Video Game / Road 96

Where will your road lead?

Road 96 is a Rogue-Lite Adventure Game developed and published by French studio DigixArt, released in 2021.

Petria, 1996. Years ago, the controversial President Tyrak was elected. Now, his corrupt and authoritarian administration prepares a questionably-legitimate election to usher in his fifth consecutive term. While his opponent, Senator Flores, enjoys great popularity, few believe she can really beat the system.

As a result, rebellious youths and other political dissidents are fleeing the country in droves, desperately attempting to cross Petria's tightly-controlled border. In the shadows, the underground political radicals of the Black Brigade plot to use this rising tension to stage an armed uprising, which the regime in turn uses as an excuse to crack down further.

And in the middle of it all is you, a teenage runaway making the treacherous journey to the border by whatever means necessary. Hitchhiking through the desolate countryside, you'll meet all sorts of strange characters and fellow outcasts yearning for a better life. Will you make it across the border to freedom? And more importantly, what about those who come after you?

Gameplay consists of episodic vignettes that occur in a semi-random order, determined by how you travel the road to the border and what vignettes you've completed so far. The game features light survival mechanics; travelling expends energy which you must restore with food, water, or rest, scavenged or purchased during your various stops. When your character's journey ends - be it by successfully crossing the border, being caught by the police, or even dying - you move on to a new character who starts the journey from the beginning, facing new challenges as Petria's political situation deteriorates.

A prequel titled Road 96: Mile 0 released on April 4, 2023. The game alternate between follows Zoe, exploring what caused her to leave home, and her friend Kaito, from Lost in Harmony, as they encounter several of the characters from the original game. There are also two Gamebooks titled Prologue, which is set ten years before Road 96, and About a Girl, which bridges the gap between the first game and the prequel.

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Road 96 contains examples of:

