Cardboard Computer first released Kentucky Route Zero in 2013, a "magical realist adventure game" that centers on a highway underneath a series of caves and the beings that move through it. Four more acts over the next seven years with Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition rounding out the series as its epic and quite moving conclusion. Critics and players alike have widely praised the series for its visuals and storytelling.

Engadget spoke with the games' developers when Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition came out in 2020, and they reflected on the tragic but full-circle nature of the finale. "Tragedy is not pessimistic," Jake Elliott, who handled the narrative, said. "A lot of literary tragedies or dramatic tragedies, at the end the character who has made all these terrible mistakes or who has these terrible flaws… they usually have this moment where they sort of take responsibility for it, or in some other way transcend it." It's a game that will make you feel something, to say the least.

Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition will be available on the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S on August 17th. Annapurna Interactive confirmed that there will be an upgrade option available if you've already purchased the game for the PS4 or Xbox One. Plus, there's more to look forward to: Elliott and Co. confirmed last year that they're working on another game with Annapurna Interactive that will be "fully animated."

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The included titles packed in with Annapurna's original game run the gambit: Donut County, Gorogoa, Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition, Neon White, Sayonara Wild Hearts, The Artful Escape and The Pathless are all part of the new collection. It also offers the first physical Switch releases of If Found…, Hindsight, Solar Ash and I Am Dead. Annapurna Interactive released a similar collection in 2020 for the PS4, selling a physical box set of eight titles.

Alongside the collection are a few extra features, such as a foreword from the company's founder, an art booklet with information from all 12 games' creators, a custom-designed folio package and a custom Annapurna Interactive console and cartridge case — exclusive to this launch.

You'll have to act fast if you want one of the $200 Deluxe Edition collections, as there are only 2,500 copies available for purchase. Pre-orders for Annapurna Interactive's Nintendo Switch sets open on October 25 at 12 PM ET exclusively on iam8bit here and should ship sometime before 2024.

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Open Roads is a narrative-driven, exploration-focused game about the road trip that Tess and her mother take when a death in the family uproots their life. After clearing out the house and finding a mysterious diary in the attic, Tess and her mom, Opal, print out directions from RoadBuddy (not MapQuest) and set off on a long drive. Emotional upheaval is bound to ensue.

I watched developers play the first 15 minutes or so of Open Roads, and the preview reeled me in immediately. Visually, the game is polished and engaging; the settings and interactable objects are 3D, while characters are hand-drawn, carving depth into each scene. Developers at the Open Roads Team uploaded real-life handwriting samples to create yearbook pages, postcards and letters, which removes the threat of pixelated text ruining the immersion. In conversation, the characters float between movements like old-school Disney storyboards, making the entire experience feel like a lucid dream.

Tess and Opal are fully voiced by two mainstream actors, Kaitlyn Dever and Keri Russell, and in the scenes I’ve seen, their performances are fantastic. The interactions between Tess and Opal are simultaneously loving and strained, as mother-daughter relationships can be. The writing is also evocative and genuine; dialogue flows smoothly, even with the various player-chosen paths that each conversation can take. These characters feel real right away.

The house that Tess and Opal are leaving is lived-in and it has a sense of history. There are personal, hand-crafted touches in every room, and developers added bits of their own lives to the game. The chair by that desk? It was modeled after a developer’s own childhood memories. Those old, creepy ornaments in the attic? A developer’s grandma passed down those exact decorations in real life. The scribbles on the wall? They’re drawings from the creators’ kids. These details won’t be obvious to most players, but they lend a sense of authenticity to the game as Tess explores the closets and corners of her family home.

Open Roads doesn’t just provide early-2000s nostalgia, but it also reaches back and references the ’60s and ’70s, covering multiple generations in Tess’ family. As Tess investigates the house and picks up various objects, Opal provides context and tells stories about their life, and there are branching dialogue paths. At one point during the preview, the developer that was playing decided to make Tess walk away from the refrigerator without shutting its door, and this caused Opal to scold her. Tess and Opal’s relationship is charming and warm, but there’s a sense of tension running through their interactions that I’m eager to examine in the full game.

Open Roads feels like a mix of Gone Home, Life is Strange and What Remains of Edith Finch, in the best possible way. The writing, voice acting and animation style harmonize in the first few minutes of the game to create a realistic and nostalgic world populated with vivid characters. I’m ready to hit the road with Tess, Opal and their printed-out driving directions when the game hits PC, Switch, PlayStation and Xbox on February 22. After all, I already have the jacket.

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