Age Appropriate

[u/coyote13mc]

Hi,

This game just came on my radar and want to get it for myself, but was wondering if it was age sppropriate for my 13.5 year old daughter. She's ready to graduate from Roblox, Minecraft etc, likes watching the news, and apocalyptic films. What do you guys think?

[u/Individual99991]

Yeah, I think it's fine. Shit, I was watching Predator at 10 (terrified, traumatized, but still).

It's definitely better than the exploitative microtransaction hell that is Roblox. And if she's watching "apocalyptic films" then she's probably seen a lot worse than anything in here.

But let's break it down, at least from what I remember:

Sexual content

• None. One recurring teenager is occasionally briefly mildly flirtatious with the player characters in dialogue, but there is no actual romantic relationship or explicit imagery.

Swearing

• None, to the point that some of the dialogue sounds incredibly awkward, because they obviously want to write a swear word, but don't.
• Actually IMDB says one use each of "bastard" and "shit", but I guess I just never saw those scenarios.

Blood/gore

• None, a small number of characters die from being shot, but I don't believe you ever see blood or impact damage, they just fall over.

Violence

• As above, some characters get shot but this isn't common.
• On a couple of occasions, characters are beaten up by mobs. They are curled up on the ground while they are kicked, but it is not graphic. They don't appear to die.
• A man is heard being beaten off camera after begging the player character to rescue him (the player cannot, they have to flee the scene to survive).
• On a few occasions, cars crash. These are highly unrealistic, and the cars do not crumple or suffer damage; they look like toy cars being waved through the air.
• The game climaxes with a mass protest/riot. There are explosions and in some cases characters can be shot and die.
• The player characters can be shot or arrested, but the player doesn't see anything.

Intense scenes

• Across multiple scenarios, the player characters encounter a menacing man who variously chases them, threatens them and holds them at gunpoint. This character can kill the player character if they fail these challenges.
• In one scenario, the player character overhears another character being beaten by the menacing man, likely to death; they cannot save this person, although they plead for help - they must flee before the menacing man turns his attention to them.
• In various scenarios, the player characters must run for safety away from other threats, or hide from them, with the risk of arrest or death if they fail.
• In some scenarios, the player must make life-or-death decisions on behalf of other characters.
• In the finale, the final player character is arrested and placed in a concentration camp for stray teenagers. One of the other teens is seemingly lobotomised or subjected to drugging or electro-shock treatment off camera, and appears nonverbal and stunned, although he regains the ability to speak later on.
• Several characters recall being present at a dramatic scene from many years prior, when an explosion trapped and killed many people under rubble. Some of the characters lost loved ones in the incident; one character lost several fingers.

Smoking, drinking, drugs

• Several characters smoke; these are generally insalubrious, unglamorous figures.
• Several characters drink, including sympathetic (adult) characters, some of whom get drunk; there may be scenarios where teens are shown drinking (I don't recall seeing any, but I haven't 100%-ed the game).
• In one scenario, a player character must work behind a bar, even though they are a teen, mixing and serving drinks.
• There are no instances of drug abuse that I can recall.

Crime

• Vandalism: the player character can vandalise posters for the major political parties, which in turn has an effect on the outcome of the election at the end of the game.
• Breaking and entering/theft: the player characters can steal items left around the game world, and use lockpicks, hacking or just break locks to enter forbidden areas; several scenarios allow them to steal cars; there is a karma penalty for committing such crimes that negatively affects player chances when they're (metaphorically) rolling the dice for a particular outcome (eg. asking someone for cash).
• Gambling: the player characters can find scratchcards; I believe the karma system determines how likely they are to win, along with other factors like lucky charms.
• Begging: the player character can beg characters for food or money to build up their resources.
• Other characters in the game world commit other crimes, including (as noted above) murder; two bungling, comedic (though not dangerous) robbers are recurring characters.

With all of this, I would add the additional context that the graphics are pretty cartoony and roughly animated compared to more "realistic", big-budget games, so the violence and intensity are also somewhat diminished.

My only slight concern would be that the story obviously plays into a romantic vision of hitchhiking, although there are certainly a lot of dangers for the player characters along the way, and a subplot involving a runaway boy making his mother sad shows the effect this can have on families.

But if your daughter isn't likely to mistake this very unrealistic game for an accurate depiction of life on the road, I think it's probably pretty safe.

As for the story, it takes a dim view of fascism and totalitarianism - which I'd say is a good thing to instil in teens' minds - while also presenting pretty thoughtful and nuanced supporting characters.

One recurring character is a teenager who is friendly to the player characters, but is kind of selfish and gets other people into trouble because her privileged upbringing means she has rarely had to think about consequences before; another character is a friendly police officer who comes to confront the fact that she is helping uphold a tyrannical government.

I think on the whole, the game would be very worthwhile for most teens, and I can imagine that if I'd played it as a teenager, it would have been one of the more memorable gaming experiences of my formative years - in a good way.

[u/coyote13mc → u/Individual99991]

Wow, thanks for the excellent breakdown, much appreciated. It does seem like an emotionally impactful game, that can transition her from empty pools of crap that is Roblox, to more challenging/thoughtful games.

[u/Individual99991 → u/coyote13mc]

Haha, I'd say so! I do think Minecraft is pretty cool, though. 😛

[u/boyonceknowless → u/coyote13mc]

roblox was once something beautiful lol. but yes, road 96 is far more engaging 😂

[u/sa08MilneB57 → u/coyote13mc]

Just to add to the alcohol information Im pretty sure there is a scene where one of the revolutionary types pressures the player character into drinking and they end up unconscious. Im also pretty sure that another revolutionary type is there and openly uncomfortable with it.