A-L

• All Crimes Are Equal: Talking shit to a cop in Petria will get you thrown in jail. Being a missing teen will get you thrown in jail. Helping a missing teen will get you thrown in jail. Failing an offshore worker exam will get you thrown in jail. Unknowingly having a teen sneak into your truck at the border crossing will get you thrown in jail. Being the parent of a missing teen will get you thrown in jail.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Throughout the game, the one consistent safe spot is the cave behind the waterfall off Road 96 where the hitcher can paint a message, take a rest, and add a stone to a cairn of rocks. During the last run, the cops have found the cave, destroying the cairn and setting the cardboards on fire.
• Anachronic Order: Character sequences are selected randomly from a pool of available scenarios. While many could happen at any point in the story, others seem to have direct links - for example, John's date with Fanny which he arranges in one scenario and in another is drunk after bailing on it.
• Anti-Frustration Features: While the game normally won't hesitate to have you arrested or take your money away when your energy drops to zero, it will cut you a break during the smuggler escape. If you're on your last bar, then the game will simply stop removing your energy. This also applies to the mountain escape, where you won't be able to die until the final jump.
• Anyone Can Die: Depending on the ending one gets, the death toll can be as light as two people (either Zoe, two player characters, or Zoe and one player character) to Alex, John, multiple player characters and Zoe.
• Apathetic Citizens: Those people in Petria who aren't die-hard Tyrak supporters or Black Brigade seem to simply believe there's no point trying to change things, whether because the vote will be stolen or Flores will be just as bad. Instead they keep their mouths shut and heads down, pointedly ignoring what's happening to teenagers. If you stay neutral throughout the game, the turnout for the Election Day protest will be pathetically low. Pushing for the Revolution or Election ending can change this.
• Arc Number: The number 96 comes up a lot in the story, namely the titular road and the fact that the game takes place in the year of 1996.
• Artistic License – Geography: Several occurrences.
  • The Mount National is seen in the horizon in every playthrough, at every stage of the journey. However, as you can start your journey thousands of miles from the border, assuming Petria is a fictional country on Earth, it would be impossible to see the Mount National from that far due to the curvature of the earth.
  • Also, seeing the size of the country, and hence its border, it is highly improbable to only have one road checkpoint at the border to enter or leave the country. But due to the extreme isolationism of the country, it wouldn'tbe that surprising - but for anyone who'd like to flee, it would be much more practical to cross the border anywhere else, unless the border is some kind of korean DMZ on its entire length.
  • According to the map of Petria, Mount National is the highest peak of the country - it's also highly impractical to set up the only border checkpoint here.
• Bittersweet Ending: Even the most positive ending still sees either Zoe or the last hitcher die in the final sequence, and it's entirely possible to get the best outcome for Petria while also seeing Fanny kill John while Alex dies in the protests, leaving her alone.
• Boring, but Practical:
  • One of the border crossing methods is a simple 11 question employment test. Answer correctly, and your hitcher gets across with surprising ease.
  • The peak crossing escape is also relatively boring, being a simple matter of walking and having enough stamina to make the distance.
• But Thou Must!: Refusing to engage with a story section won't get you anywhere. The game either won't let you continue traveling to the border unless you participate or it will simply force you to do so. Some examples include:
  • Attempting to refuse to help Stan and Mitch break into Jarod's office (or trying to sneak past them) will have them threaten you at gunpoint to do so.
  • Fanny will handcuff you and place you in the back of her squad car if you try to sneak past her while she's trying to fix her tire.
  • Trying to run from Jarod in one encounter will have him fire his gun into the air and order you to come back.
  • Sonya will not take "no" for an answer when getting you to film a completed oil pump, and after two refusals will simply scream at you to get behind the camera.
  • If you refuse to help Zoe escape from the police, she becomes desperate enough to threaten to get you caught, too, if you don't help her.
• Cast from Stamina: The primary game mechanic is stamina management, where many actions will consume your stamina and running out will result in either being captured by the police or being robbed for all your money. The player must look for any means to restore their stamina when possible while also considering what actions to spend stamina on.
