This is “Route Ninety Six”, developed by Digixart, a team led by the director of “Valian Hearts: The Great War”, and it is expected to be available in 2021.

Valve is currently launching the “Steam NEXT Fest” event. More than 600 new independent games will be available for free trial for a limited time. Friends who are interested can go to the Steam platform to download the games you are interested in.