Open Roads review — Family history and mystery

In the wake of her Grandmother’s passing, Tess Devine helps her mother pack up the remaining items left behind at her estate. While rooting through the attic, she discovers a hidden cache of notes and letters detailing a forgotten family secret, along with a mysterious key. Determined to uncover the truth, Tess and her mom Opal set out on a road trip down memory lane as they follow in the footsteps of their late relative.

I won’t give away too much of the story, but the core of the story centers around a secret that Tess’ grandmother had been hiding for years. While Tess is eager to learn more about her family history, Opal is less than thrilled about digging up memories from her past. After some convincing though, they set out on a road trip to visit various places along the Canadian border to discover clues. The story is rather tame, and won’t ever get your heart racing, but that isn’t what Open Roads is going for. It’s aiming to be a relaxing narrative, a fun trip with your mom where you don’t need to stress out. There is a heartwarming story to discover here, but just keep your expectations tempered for the most part as it certainly isn’t breaking any new ground as far as storytelling goes.

Most of your time will be spent turning over every object you can find and searching through every crevice in search of clues. While Tess will often comment her own thoughts and feelings about what you find, you can also get Opal’s perspective, which provides some fun mother-daughter banter. Learning more about the Devine family, both their cherished memories and bitter squabbles, was relaxing and entertaining to experience. Sometimes you’ll get to learn about your aunt’s old imaginary friend, and other times you’ll argue about a divorce, there’s room for both here. While uncovering the mystery surrounding your grandmother is certainly kept at the forefront of the narrative, these shared moments between Tess and Opal absolutely enrich the story in a way that would feel empty without them.

Another important aspect of these narrative-driven stories is a great setting, and thankfully Open Roads excels in its art style. The world itself is detailed and colorful, providing a beautiful range from warm and cozy meadows to dreary and dingy shelters. There are also a ton of things to interact with, and I always enjoyed the opportunity to pick up and inspect all manner of odd treasures and baubles. The characters are a bit different from the environments as they are hand-animated, giving off more of a colored pencil vibe that actually blends quite well with the scenery. There isn’t a lot of animation mind you, but it is charming in its execution. Sure graphics of course aren’t everything, but it certainly does help when the game looks as beautiful as this does. 

While the stakes of the narrative never felt like they got very high, I still enjoyed the more laid-back experience that Open Roads offered me. It felt like an actual road trip, with all the ups and downs that come with being confined with your mother for long periods of time. There were even a few good twists that I didn’t see coming that felt natural to the story progression, and didn’t just come out of left field. You could comfortably complete the entire game in one session if you felt so inclined, so it’s a short yet ultimately sweet drive.

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