• Checkpoint Charlie: One escape route involves going straight to the border facility and taking an exam for Petrian offshore workers, for which you need a government pass.
• Child Soldiers: Robert, head of the Black Brigades, has a talent for recruiting teenagers and radicalizing them to fight on his behalf.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The various people you come across will occasionally mention running into a "Cool kid" on their travels, AKA your previous hitchhiker.
  • Sometimes interacting with the same character twice as the same hitcher allows unique conversation options regarding the previous encounter.
  • After completing a route, Sonya's newscast will report on your escape attempt and one notable sequence from your route, such as Jarod killing a cop or Fanny being attacked.
• Corrupt Cop: Aside from Fanny, the entire Road Patrol force of Petria seems stocked with assholes who will happily abuse their power at the first chance they get, assuming you don't have enough money to bribe them with.
• Decided by One Vote: The player character is given a deciding vote in one scenario where they're let into a meeting of the Brigades, a resistance group, and they have a vote for or against violent resistance and the group is tied so it's up to the player character. Robert knew the vote would tie, so he brought in the hitcher in an attempt to swing the vote his way. Of course, whether or not it works is up to the player.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype:
  • Zoe deconstructs the Rich Kid Turned Social Activist. Zoe wants to fight against the corruption in Petria's government despite having been born into wealth herself, and she lacks any fear of what could happen to her. However her fearlessness makes her rash and foolish compared to others from less privileged backgrounds who show more common sense and caution, meaning that despite her best intentions she becomes The Load due to the many mistakes she makes.
  • Stan and Mitch are deconstructions of Affably Evil Stupid Crooks. They might be polite and friendly to some of the hitchhikers they meet while their bickering and inability to successfully rob anything makes them amusing, but they are still at their core hardened criminals with seemingly few morals. While some encounters have them befriend a hitchhiker, others have them as antagonists willing to beat up and threaten a child which shows that they aren't actually good people.
  • Alex deconstructs the Teen Genius. Alex is very intelligent for his age and the master of Hollywood Hacking, able to do many impressive things. But despite his genius, he's still a 14 year old kid who doesn't really think things through and, more importantly, he can easily be manipulated by the wrong people. Without the Hitchhiker's intervention and John's help, Alex will become radicalised by Robert and build a bomb for the Brigades, despite being smart enough to understand how dangerous it is.
  • Fanny deconstructs the Token Good Cop. Fanny is a good person who deeply loves her son and, despite being pretty conservative politically, doesn't agree with a lot of what her country is doing and is willing to ignore teen runaways when she can. However, despite setting herself up as the Reasonable Authority Figure, her few good actions doesn't change that she's part of an incredibly corrupt system than supports unjust laws. While she can let the player go, she's still shown in some encounters to be arresting teens and it's pretty clear that she lives in denial about how bad things truly are, especially when it comes to things like the pits. And while she can be reasonable when in a good mood, when it comes down to it she can often fall into Fury-Fueled Foolishness and when pressured react pretty aggressively. In short, regardless of how good she tries to be, the fact she's still a cop means she still follows immoral orders that oppress innocent people and she still chooses to represent a tyrannically government, despite being the mother of a teenage runaway herself.
• Dialogue Tree: How you communicate with the others.
• Early Game Hell: Early runs will tend to be leaner on energy and cash due to the player not having any of the abilities unlocked. Most notably, stealing a car is essentially impossible as getting the keys would require the lockpick, hacking, or both.
• Electroconvulsive Therapy Is Torture: Implied. Max, the teen who shares a cell with the last hitcher, is taken to receive a new "treatment". When next seen, his head has been shaved and he is almost entirely non-responsive. Another teen claims he was "fried" and thinks he might even be mute now.
• Failure Is the Only Option: On the final episode, no matter what, the last hitchhiker will always get caught and arrested by the police at the cave behind the waterfall off Road 96, and be subsequently be imprisoned until Election Day.
• Failure Gambit: It's possible to engage in one when Fanny forces the hitcher to pursue a Brigade car that shot her tires. The player can chase them down in a fairly easy driving mini-game, or the Brigades can escape if the car takes too much damage. In the latter case, a dialogue option makes it clear the hitcher failed the pursuit on purpose to sabotage Fanny.
