By Ronald Gordon 

A road trip can lead to a lot of things: closer connections, greater memories, or long meaningful conversations. Though there’s a lot more that can incite a road trip than the search for good vibes, sometimes a road trip can happen from the desire to find something, either within yourself or outside. In the case of Open Roads, a road trip happens from the desire to uncover the secret of a potentially life-changing family mystery.

Open Roads is a story rich adventure game developed by Open Roads Team and published by Annapurna Interactive. You play as a young girl named Tess Devine (actress Kaitlyn Dever) who, while moving her stuff out of her late grandmother’s family home, uncovers a secret that her and her mother Opal (actress Keri Russell) set out to decipher. All the while, the two feel as though they’re walking on eggshells (spoiler alert) because of the fact that Opal is hiding the truth about her divorce from her daughter, and Tess is hiding the fact that she has plane tickets to go see her estranged father. Neither are prepared for the truth that they’re about to unearth, and what Grandma Helen would’ve taken to her grave if the pair hadn’t snooped around in the attic. 

For me, Open Roads was an emotional rollercoaster of a game. From start to finish, there’s moments of tension, of connection, of joy, and of sorrow. It really feels like the focus was put on how this family’s situation lies somewhere between the fictional and the realistic. Losing a beloved family member to illness and distancing another through divorce is hard on everybody, but in times of despair there’s always a faint hope that may turn things around. In this moment it’s main character Tess, an energetic teenager who follows her heart more than her mind, and dives headfirst into solving the mystery Grandma Helen sought to hide. Her tenacity and hunger for the truth pushes her mother Opal to go on this fact-finding road trip, something that she is adamantly against. But she is also too curious to ignore. 

When it comes to main characters, Tess Devine is a great example of looking on the Brightside. Throughout the game, there are various moments where she stirs the cauldron of curiosity and keeps the mystery at front of mind in light of the changing mood of her very stressed mother. I enjoyed this aspect because it allows for more than just sour moods and angst, of which there were still plenty. Tess’ enthusiasm being the driving force of the game kept me always thinking of what questions to ask and what dialogue options to pursue. I left no stone unturned and interacted with almost anything because I knew that’s what she would do, anything could lead to the next clue in this mystery, anything could be another piece of the puzzle. While there may have been rocky moments between Tess and Opal, in the end it led to a closer relationship between the two, with Opal realizing the danger of keeping secrets and Tess realizing that her mother is a person that’s trying her best.   

The art style was a curious blend of hand drawn 2D partially animated characters and realistic 3D environments. While strange at first, I liked the way the characters felt and looked in the world, as if they were only existing in the moments where dialogue would happen. It fits the aesthetic of the imagination of a teenager trying to escape from darker parts of reality; sometimes the moments all blur together until you’re talking about something that grabs the attention. The music is calm and emotional, each tune felt like it was pulling my mind along the journey and solidified each moment of discovery or exploration with a fitting melody. 

Open Roads is a very short game, I finished it in three to four hours. Despite that, I experienced something that could be worth endless hours of gameplay. This short and sweet journey wraps itself up with a beautiful bow, leaving whoever plays it with a newfound appreciation for embracing honesty and satiating curiosity whenever you can. You never know where the truth could be, what you’ll uncover, or what you’d lose if you gave it all up. It’s often best to hold out hope in the end and push for what could be. 

Ronald Gordon is a New York Videogame Critics Circle Member & Mentor. He was the first of our writers – or any intern anywhere – to complete an internship at Rockstar Games.

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