i spent two whole days ignoring all my classes to think about this game and i obsessively zoomed in and out on the screen until my brain made connections. perfect game. i love it sm
I can't be sure, but if I had to guess there is probably one sister you're stuck on. If you search for her by name, it gives you a bit of a hint about what type of searches will be useful going forward. Usually things related to people's work, their brands, and their fans will get you the best results.
this was so much more engaging than i expected-- gonna echo another commenter here to note that it took me 6-8 hours to get through the game & i only got frustratingly stuck once. the mystery is designed very well.
i think you've also tapped into something special with how the interfaces & the researching behavior interact. you've essentially split up the functions of a text parser game across a couple different tabs, sort of forcing the player to move between these tabs & actually earnestly learn & retain fictional information. it's very Sam Barlowe, 90s-00s narrative design-y. it's also very true to how one does research. as someone who does a lot of historical research with often fairly inconclusive findings, it was super satisfying to use those same behaviors make demonstrable process through a system.
The Roottrees are Dead is a great work. thanks for sharing it.
I do appreciate it (truly), but I want to re-iterate to everyone that the game is definitely free on purpose. I built this game for people to play it, and enjoy it, and one of the things I was most worried about was it finding an audience.
So, what I would love most is to get the word out there. If you're reading this and liked the game, please try to think about if there is anyone else you know who would as well, and if there is, please feel free to share it with them if you have the opportunity.
have been playing all day off and on, about 6 or 7 hours total. Completely hooked, this game is AMAZING and definitely one of my fave this year. So much fun!!!!
I played it with my partner and we loved the Obra Dinn, so the Rootrees are Dead is right up our alley! We did really well until 44/49, we gave up at first, then I replayed it and found more clues we missed or forgot to look! I even laid in bed and realized who the very last person to guess was...It's so good.
If you're stuck at that point, I would recommend to search unrelated spouses on the net(Women usually take the name of the husband, don't forget!), and to also not brush off businesses and fanbases.
Additionally, the Intuition numbers will always point you generally in the right direction. if something has a number on it, there's a reason. Sometimes it can be a little roundabout, but generally if you search for every single thing or person related to that evidence you can narrow in on what you're missing.
That's good advice! I thought there's no point searching for people not on the "Notable Roottrees" list. But it's called "Notable Roottrees", not "Notable People".
I'm stuck at 45/49 because I don't know how to get the last pictures... any hints for the youngest members? Otherwise wonderful game, makes you feel like a real sleuth!
If you're missing who I think you are, the Intuition System should have a number on something pretty important. You might think it's just "the story of the game" but there's an important link in there.
If you need any additional hints, the discord found in the game's menu has people who have beaten it that can get you more details.
i'm in the same place! i've made it up to 45 without trying to get help from anyone else but i'm soooo stuck now. I've only got a couple things marked with numbers and I've been searching them for an hour and can not figure it outtttt aaaaa!! gonna try again tomorrow
I finally finished it, oh my god!! This game is perfect. I've spent two nights playing this. The first night of absolutely not knowing who's who, then tonight, I was shocked at what I learned about their family (guessed the optional on the first try :D). Truly amazing! Kinda wish there was more to the family so that I could keep playing it, although it is a recipe for a headache hehe. I had a hard time figuring out the partners of the family tho, like April, etc., so I had to go back and figure it out after finishing it. 10/10 would recommend <3
I love the game so far it's so interesting but im stuck on the pictures on the sister part, and Rhose birth name, also does it turn red when it's wrong?
i created an account just to comment on this. i played for 8+ hours and was completely engrossed in this. i'm only stopping now because i need to go to sleep but i will be back to finish the mystery tomorrows. my only critiques is that not enough people know about this masterpiece.
For anyone coming to ask this... no, this is not normal, and not intentional. The way to fix it is to refresh the text ins some way. if it happens on the computer I recommend using the back and then the forward button. If it happens in the diary I recommend switching tabs and then coming back. I apologize!
I blacked out for five hours, and when I came to, I had 21 of the 50 blood relatives filled in. For a seemingly mundane premise (going through archived information to find names to fill in a family tree,) this game is INCREDIBLY fun. I'm taking a break for now because my brain will melt if I do more of this, but I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes mysteries and puzzles.
When you search for Rhose Roottree online there is a small hint built into the results that should maybe give you a push in the right direction. If you need an additional hint let me know!
You're not going crazy... Rhose isn't on the list of names for a reason. If you do a search for Rhose Roottree on your in-game PC you will get a small hint about how you can find her. Often times, searching for things associated with people can reveal new information. For example brand names, or trying to find more details about what they do for a living.
If you need any additional hints, the discord server in the settings is a good place to ask, there are people who finished the game there that can help you.
Pay close attention to how things like company or brand names are spelled (uppercase? lowercase?) and punctuated when searching ;) And sometimes just searching one name or brand name alone can be more helpful rather than combining them.
This is stupid. Why is this just sitting here on a website instead of being sold and making the author the millions of dollars he deserves? (OK, tens of dollars, I'm realistic about how the game industry works, but still.)
