UPDATE: 6:00 P.M. EST: The game's composer Ben Babbit has released a track from Act V on his bandcamp page. Possibly trailer music? Something is definitely afoot.

An episodic title that began release in 2013, Kentucky Route Zero might finally be nearing the end. Arguably known more for the ungodly gaps of time between episodes than for the game itself these days, there are some interesting developments that might be hinting at the game finally concluding, and -- with any luck -- seeing the console version release at last.

As one way of making the huge gaps of time between episodes more palatable, developer Cardboard Computer has released a number of ARGs, or alternate reality games. The first of these, "Limits & Demonstrations", was a digital art gallery. This was followed by "The Entertainment", a digital stage play, and then "Here and There Along the Echo"; a phone number that you could call to hear a wealth of tourist information about a region from the game. As the time between episodes has gone up, so too has the amount of detail into the ARG interludes. And this trend continues with the current interlude, "1-858-WHEN-KRZ".

If you call the above number, you will find yourself on a hotline to check the development status of the game. It's been updated periodically through the months, and the current change is particularly intriguing.

For starters, the canned response now says "preparing for publication". What's more, if you press "0" to check on the game's status and wait a bit, you will get a countdown timer to receive more information. The timer is set to expire at 9AM PST this Tuesday which, for those keeping count at home, marks the seventh anniversary of the first episode's release.

By all accounts, we seem to be in for a treat very soon. Hopefully we'll learn when to expect the final episode to release, and possibly the PlayStation 4 version too.

What do you think the countdown is going to reveal? Are you excited to finally play the complete version of Kentucky Route Zero? Are you counting down the seconds just like we are? Let us know in the comments below.