Highway of Tears is an in-development point and click game from indie developer, Hedgefield. It puts you in the place of an African American documentary maker named Sofia, as you investigate the disappearance of three girls on Highway 16, British Columbia. It self descriptively draws inspiration from Kentucky Route Zero, Fargo and the culture of the Haida people. The narrative is based off of the real life Highway of Tears, Highway 16. A Highway where a suspected 43 women have gone missing, or have been found murdered. This mysterious highway seems like it could be a very solid grounds for a point and click game, leaving much room to touch on all kinds of ideas. Also, the inclusion of the culture of the Haida people opens up a possibility of supernatural themes, without pulling you out from this very true to life situation. I believe that Highway of Tears shows great promise. It seems to be built on some very strong foundations, with its inspirations and very interesting mystery as a basis. Gameplay wise, it plays like an average point and click game, with left click interacting with an object and right click inspecting it. Dialogue works in a similar way to Kentucky Route Zero, where you chose your own background and plot, instead of cliche ‘good, neutral or bad’ options. If anything, Highway of Tears has my interest and the brief glimpse of the demo shows great promise. You can play the rough demo here. and follow the development blog here.
