the narrative unfolds with all the messy complexities of real life

October 1, 2023 6:52 PM

Kentucky Route Zero: It took seven years for the three-person team at Cardboard Computer to finish their masterpiece about a sad, regretful man making one last delivery for his employer's failing antique shop.

7 years, five parts, a series of interludes that are beautiful, haunting, heartbreaking and often all three at the same time — that's the entirety of Kentucky Route Zero. It is a magical realist adventure, following in the traces of Gabriel Garcia Marquez (natch) and Neil Gaiman. It distorts reality and plays with surrealism like China Mieville and Haruki Murakami do, dropping references to Kafka and 100 Years of Solitude and Appalachian myths, all seasoned with a wicked, wry and weird sense of humor.

Now free with Netflix games.

posted by mecran01 (15 comments total)

So weird to see this on Netflix of all "platforms" ! I'll have to try this later. If you haven't had the pleasure, KRZ is beautiful, melancholy, surprising, affecting, nostalgic, mysterious game that is very worth playing. Unlike most adventure games, it's very replayable. I've played it 3 times and each time I've discovered places or little scenes I missed on previous runs.
posted by signsofrain at 7:24 PM on October 1, 2023 [5 favorites]

previously, notably this post includes links to free supplementary stuff for anyone that doesn't have netflix.

IMO KRZ is probably best approached in the kind of headspace reserved for reading a novel.
posted by juv3nal at 7:27 PM on October 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

Oh I also want to shout out the Kentucky Fried Zero article series (linked to in that other post I mentioned but original link has died)
posted by juv3nal at 7:35 PM on October 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

Those other KRZ posts are amazing. I just wanted to point out that it's sort of free now.
posted by mecran01 at 7:58 PM on October 1, 2023

I played this with one of my kids, who is very into alternate, arty, odd video games, and really loved it. This post takes me back.
posted by Well I never at 8:23 PM on October 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is such a magical entrancing game.
posted by Ayn Marx at 8:26 PM on October 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

i love this game, almost to the point of not wanting to replay it bc the first time was so perfect. but i am going to replay it, obviously.
posted by capnsue at 8:33 PM on October 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

I still think about the office building where one floor is full of bears. Also the "entertainments" that came out between acts were a really interesting way for the devs to show that they were still working on the game and expanding the world. They're all a little different and lay little clues that pay off later.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:40 PM on October 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

This post serves as my yearly reminder that KRZ is finally complete and I can play the whole thing now. I played up through the third chapter and maybe the interlude after that, but ended up getting busy with life and totally missed when the concluding chapters came out. IIRC there were spans of time between chapters that were roughly equivalent to the wait time between seasons of Venture Brothers, which I mean as a compliment.
posted by Strange Interlude at 5:52 AM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

One of the only perfect games.

"It's Too Late to Love You Now" and "This World is Not My Home" perennially run through my head.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 6:34 AM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

I really need to get around to playing the last chapter.
posted by egypturnash at 7:35 AM on October 2, 2023

man, KRZ really scratches the same weird, endlessly creative, melancholy itch as Achewood, and I cannot recommend it more highly to people who are fans of that webcomic
posted by DoctorFedora at 9:50 AM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

I downloaded this on my phone via Netflix, and somehow managed to only play the first 2 Interludes, which rendered me confused in a way beyond even what I think the creators intended.
posted by HeroZero at 9:59 AM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

Love this game so much
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 5:25 PM on October 2, 2023

someone at Netflix has suspiciously good taste in games to bring to the service
posted by Merus at 5:07 AM on October 3, 2023 [2 favorites]