Open Roads Reviews
Open Roads is a first-person adventure game that focuses on the mother-daughter relationship and uses dialogue as its primary narrative tool, in addition to the classic environmental exploration typical of the genre. Overall, it is a very intimate and enjoyable experience that actually feels like a family road trip, but it ends up being too ephemeral to make an impression, due to a somewhat abrupt unraveling of the mystery that serves as the narrative pretext for the adventure, and a series of stylistic choices that take some of the power away from the story's emotional impact.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Open Roads presents a captivating story despite its issues. The relationship between Tess and Opal is well developed and there are many moments that makes us reflect, especially for players who have already been in similar family problems. The way the ending is told is less than ideal, as are the multiple dialogue options, that do not have significant impact in the story, but it's definitely an excellent option for those looking for a compelling and creative narrative.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Open Roads offers a moving journey of a mother and her daughter, with a simple but very interesting story. Though it has some annoying details, it's an experience that's definitely worth living for those who love narrative adventures.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Open Roads has a strong emotional core and great performances from its leads, but simplistic gameplay and some clumsy writing hold it back.
You'll have a lot of stuff to pick up at each of these locations, but the most important items will often provide a "Hey mom!" option, which lets Tess call Opal over. Opal's role in these situations is to provide context about her childhood, how she experienced the past, and what these items (and the secrets that come with them) do to color those memories. They're all essential conversations related to the big, overarching mystery, but they sometimes feel stilted; the "Hey mom!" button gets repetitive, making all the potential sincerity feel cheapened.
While some walking sims have evolved, Open Roads is stuck in the past. Its two good characters cannot offset the bland interactivity and mystery that is as flat as the game's 2D conversations.
Open Roads often feels like a game at odds with itself, that probably would have been best served in a different genre. Whilst it starts off strong, it progressively loses what makes it good and feels more disconnected. Despite that, the two main characters have an engaging mother, daughter relationship that make the game worth playing, in no small part thanks to the excellent actresses, and their performances.
Open Roads is an extremely classic narrative adventure that nevertheless offers a mature and passionate story. The game design focuses on the key engines of the many productions of this type and succeeds in the complex attempt to prove pleasant and surprising. A production that, without a doubt, has its own personality. Exactly like that of Annapurna Interactive, one might say.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A delicate and sensitive story of mothers, daughters and families that lacks the edge it'd need to be truly memorable.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Open Roads has no metaphorical light switches and doesn’t allow for so much player freedom or personal expression. With such a strong duo as Tess and Opal leading the game, Open Roads may have been better served as a straight visual novel. But the focus on them also makes picking up objects to unravel the mystery feel lacking. This is a story for the player to witness, not unravel through interaction themselves.
The game is a snapshot of the lives of three women, uncovered over the course of a few days, the discoveries they make about each other, and how the whole experience brings them closer together. And like most people’s lives, it’s not all action, dungeon crawling, and loot collecting. It’s mainly emotions, arguments, secrets, heartache, and love; in other words, what the game has to offer simply won’t seem very interesting to everybody. But for anybody looking to spend a relaxing afternoon with a heartwarming tale, taking a brief road trip with Tess and Opal in Open Roads may be just the answer.
Open Roads is a game that relies heavily on a lo-fi aesthetic, but all that ambiance is surface level and doesn’t offer actual substance.
Open Roads is a brilliant change of pace for those who want just a story and a little mystery after some intense gaming. However, this might not appeal to everybody due to how slowly the story progresses, giving you only the smallest pieces to run with. If you can look past that and the minor issues with the voice acting, you’re definitely in for a treat with how this story unfolds and getting to see how Tess and Opal build a new bond.
If you're interested in a three-hour narrative adventure in the vein of Gone Home and Tacoma, and you can justify the current price, then there's a memorable-enough time to be had with Open Roads. There's not a wasted detail in the game's storytelling and there's a lot to appreciate in the subtle and skilful way it leads you through its tale. We enjoyed the little moments of character growth that came from Opal and Tess throughout. By the end, we felt as if we knew them. The game's ending also, genuinely, surprised us, which is an impressive feat. There's a heartfelt originality to Open Roads. But, yes, the gameplay is also limited. The 'pick up an object, have a conversation' repetition only has a temporary appeal. Whether the game is for you or not depends entirely on how you feel about the genre as a whole.
With a brief runtime of a couple of hours, Open Roads is a respectable tale that sometimes feels ready to hit that higher narrative gear before easing off the gas again. Although visually pleasing and well-acted, the emotional impact is muted. While I didn’t mind sitting shotgun as Opal and Tess had lighthearted debates over the semantics of trailer vs. mobile homes and reminisced about old flames, it’s not a road trip that will stick with me for the long haul.
Open Roads from developer Open Roads Team is a personal and powerful journey that is driven by a solid story and fantastic acting, and supported by small amounts of interactive moments.
It's a great thing that Open Roads is an incredibly short experience, because when it comes to actually playing it, there just isn't much there. Thankfully, its story and characters do more than enough to make experiencing Open Roads worthwhile, at least once.
Though Open Roads' characters and attention to detail are lovely, the overall experience is lessened by its brevity and lack of depth.
It’s easy to say that Open Roads is cozy and simple. Truthfully, though, its simplicity is its strength… Everything you do feels personal, especially as a daughter who still has endless questions for her mother.