How To Save Zoe In Road 96

Road 96 is a popular road trip game that many love for the storytelling, music, and most importantly, multiple choice endings. While there are ways to influence the election of Petria’s new government and the possible revolution that follows, many might lose their lives in the process of the more violent path to change.

Zoe, a character who is initially met as a troublesome trombone-playing hitchhiker, turns out to be a key figure in the changes coming to Petria. However, it isn’t easy to help get Zoe through Road 96 alive; there is only one path to her survival, and it doesn’t involve all the player’s characters making it out alive.

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By Emily Stander

Updated on January 22, 2025, by Emily Stander: With the release of Road 96 on Game Pass, this guide has received an update to include more details on how to play through Zoe's chapters and help her once she's been caught by the police. If you're still playing through the game, make sure to check for the chapter names before reading how to get through them; otherwise, the story could be spoiled for you.

There are major spoilers ahead for the story and the ending of Road 96.

How to Save Zoe in Road 96

There are two important things to keep in mind when trying to save Zoe in Road 96: You need to make sure that Alex survives the story as well, and you must advocate for the election ending by showing your support for Florres. Aside from that, there are some puzzles to solve in Zoe's chapters before you make a big choice at the end of it all.

Zoe has the least amount of chapters in Road 96, but she's the only one whose chapters will always appear in a specific order. Usually, Road 96 will look very different in each playthrough, but Zoe's order of events won't change very much. The big change comes at the end of her story, where you can decide to save her or not when you both try and cross the border at the end of your teen's episode.

The first chapter you'll meet her in is 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' where you'll come across her in a camping ground along the side of the road. This chapter doesn't require you to make any big decisions, but as mentioned before, just make sure you encourage her to vote whenever you get the chance. Next, you'll meet her in the 'No Concession' chapter, which you'll get if you decide to hitchhike to your next destination.

Both of you will be picked up by a couple, and you'll have the chance to get to know Zoe a little better here. The chapter is easygoing for a while until you are stopped by the police, who get very suspicious about your presence in the couple's car. Whatever you do here, Zoe will get quite angry with the policeman and fling some insults at him, which leads to her arrest. You can either try to help her or stay in the car, but she will still get arrested and be taken away.

How to Solve Fire Starter

In a follow-up episode, you'll run into Zoe for the third time during the 'Fire Starter' chapter. This is where things get a bit more complicated, because you need to help her escape. To do so, follow these steps:

Speak with Zoe when you first see her sitting on the ground in handcuffs.
Walk into the shop to buy matches,. You'll need $2 to do so. If you're out of money, you can try and dig in the bin outside to find something.
Go back outside, look for an empty gas can next to a pile of rubbish, and pick it up.
Loop around to the back of the building and look for an old shed. Inside, you'll find a pipe that you need to pick up as well.
Go back to the police car and drain the fuel from it.
Once the fuel is drained, go back to the rubbish pile where you found the empty gas can, and light it on fire.
Quickly run around the building before the police come looking, and grab the keys on the table where they were sitting.

Once you have the keys, you'll be able to unlock the police van and grab the keys to free Zoe. Unfortunately, though, you will get caught even if you did everything perfectly. While it is easy to become convinced that Zoe’s demise begins with her getting caught by the cops, this scene can’t actually end any better. Because, after a while, you and Zoe will inevitably be taken and then escape with the help of the Black Brigades.

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The actual path to success in Zoe’s survival begins in the last chapter you play with her, when she tries to get over the border. Many of the choices along the way are irrelevant. Just keep moving with her towards the exit on the wall, and when prompted by the choice to save her or leave, choose to save her. The player character will die doing this instead of escaping with her, no matter what is done prior to that. While this stops any run from saving Zoe and getting every character you take control of out alive, it is worth it for the successful conclusion of the story.

How to Save Alex in Road 96

Zoe won’t be spared at the conclusion of the story, the day of the election, even after escaping Petria, unless Alex survives as well. To make sure this happens and that both John and Zoe make it out alive, you need to achieve the “election” ending. This involves continuously playing for peace over violence, supporting Florres in conversation, and potentially taking the sometimes dangerous step of vandalizing propaganda for Tyrak, the violent dictator of Petria.

Getting involved in events wherever possible to avoid the “ignore” ending is the best path. As such, players should encourage Zoe to get involved with peaceful change and try to convince John, Alex, and the Black Brigades that violence is not the way forward, hopefully convincing Alex not to build the bomb for the Brigades in the process. This will result in Alex being at the border to try and defuse the bomb Robert had made from his blueprints instead of being there to try and set it off.

Once you follow John to try and find Alex, the cutscene where Fanny arrives should end with her choosing not to shoot John. Consequentially, Alex doesn’t run off, and the three of them end up together and happy. This is a difficult step because the entire way Road 96 is played has to lean towards a path, and this can take many forms and is influenced by a huge number of small decisions made throughout the game. Remember simply to choose the peaceful change options in conversations and to focus on getting involved in events, particularly with John and Alex.

Joining the Fight in Road 96

The last important things to remember is that after John, Alex, and Fanny have decided to stick together and that John is safe. Now, the player must join the fight. Unfortunately, this again means death for the final player character, but it is necessary to once again get in the way of death for Zoe before she is finally saved.

Taking this exact path is the only way to save Zoe in Road 96. Even if you bring about the peaceful election ending and choose to leave instead of joining the fight, Zoe will be the scapegoat whose death brings about change. Her destiny is to die multiple times, and you must make the ultimate sacrifice both times with separate characters to keep her alive. It is surprising that a game filled with so many choices and options has such a specific route to the happy ending, but that is the way Road 96 ends.

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