• Filler: The few sequences without one of the main characters don't progress any story, simply serving as a stop along the path. Perhaps the most obvious instance is a sequence where you walk up a hill for several minutes, can rob a shed, and then leave the area. Unlike story sequences these are repeatable, which can become very noticeable in a long run where there are so few story sequences left to see that the fillers will start repeating.
• Fission Mailed: Some of the mini-games can be failed without getting a game over.
  • When fleeing the police with Stan & Mitch, a mission which normally involves chucking money at the police car, doing nothing allows the police to catch the criminals, who immediately escape, and the hitcher moves on.
  • Wrecking the car while helping Fanny pursue the Brigades causes her to disappointedly give up the chase, and the car is so damaged that the hitcher must continue on foot.
• Frame-Up: The collapse of '86 was caused by the government and then blamed on the Black Brigades.
• Generic Graffiti:
  • As the game progresses, more and more graffiti will show up reflecting the current swing in the karma meter. The Black Brigades also liberally apply their mark.
  • The hitcher can also indulge in graffiti, mainly by defacing political posters. They can also add a message in the cave on Road 96 to encourage either voting, revolution, or escape.
• Good Luck Charm: Sonya will give you a good luck charm while helping her film at the oil well opening. This unlocks special luck rolls, increases your success chance on other rolls, and lets you search garbage for cash or food.
• The Great Wall: The border crossing looks like something that North Korea or GDR would build, with a massive entrance gate and towered walls blockading the road to what looks like a decently sized city just across the border.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • When Zoe attempts her border crossing, she falls and the player has the option to save her or escape. Saving Zoe results in the hitcher dying while Zoe escapes with government documents revealing that Tyrak caused the peak collapse of '86.
  • The final choice of the game is whether the last hitcher will escape Petria or join the fight at the border wall. The hitcher will die during the battle, but this ensures that Zoe and/or Alex survives (if the latter joins the fight at the wall and Zoe isn't present).
• Hollywood Hacking: Justified with the Hacking ability. All electronic locks in Petria are seemingly made by the same manufacturer and Alex considers them antiquated. His tool was custom built to hack the locks so it's easy even for the hitcher.
• Hope Sprouts Eternal: Most of Petria is an empty desert, but as the hitcher gets closer to the border there are more plants until they reach Road 96 which is a lush forest.
• I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: Calling home can reveal that the families of teens who make a run for the border are held as equally guilty as their children, being arrested and shipped off to prison.
• In Spite of a Nail: Several plot points and major decisions don't affect the overall climax of the story. There will always be a riot at the gate on September 9th, the Brigade will always have the incriminating evidence to take Tyrak down, there will always be a bomb that Alex has to defuse (and Fanny will always confront John), and to a lesser extent, Jerod and Sonya's story will conclude in a similar manner with Jerod choosing not to kill her and Sonya revealing that Stan and Mitch are her brothers. The only changes that the player makes are whether Zoe is alive, whether it was Alex making the bomb, whether Fanny will gun down John, and whether Stan and Mitch personally arrive to aid Sonya.
• It Only Works Once: Successful or not, each method of sneaking across the border can only be used once. With the exception of the Offshore Worker Quiz, which can be attempted twice, provided that you have both the Cleverness and Government Pass skills.
• It Will Never Catch On: When Alex declares that one day everyone will have a small portable computer like his, the hitcher can suggest calling it a "laptop". Alex just laughs at the obvious non-starter of a name.
• Karma Meter: The player can make choices at various points that add to a tracker for three karmic traits which define the game's ending:
  • Revolution: Support violent protests, the overthrow of the government, and backing the Black Brigades.
  • Elections: Speak in favor of voting, promote Flores as a candidate, and speak against the more violent actions of the Black Brigades.
  • Escape: Act solely in self-interest to escape the country, never committing yourself to any political dispute.
• La Résistance: The Black Brigades actively try to undermine Tyrak's rule, whether by helping the oppressed, attacking the oppressors, or simply broadcasting messages to the people inciting them to rise up.

