My first official meeting at PAX East was with Alicia from DigixArt to talk about their upcoming title, Road 96: Mile 0, the prequel to Road 96. The story primarily revolves around Zoe and Kaito, and their friendship. Those who played the first game may remember Zoe, a confident teenager from a wealthy, privileged background. However, Kaito doesn’t come from privilege. And even in my short time with the game, I understood this dichotomy.
I asked Alicia if it was challenging to write a prequel, especially with someone like Zoe, and make sure the narrative in the prequel stays true to the Zoe that we got to know in the first game. She mentioned that it wasn’t difficult with Zoe because they knew who she was. Creating Kaito, she said, was much more challenging, but after a few iterations, she said that his character is much more fleshed out.
The parts of the game I played felt much different than the first title but in a good way. In the level where I played as Zoe, I had to escape Adam, presumably one of her dad’s hired men, to watch Zoe. I had to skate to get away from him, and while doing so, collected points along the path of her escape. The parts I played had a very arcade feel to them, and even at the end of the level, I received a grade based on my overall score. However, the atmosphere felt light-hearted, with Zoe mocking Adam. Even at the end of the level, when I had to make a few jumps to escape an exaggerated giant version of Adam, it still felt light. The world was bright and fun.
Kaito's world, on the other hand, was much darker. In his world, I was skating to get away from Tyrak. The world was in deep reds and dark shadows. Unlike Zoe’s level, where Adam becomes larger than life at the end of the chapter, Tyrak loomed over Kaito from the very beginning as a shadowy figure, barking orders to his men to catch him. The stark contrast between the two worlds is apparent, and it’ll be interesting to see how the rest of the game plays out between these two friends.
We won’t have to wait long to play Road 96: Mile 0. Road 96: Mile 0 will launch on PC, PS4/PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox X/S on April 4th.
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