Road 96 is a 2021 video game developed and published by French studio DigixArt as part of the OMEN Presents programme in collaboration with HP Inc.,[1] with additional publishing support by Plug In Digital.[2] The game follows several teenage hitchhikers as they attempt to flee from the nation of Petria.[3] Featuring a tyrannical dictatorship in Petria, the game lets the player choose either to influence the election or to focus on crossing the border.[4] The player character meets seven non-player characters across each playthrough, with procedurally generated interactions.[5] The game was inspired by different works of fiction, from The Goonies and Porco Rosso. A test given to the player allowing them to flee to work offshore was based on real-world North Korean exams.[6]
Released for the Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows on 16 August 2021, the game received “generally favourable reviews” according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[7] An advertisement for the game was removed by Facebook, due to it being politically motivated.[8][9]
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According to review aggregator website Metacritic, Road 96 received “generally favourable reviews”.[7][10] Alice Bell writing for Rock Paper Shotgun commented that it was a “great journey to go on”, but didn’t think the game was a particularly good representation of crossing the border, or being homeless.[11] Marco Procida for Eurogamer Italy commented that the game was niche, but had a very good soundtrack.[4]IGN‘s Tristan Ogilvie enjoyed the experience, but found a few graphical and interface shortcomings.[12]
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