M-Z

• Macrogame: Unlocking a special ability on one route will permanently unlock this for all subsequent hitchers, even on New Game Plus.
• Missing Child: Teenagers are disappearing in ever-increasing numbers to the point that they serve as a major element of local news broadcasts. Everyone knows that those who try to escape Petria are being sent to the "pits", but anyone who speaks out is marginalized or shipped off to one of the pits themselves.
• Money to Throw Away: A chase sequence with Stan and Mitch has the hitcher tossing the duo's stolen bank loot at the pursuing cop until he stops to collect his newfound riches.
• Multiple Endings: There are three main endings based on which karmic route the player chooses.
  • Revolutions: A violent revolution starts on Election Day which successfully overthrows Tyrak. While many die in the process, Flores becomes the next president and the country has hope for the future.
  • Elections: Flores wins the election with a landslide. Tyrak and his cronies are arrested and tried for their crimes while Petria moves toward the future. This also has two subvariations:
    • Flores wins the election and enacts reforms, but they're not as good as the Black Brigades were hoping for.
    • Flores wins the election and enacts major reforms.
  • Escape: Without solid opposition, Tyrak wins the vote and becomes President for Life by repealing the limit on presidential terms, turning Petria into an ever more oppressive country.
• Mushroom Samba: In "You're the Inspiration", turning on a trippy techno song somehow causes the hitcher and Sonya to experience a simultaneous hallucinatory trip.
• New Game Plus: This becomes available after completing a game, allowing the player to carry over their collectibles and unlocked skills. While the scenario pool is reset, the tracking for completing all scenarios with characters also carries over.
• Non-Indicative Name: "Mitch's Ultimate Bank Robbin' Quiz", which specifically recommends against robbing banks in favor of fast food restaurants.
• No Points for Neutrality: The game practically beats you over the head that Tyrak is an oppressive president and needs to be taken down one way or the other. Whether you decide to encourage violence or voting, the end result will be the same, with Tyrak overthrown. Should you remain neutral and exclusively focus on crossing the border, not only will far less people show up for the Election Day protest, Tyrak will remain in power and repeal the presidential term limits. Zoe will also pointedly call the player out by basically saying that it wouldn't have happened if more people committed themselves to change.
• No Such Agency: The "pits" are a series of government-controlled iron mines where teens are forced to work as what amounts to slave labor under brutal conditions. The official party line is that they don't actually exist and the teens there are just "missing", but most people in Petria know about them.
• Once per Episode: Assuming no failures along the way, a single playthrough will consist of six routes. Each route will contain a pre-determined story sequence and a chance to escape at the border.
• "Open!" Says Me: Omen Vitality opens extra options to simply break some of the locks in-game.
• Peek-a-Boo Corpse: During the sequence in Jarod's motel room, the player hides in a wardrobe when a cop knocks on the door. After a brief moment, the hitcher looks to the left and comes face-to-face with the corpse of a cop which promptly falls over on them.
• Police Brutality:
  • While filming with Sonya at an oil well opening, an officer can be filmed beating a defenseless protestor to the horror of the nearby crowd before she cuts you off.
  • When teens are arrested and placed in a holding cell, they can spends months there in brutal conditions being periodically beaten before getting transferred to the Pits.
• Polluted Wasteland: Petria is heading this way, as much of the land is covered in oil wells and pipelines while oil barrels can be found scattered and half-buried around the maps. Even the beautiful waterfall on Road 96 is littered with trash.
• Prisoner's Work: Teens caught trying to cross the border are sent to the "pits", iron mines where they are forced to work under hellish conditions.
• Propaganda Machine: GNN only reports news that supports Tyrak, either misreporting or omitting key details. The most obvious example is when Sonya reports the current polling and in every case is openly dismissive of Flores and equates voting for her as supporting violence.
• Qurac: Petria, an oil-rich desert country ruled by a tinpot dictator. Interestingly enough, it seems to be based on the United States, of all things.
• Random Events Plot: Each trip consists of a series of sequences randomly selected from the available pool, which can result in some wild swings in tone and plot. The only consistent points across the trips will be a single story sequence and the actual arrival at Road 96.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The Black Brigades are on the verge of becoming outright terrorists, with Robert advocating for violence while John pushes back. Even if the hitcher keeps the organization as a whole from escalating, Robert still arranges bombings and drive-by shootings of cops and attempts to bomb the ten year commemoration at the wall.
