Rusty Lake: Roots

With a macabre style to it all, Rusty Lake: Roots is a game that I bought on steam ages before I played. I was drawn to it by the incredible art that it possessed. However, for one reason or another, it just sat in my library. I went back to it after watching Wednesday on Netflix as the style of that show reminded me of this game! I got super into this and I was mad at myself for not realizing that this is actually part of a series! I ended up really enjoying my time with this!

Growing For Something Bigger

Talking about the plot of Rusty Lake: Roots is rather challenging. On one hand, I do not want to spoil this dark and twisted tale, but also it is so freaking weird it is hard to put into words. Basically, we have a game that is telling the story of a family that lives on a farm over several generations. We find out about their stories and how they are basically just there to harvest their bodies into something greater than themselves! That is all I am going to say as far as the story goes.

A Puzzling Mystery

As well as loving the whole dark and macabre style that Rusty Lake: Roots has going on. I have to say that it was the fact that this was also a point and click adventure style game that had me excited. In many ways, the gameplay here is your typical point and click adventure stuff, you know find this, use it with that, and so on. It is all pretty much puzzle based as you figure out what goes where and what does what. It can be quite challenging, but none of the puzzles ever felt too obscure or hard for the sake of being so.

Putting My Finger On It!

Now, I have to say that Rusty Lake: Roots is clearly a game that has been made with the intent of being played on a phone or a tablet. I say this because it is like the game wants you to play it by using your finger to click on things and slide the screen along. You may think that using the mouse will be a fine substitute and while it certainly is workable, there are few instances where you can clearly tell that this is a game that is made to be played with a touch screen. It is not horrible, but I would like to play it on a touchscreen at some point.

That Tim Burton Style

I am sure that it will be the visuals that bring most people to Rusty Lake: Roots. It has this very interesting style and I like how you can tell the game is set in the 1900s (well for part of it) and it has this very weird, Twin Peaks and Tim Burton vibe to it all that I am a huge fan of. If anyone ever describes something to me as “Tim Burton Esq” you better believe that no matter if it is a video game, movie, tv show, book, or whatever, I am going to give it a chance. This is a game that has a ton of personality and some very slick and cool visuals.

Pros:

• I got a real kick out of the story here
• It has a very cool dark and twisted art style
• The point and click adventure gameplay is very enjoyable
• It has gotten me interested in the whole series

Cons:

• You can tell, this game is supposed to be played with a touchscreen
• The whole game may be a bit weird for some people