The game needs a DLC or Sequel that is litearlly just Road 96 again but expanded (And enchanced one could say)

[Commissar StonedCupcake☭]

Lemme further explain by im not saying we litearlly make the map bigger, but rather, more dense you could say, and that it would be a return to faceless teens.

Things like, more events per trip, based on method of travel.
More generic trips (things like the bus where you can chit chat with a teen, but ill get into that a lil more)
Bring Katio in
being able to tell characters about meeting a previous character just before (maybe you could prevent this with some generic travel events inbetween)

Lemme more accurately show what i mean with a "trip" lets ay you start 2091mi from the border. In R96 this isnt too bad, you get a few events with characters, maybe 1 or 2 kinda "generic" ones but thats it.

However in the other version, sure you still may have events from characters, but now theres some more generic events that are given more depth, say you meet sonya, she does sonya things (probably shouldnt be done with you in the area to begin with but sonya is sonya), you decide to get on a bus, it works you hop on, make it only 60 miles before the bus tires are blown, forcing you to enter a small event, maybe police come by and try to help the bus but notice your face from the show, forcing you to bribe (maybe even heftily) the officers to look thge other way, but it works, bus gets repaired and you resume the journey to the next story event, or maybe just another bigger generic event.

additionally the generic events should have variety, maybe next time the bus tires get blown, no cops arrive but instead you have to find a abandonded gas station and retrive a tire. Maybe instead you have to purchase a tire from some salvage yard.

In addition, add a (optional) hard mode, i litearlly only failed once in the r96 and that was from having to walk with only 3 energy (tried to save zoe when i litaerlly just started and had 3 energy), Inflation is skyrocketing in Petria, and while the rich dont seem to be strugggling everyone else is. Money would be less (instead of wads of 20$s, cash you loot could be 5s, 1s or maybe if your lucky a 10 or 20, in addition you could have characters try to cheat the teen outta your money, like Sonya, believing that her high and mighty standards cant endorse such terrible filmwork, books it before she pays you and you can only scream at her something (since your screaming it could have an impact?). Energy should cost more too, and more events should be added costing energy, like say you find a mine and wanna pull on it, the dice roll determines wether it worked or not but in hard mode thered also be a 2 bar energy requirement. just something to chip away at it more.

Kaito just needs to be in the game, he was cool and i think his story needs to be told, while i dont know if theirs a cannonical ending for him in mile 0, i get the jist hes "joined" the brigades, and i feel like that would be an intresting tale if he did.

a more minor thing i could suggest is just a simple "creator", gender refered to (he, her, them), a few hair styles and cloth styles, and a reason for leaving "hoping for a better future, parents supporting tyrak, maybe you wanted to join brigades, etc, just so when you call home theres a more clear reason, plus you actually even have a reason to call home, i only did it once in game for the achivement.

Basically litearlly just R96 but with more content for generic things to better pace out story beats, im not gonna say anything major for when or how it takes place, but since i am already going on about suggestions i think it should actually be 1998 or 99, with Tyrak managing to resecure his power, however the brigades are still present, the nation is now facing a militarizing police (game starts out wiht the normal police, but slowly body armor is added, then flashbangs, then you start seeing heavily armored vans and eventually old army APCs rolling out, decked in "Petria Police"), and to add to it all, the recent teen shooting and massacare at the wall is causing Petria to face growing embargos, causing the oil industry to stagnate atm, but quickly will face decline if the situtation doesnt change (end of game). Reason why Tryak remains in power would be too little intervention from outside forces, the games "noble" ending of either a revolution or a vote is sweet, but most revolts dont happen without some other nation lending a hand, im not saying they CANT work without outside aid (soviets v white army) but rather its way more likely to fail without it, and the fact that i dont hear any news about Petria having oil be unsold for whatever reason (radio would never announce it atleast), leads me to believe that once anything started, other nations wouldnt intervene, as they would then have the oil withheld from them. Maybe not enough by the second games time but for 96, i believe that it would be enough for the first revolution to fail, but not fail hard enough to extingush it, if anything itd further radicalize them, maybe enough to squeeze John outta it, but kill the brigades absolutely not.

idk ive run outta things to say that have been kicking in my head about what would put this game as godly perfection instead of perfection.

TL;DR: Games great, but a sequel should have more generic events inbetween story beats that have more depth and variety, but dont need to contain any important story details, just an event with consequences (good or bad). In addition, a hard mode should be added, adding energy draining events to the game, decreasing the avaliabilty of resources, and making some options cost energy to perform (like trying to pull boards off an abandonded mine) , with some characters going so far as to try to cheat you outta your money (or in Jarods case saying isnt leaving alive enough for ya?) If it is a sequel, the game should take place only a few years later, with Tyrak reamining in power, to preserve the need to escape, while allowing us to explore more of his collapsing regime (as its not like surviving the first revolution keeps a second one from happening.) Kaito should also come back, as his story seems intresting to continue in the sequel.

[Commissar StonedCupcake☭]

slight idea i had for light customization is selecting 2 traits to use, but a max of 2 (hacker and clever, clever and lockpicking, etc) so each teen kinda feels unique in the sense that they cant all access the same areas.

you could also have tthe game each game remember if a teens passed through the area, so maybe the lockpicked sections already been cleaned, but this teen is a hacker and can access what the other one couldnt, or maybe persuade the guy "some other dumb teen" couldnt, itd also feed into that feeling of having to make it, as resources are more precious