• Road Trip Plot: The game has you travelling for over fifteen hundred miles across Petria via a number of means while meeting interesting characters and falling into various situations as you ultimately try to get to the border and maybe help overthrow the oppresive regime of the country.
• Room Full of Crazy: The player doesn't get a close look at it, but Jarod's office contains one centered around murdering Sonya. Stan and Mitch get into the office with the player's help, and are freaked out by how obsessed Jarod is.
• Run for the Border: The game's main premise, you play as a teen trying to escape an oppressive regime and being branded a criminal for the very act.
• Schmuck Bait:
  • During the offshore worker exam, one of the questions the examiner asks you is whether you are or have been a member of the Black Brigades. As in, a group that two posters behind the examiner make abundantly clear are terrorists. You can answer yes to this, but the examiner will think that you're joking and repeats the question to you. Say no and you can go on to pass the test like nothing happened if you pick the right answers. Or you can answer yes again. Unsurprisingly, picking the latter will instantly get you arrested.
  • In one of Jarod's encounters, he'll mention that he doesn't want to think about Lola or he'll get very angry. A little while later, if you decide to play one of the VCRs, he'll ask you which one you watched. Responding with Lola will fill his entire anger bar and end with you getting shot.
• Shout-Out: Many of the encounters are named after songs, from "Livin' La Vida Loca", "More Than Words", "You're The Inspiration" and several others.
• Songs in the Key of Panic: "A Dark Place" plays in sequences where the hitcher is in danger of being arrested or killed. "Election Day" is a tense piece of ominous music which plays during the final sequence.
• Story Breadcrumbs: While the main story is told in pre-determined sequences, most of the background history on both Petria and the various characters is scattered across multiple sequences. Learning everything requires reading various articles, talking with everyone, and will likely require multiple playthroughs to see sequences missed on the first go-around.
• The Taxi: Phone booths can be used to call the local taxi company and arrange a pick-up if one is available. The company also employs Jarod, and the hitchhiker can raid the taxi company's offices with Stan and Mitch to learn more about his plans.
• Too Desperate to Be Picky: The player will often need to resort to disgusting methods to acquire money and stamina, such as picking through trash cans and eating rotten food, although this doesn't really negatively affect you gameplay-wise.
• Video Game Cruelty Punishment: While the game normally doesn't really punish you for being selfish or doing criminal actions like stealing aside from losing karma, it can really bite you in the ass during the smuggler escape. Should you not have enough money for the smuggler to continue escorting you, you get the option to bring the other teen with you for free. If you don't do this, not only will the teen call you out for leaving him there, your chances at climbing the wall will become significantly lower (albeit still possible.)
• Waking Up Elsewhere: Resting in one scenario results in you waking up inside an unfamiliar motel room, having been carried there by Jarod. Cue the hitcher panicking while Jarod forces them to help "clean up a mess".
• The Wall Around the World: The only way out of Petria is the mountain pass on Road 96. Ten years ago, a wall was built across the pass, and the flow of everything to and from the outside world is tightly controlled by that wall and the government.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • Tyrak and the cops under his command have captured large numbers of teens trying to flee the country and jail them to be first beaten and then thrown into forced labor camps. Come Election Day, he orders the police to fire at a group of protesters, which includes various teens that potentially have Zoe or Alex among them.
  • Jarod will kill multiple hitchers if the player is not careful, and they can sometimes be as young as fourteen.
  • Robert Winters, the head of the Black Brigades, has a history of recruiting and radicalizing teenagers to use as expendable pawns against Tyrak. He got his start with this when he was a high school teacher and radicalized his own students.
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The Black Brigades may be fighting against an oppressive regime, but they're willing to use extreme methods and their leader has a penchant for manipulating teens to use as expendable soldiers.

