Road 96:
Mile 0

Road 96: Mild 0 is a narrative game where you play two teenage friends with radically different world views and experiences. You have branching conversations that impact their perspective on the world as you skate through larger-than-life musical sequences. It stands out for these unusual traversal metaphors that emphasise the changing narrative and political opinions of our two protagonists.

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A prequel to Road 96, you play Zoe, from that game, and her best friend Kaito. It's set in a luxurious part of the authoritarian Petria where Zoe's father works for the government, and her family enjoys a comfortable life. Kaito, however, lives in a less privileged area and is less well-off. With vastly different life experiences and perspectives on the country, you have probing conversations and gradually shift each character's opinion.

Play involves exploring the White Sands condominium, talking to different characters and selecting choices for what to say. How you guide the conversations impacts the certainty of Zoe and Kaito's feelings on the state of Petria. By the end of the game, their views can differ greatly and lead to widely varying endings. Interspersed throughout are musical rhythm-based traversal minigames where you avoid obstacles. These sections, like interactive music videos, reflect and exaggerate moments in the story.

The result may sound like an awkward combination of political introspection and musical metaphors, but it works surprisingly well. It offers an unusual way to discover a story of growing up and learning the truths of the world for yourself. Seeing how things unfold, for better or worse, because of the character's beliefs is both narratively engaging and thought-provoking as you critically examine your own beliefs.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Road 96: Mile 0 3 days ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 2 days ago.