“Kentucky Route Zero” was my game of the year for 2020, but it’s a project that spans most of the 2010s. Act I released back in January of 2013, and I first became aware of its existence when Patrick Klepek and Ryan Davis recorded a Quick Look at Giant Bomb.

Act II came out a few months later, but Ryan tragically died before the other three chapters finally released. I cannot detach my feelings about Ryan’s unexpected death from my feelings about “Kentucky Route Zero,” but needless to say they both made me cry a whole lot.

As best as I can remember, the ending of “KRZ,” featuring a moving rendition of the hymn “I’m Going That Way,” is the only time a video game has made me cry. In fact, thinking about it right now is making me tear up a bit. It’s hard to see what I’m typing.

The game isn’t really morose — it has many moments that make me smile and laugh, but there is an undercurrent of sadness that never leaves. It’s a game concerned about the hollowing out of Appalachia’s communities by capital, so it’s unthinkable that the tears could ever stop.

Abandoned mines, roads that aren’t found on maps, perpetual debt, and jobs that break your body and soul are represented here in all of their horrible glory — all too accurate to the real experience of rural communities in the United States.

I grew up in rural Delaware, and there is plenty to be said about the treatment of migrant workers, and the exploitation of chicken farms here, but I have deep roots in the Ohio River Valley as well. Half of my family is from an area that had a lot of money coming in and out of it at one time, but has slowly started to collapse as coal mining dries up.

The way that the people of Appalachia have been treated is absolutely abominable, and the game understands the deep scars found in that region. For many folks who live there, and even those of us in the diaspora, there’s a constant ache. The number of family and friends killed or disabled by the coal industry is vast, and the knock-on effects are still being felt generations down the line.

Of course, these issues aren’t exclusively relevant to Appalachians, but I certainly think it hits harder if you’re emotionally connected to that history. The fact that this game released during the MAGA-ification of the whole region, and ended right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the US, makes the heartbreak even worse.

Through magical realism and a point-and-click interface, “Kentucky Route Zero” bares the souls of its creators over a few hours (and a few years). Community certainly will not save us from the onslaught of suffering, but it’s the only hope we have.

“Ron dug a grave. Then we buried the horses.”

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Image credit: “Kentucky Route Zero,” Cardboard Computer