Given that this is DigiXart's first attempt at a novel concept (a partially-procgen narrative game with vaguely roguelike-inspired progression, though the game itself is definitely not a roguelite), it turned out quite well, with a mostly compelling cast of characters and a lot of narrative and mechanical variety across the episodes you'll stumble into along your road trip. The relatively short length of each episode helps break the pacing up and keeps it feeling fresh, as well.

That said, I do have some significant caveats: the various episodic interactions with the supporting characters tend to demand a lot of suspension of disbelief on the part of the player, as they frequently involve characters divulging personal information or making other implausible requests to a teenager they just met. The narrative's overarching premise of "road trip to escape a totalitarian state" is also handled in about as thoroughly apolitical a manner as possible, with little to no attempt on DigiXart's part to flesh out the ideology of the state, the Black Brigades group rebelling against it, or the nature of its internal repression, or why it is that teenagers seem to be the only ones trying to cross the border. Road 96 is still well worth playing for fans of narrative games and I enjoyed the large majority of my time with it, but its failure to engage more substantively with its own premise is a significant missed opportunity.

also, forgot to mention that there's a song that plays a lot in this that sounds way too much like Train's "Hey, Soul Sister" for its own good