Road 96: Mile 0 contains examples of:

• Absurdly Elderly Mother: Kaito's parents look more like his grandparents.
• All Love Is Unrequited: The player has the option of having Kaito imply that he does have more romantic feelings for Zoe, but this doesn't have any impact on the story.
• Ascended Extra: Adam was just an extra in Sonya's chapters in the original game, but here he gets some focus as the game explains how he started working as Sonya's bodyguard. President Tyrak and Zoe's father also have much larger appearances than in the original game.
• Call-Forward: A subtle one is that when Zoe meets Alex, they have marshmallows at a campfire. When the Hitchhiker first meets Zoe in the original game, she asks if the player has any marshmallows.
• The Cameo: Many characters from Road 96 reappear in this game:
  • John appears offering Kaito and his parents a way out of the country in return for a file that proves the Brigades didn't cause the attack in '86.
  • Jarod can be seen twice, first in the distance seemingly about to kill someone and finally in his taxi while Zoe is chased by Adam.
  • Fanny briefly appears when Kaito is being interrogated by cops.
  • Alex appears at Biggy's Diner, having a conversation with Zoe after getting his van working.
  • Stan and Mitch appear on the cover of a magazine.
  • Robert makes an appearance at the end of the game, where he demands that Kaito gives him the file while also offering the teenager a chance to join the Brigades.
  • Conny, John's girlfriend, can be briefly seen in the flashback of the attack in '86.
• Canon Welding: It turns out that Lost in Harmony, or at least Kaito's story in the game, exists in the same universe as Road 96. Kaito explains that he believes that his friend Aya got got sick from the drilling and pollution in Petria, though this isn't confirmed.
• Crossover: Between Road 96 and Lost in Harmony.
• Demoted to Extra: Many of the main characters from the original game, such as Fanny and Jarod, are reduced to brief cameos.
• Foregone Conclusion: No matter what happens, Zoe will end up a runaway at the Night Skies Campground. And she will have the file exposing that Tyrak is responsible for the deaths in '86, either through beating Kaito in their fight or Kaito being so horrified that he hurt her that he lets her leave with the file.
• Multiple Endings: There are four endings, depending on what choices you have made and how that affects Zoe and Kaito (her "confident vs doubt" and his "revolutionary vs moderate" scales). However the endings only affect Kaito, as for obvious reasons Zoe will always end up at Night Skies Campground.
  • If Zoe has high confidence and Kaito has high revolutionary. Zoe calls the cops and tells them where to find the Brigades that Kaito is meeting with, while also taking the file from the car Kaito's parents were given when they left. Kaito agrees to join the Brigades and goes to get the file, leading to an argument and a fight between him and Zoe. Regardless of who wins, Zoe leaves with the file. While Zoe leaves on a journey to the trailer park where the protagonist meets her in the first game and learns the truth after reading the file, Kaito is confronted by Robert just when the police arrived. Kaito takes Robert's gun, who flees immediately afterwards, but despite his best efforts the police end up killing his parents. Kaito surrenders while Zoe futilely attempts to contact him through their radios.
  • If Kaito has high moderate, then he refuses to join the Brigades. After the fight with Zoe, an angry Robert tries to kill Kaito's parents but is stopped when Kaito punches him just when the police arrive, with Robert being able to escape while Kaito's parents surrender in order to hide Kaito. The game ends with Zoe trying to contact him while Kaito sadly walks down Road 96, seemingly with the goal of crossing the boarder.
  • If Zoe has high doubt she doesn't call the police. After their fight Robert angrily shoots tire of the car given to Kaito's parents and leaves in his own, with Kaito going with him despite the protests of his parents. The game ends with Zoe trying to contact him after reading the file, while Kaito notices her bag and trumpet on a bench as Robert drives them to an unknown destination. Despite at first being excited, he hesitates and says nothing to Robert, preventing him from finding Zoe and getting the file.
  • The Golden Ending is when Zoe has high doubt while Kaito has high moderate, meaning she doesn't call the cops while he doesn't join the Brigades. After their fight, Robert threatens to kill Kaito's parents, but changes his mind and allows the family to leave. The game ends with a more optimistic Zoe narrating that she knows Kaito will find a way to cross and hopes that one day they will see each other again, while Kaito and his parents drive down Road 96.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Zoe and Kaito are this, though when discussing Adam's crush on Sonya the player has the option to have Kaito either confidently or reluctantly agree with Zoe's statement about them just being friends. However this doesn't have any impact on story.
• Prequel: To the original game, being set a few months before it, though it's also a sequel to Lost in Harmony, being set two years after Aya's death.
• Retcon: In the original game Zoe states that her father thinks she is on a road trip and doesn't know that she has no intention of going back, but this game reveals she ran away without even speaking to him.
• Revision: The context of how Zoe found proof that Tyrak is responsible for the attack in '86 is slightly different here, as the original game implied she simply found it instead of breaking into Tyrak's house with help from her friend.

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