I think for the most part, the walking simulator genre of games can be split into two distinct categories. The first category is games that really should have just been any other medium other than gaming. A game that doesn’t use the interactive functionality of games to even a middling extent and, as someone playing it, is put off from the story. The second category is a game that tells a story that couldn’t possibly be told in any other medium. I think of games like What Remains of Edith Finch or Firewatch, well-crafted stories that would simply fall flat in other mediums. And while I think my first pass of Open Roads had me placing it in the first category, I’ve started to think that maybe it’s actually in the second category, just not for the same reasons as the examples I’ve listed.
Open Roads
Developer: Open Roads Team
Price: $20 USD
Platform: PS4/5 (Reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch
MonsterVine was supplied with Playstation 5 code for review
Open Roads is a short narrative adventure that falls on the unfortunate gameplay element of asset inspection. You spend most of your time walking around a static space inspecting assets the artists have created, for better or for worse, and when you inspect the right one you’ll get a story bit. You play as Tess, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Opal as they pack up their grandmother’s home, their home for the past few years after grandma has passed. It’s a somber time for the two of them and although the future is uncertain, Tess and Opal are pushing forward. The mother/daughter dynamic at play here should be a very familiar one, even if you didn’t live it yourself, it’s fairly pervasive in media. The daughter is young, impressionable, snippy, and full of questions and the mother is primarily shutting down any discussion that would provide the Daughter with answers.
Unfortunately, this story is told through the medium of asset inspection. You, as Tess, are walking around static environments with the sole purpose of finding the right item to pick up and inspect to provoke a conversation with Opal. It’s rough storytelling as I kept questioning why a sixteen-year-old girl was so interested in mundane, everyday items strewn about a location. At one point I picked up a bucket, a mallet, and a discarded drink cup one after the other. This is most jarring in Grandma’s house because, presumably, you’ve been living there long enough that you have to pack up your room to move. Tess inspects items in the house as if she’s seen them for the first time. I felt less like Tess and more like an outside observer who was looking through Tess’ eyes. This became less of an issue as the game pressed on, Tess being put in unfamiliar environments made this style of storytelling significantly more understandable.
Tess and Opal, while looking for a book, find some things in the attic of Grandma’s house that provoke a mystery and a road trip. And quite frankly, this was very well done. The primary narrative thread that pulled the game through to the end was interesting enough. As Tess and Opal’s relationship develops, the mother/daughter bond becomes less window-dressing and more a part of the primary narrative. Masquerading as something more pedestrian and ordinary, the story is Open Roads‘ best and most important feature. Even though by the end, I really dug the art style too.
Our protagonists are hand-drawn and hand-animated which, while harsh at first, brought these characters to life just enough to keep me going. I would have preferred fully-animated scenes with lip syncing, and with the amount of people in the credits, you’d think that would have been possible, but I understand that might be a big ask for the scope of this game. Both characters are stunning and I think my desire to see them fully animated is because their look and design are so brilliant.
This is why I think I’ve fallen into the second camp on whether or not this game should have been another medium. I think I could have, this could have easily been a book and it would have been a pretty good one. The voice acting performances by the indelible Keri Russel as Opal and the extremely talented Kaitlyn Dever, did not elevate Open Roads beyond other mediums. However, the moments in between are what made Open Roads such an interesting and worthwhile experience.
Open Roads boasts a road-trip experience but the game is, at best, about three to four hours long. Maybe it’s because I’m from the Midwest but three to four hours is actually a pretty short road trip. Likewise, very little of this game is spent on the road. But the moment-to-moment of quietly picking through your family’s things and coloring the past is something to be glossed over in other mediums. I think, narratively, Open Roads succeeds by this measure. I experienced something in Open Roads that I don’t think I could have in other mediums.
But the bigger question is, do I think it’s a good game? Yeah. It is. I think the bar is pretty low for walking simulator games to be interesting and fun. I wonder, if I picked this game up in a year or two, how would I react to playing through it again, I think I’d enjoy re-experiencing Open Roads.
The Final Word
It wasn’t a gripping experience, I wasn’t enthralled playing Open Roads, but it succeeded in what it attempted narratively and gave me a pretty satisfying conclusion and truly, that’s all I could ask for. Open Roads may not be an exciting experience for all but it was for me and I’m pretty satisfied with it.
– MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
