The surprising phenomenon of casting Hollywood talent for indie films continues with Open Roads, a three-hour narrative adventure. But this is the latest release from film and game publisher Annapurna Interactive, which has a few similar voice-acted examples in its back catalog – the cute The Artful Escape and the less well-received 12 Minutes to name a couple.
Open Roads is a product of the Open Roads Team, a studio consisting of former Fullbright (Gone Home, Tacoma) employees. It began as a Fullbright project until allegations of toxic workplace behavior led to the departure of creative director and company co-founder Steve Gaynor; after a delay, development eventually resumed with most of the original team under a new name.
So how does Open Roads hold up? Well enough, we would say. If you’re a fan of the narrative-adventure genre—the limited first-person interactivity of Edith Finch is an obvious parallel—you’ll be in your element playing Open Roads. But if you want action, look elsewhere. Aside from the main gameplay move of ‘finding the next thing to advance the plot’, there isn’t much else other than minor dialogue choices, and even then the impact feels minimal.
So Open Roads is another of this growing faction of worthwhile digital experiences where the word ‘game’ almost seems redundant or in need of modification. Kerri Russell (Felicity
Given the developer’s pedigree, it’s no surprise that the game’s storytelling is a huge strength. Even so, the narrative ambition of Open Road – which is a two-hander focusing on mum Opal and daughter Tess – is intimate and small. There is nothing also ostentatious or attractive to proceedings. It was encouraging that Open Roads immersed us in its game world almost immediately. It has wonderful environmental storytelling, the bread and butter, the first necessity of narrative adventures – the first area where they need to shine.
The opening scene reminds us of Tess. He packs up his bedroom. In first-person view, you have the freedom to explore the room, pick up and examine items, and pack on the fly. Little hints of Tessa’s personality come through them that are woven into the larger story – most notably a library book about smuggling where Tessa’s name has been the only person to borrow for the past three years.
When the characters talk to each other, they appear on the screen through hand-drawn animations. It’s the graphic style that lured and enchanted us. Although the game is only partially animated, that little bit is animated works. These semi-loopy moments add a little more humanity and life to the story and helped us get lost in the gentle twists and turns throughout the story.
The environment has a similarly strong influence. Bedrooms, basements, attics, motel rooms and so on are crafted with great attention to detail. All the objects within these areas – televisions, clutter – either contribute to the characterization of Tess and Opal, or otherwise contribute to world-building.
This effort would not have been wasted if the writing and performance were lacking. From the beginning, the characters of Open Roads felt real. Tess is a likable teenager, and her mother does well in the role of troubled matriarch. Their lives are thrown into flux – problems related to housing, relationships and harmful secrets remain at the edges of their conversations. The quality of the voice acting gives this story all the subtle emotional variety it needs. Techniques involving parallel stories help connect the past and the ‘present’ (the game is set in 2003). Most importantly, Grandma Helen, whose life forms the bulk of Open Road’s mystery, is well-drawn and intriguing. She was an aunt in agony whose trials and tribulations were a joy to discover.
The few niggles we have with Open Roads, including the repetitive nature of the gameplay, shouldn’t stop fans of the genre from embarking on this mother-daughter journey. But when realism is so essential to the game’s appeal – the evocative visuals reminded us of our time at university, especially the chubby, overly colorful Apple Macs and plastic packaging boxes – it was surprising that Tessa’s movement felt so clunky. She is portrayed as a lively teenager, but moves like a miserable, drunken 80-year-old. Her turning speed was so slow, that when we really thought about it
The game runs fine on the Switch, except for a few very minor glitches where the character models jerked once or twice while the dialogue was starting. However, this did not affect our enjoyment at all.
Conclusion
If you’re interested in a three-hour narrative adventure in the vein of Gone Home and Tacoma, and can justify the current price, then there’s plenty of time to remember with Open Roads. No detail is lost in the game’s storytelling, and there’s much to appreciate in the subtle and skillful way it guides you through its story. Throughout, we enjoyed the little moments of character development that came from Opal and Tess. By the end we felt like we knew them. The ending of the game also frankly surprised us, which is an impressive feat. Open roads have an honest originality. But, yes, the gameplay is also limited. Repeating ‘take the item, talk’ has only a temporary appeal. Whether or not the game is for you depends entirely on how you feel about the genre as a whole.