Seriously, this thing is fantastic. Completely engrossing, completely fair, completely believable--there's like an entire worldbuilding going on in here. I am so glad I played this.
Wow! this was incredible! I took wild stabs at some non-blood relatives, some clues I discovered that were immediately 'useless' as i had figured the relevant part out earlier some other way, other times I missed obvious clues and so got nowhere. Hell, in the end I knew what was in the locked section before i found a single piece of information on Jim's children; information i could have found 6 hours earlier.
it took me ~8 hours to do, and i probably should have gone to sleep halfway through (its well over 4am as I'm finished), but i loved every minute of it. Extremely well made
Oh! Thanks. My saved game loaded but the text field to search is stuck and I cannot change it. I'll delete the save data but maybe the bug report helps :)
Okey, loaded the game again and it worked and damn I lost so much time to it amazing game! I'm stuck at the last 8 blood relatives. The numbers shown in the magnifying glasses are so deeply confused. Can you give me a hint? :S
This feels like a next step in the deduction-style genre. It has a bunch of really neat tricks that separate it from all the games that came before (Her Story and Obra Dinn feel like the closest comparisons).
If you are interested in neat story telling and a few deductive jumps, then you will enjoy this.
It took me around 8-9 hours to play through, and I'm lucky I found this in the morning, so it was only my day that was sunk, not my sleep.
I don't know how I got here. I was just idly surfing the web before going to sleep and somehow randomly stumbled upon this game from google search. I haven't thought about playing a video game in months but I checked it out and got sucked in. It was very fun.
Thought I'd dig up my old account for this website to say thanks for the experience! I would comment about what I liked about the game but truth be told, completing this game kept me up until 4AM and all my brain cells are gone and I need to sleep now to work tomorrow so goodnight.
Minor feedback: I found it hard to scroll when assigning names/jobs to the family tree, and would've liked the option to type it in (similar to the search bar in the full list of names).
A steady drip of information keeps your mind turning over as you attempt to accurately identify the members of the Roottree dynasty by name, face, and profession.
For me, it rewarded thinking in a satisfying way, and had plenty of 'ooooooh i feel smart' moments.
Should be noted that if you don't want to read, it's probably not for you - there's a lot of reading.
I did some beta testing for this game, it's great. A LOT of high quality gameplay for a free game, definitely worth checking out if you like games like family trees, Return of the Obra Dinn, or games with computers inside of them.
I played an early version of this, and loved it. Since then, a lot of bells and whistles have been added that make it an even more enjoyable experience. As others have pointed out, if you're a fan of Return of the Obra Dinn, then this game is for you. It's very much along the same lines, with a lot of sleuthing and mystery-solving packed into an interesting story. Try it out!
I highly recommend this game to fans of games like Her Story and Obra Dinn, where you sift through huge volumes data to sleuth out the truth. It's got an expansive catalogue of in-universe content to explore, and a ton of UI/UX systems in place to prevent the player from getting inexorably stuck. Voice Acting/Music/Aesthetics are crisp and contribute positively to the play experience, and overall I'm really glad I got the chance to play it!
(Note: This recorded version of the game is pretty different from the final game, lots of UI improvements and some script/clue changes, but I thought maybe someone might enjoying seeing the ways it changed in development)
This scratches a very similar itch to Obra Dinn. As much as I enjoyed that game, the backtracking to different floors to dive through layers of memories was a bit tedious. This does not have that issue. It's a nice clean family tree, and an inventory full of documents (with notifiers, to tell you when you've followed all paths in said document.)
I absolutely left my house after playing this for an hour or two, and thought about the connections I was struggling with while away from my pc.
← Return to mystery
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i spent two whole days ignoring all my classes to think about this game and i obsessively zoomed in and out on the screen until my brain made connections. perfect game. i love it sm
guys i cant find jim's name on the list and i'm so confused
If you re-read the article about Jim you can find on the PC, it should give you some insight.
thank you, i found it :)
can i have a search term hint for the sisters?
I can't be sure, but if I had to guess there is probably one sister you're stuck on. If you search for her by name, it gives you a bit of a hint about what type of searches will be useful going forward. Usually things related to people's work, their brands, and their fans will get you the best results.
thanks. ill also check the discord for help
Amazing game. I was obsessed for hours. I love this style of mystery game so much, thank you for developing it!
Thank you for playing!
this was so much more engaging than i expected-- gonna echo another commenter here to note that it took me 6-8 hours to get through the game & i only got frustratingly stuck once. the mystery is designed very well.
i think you've also tapped into something special with how the interfaces & the researching behavior interact. you've essentially split up the functions of a text parser game across a couple different tabs, sort of forcing the player to move between these tabs & actually earnestly learn & retain fictional information. it's very Sam Barlowe, 90s-00s narrative design-y. it's also very true to how one does research. as someone who does a lot of historical research with often fairly inconclusive findings, it was super satisfying to use those same behaviors make demonstrable process through a system.
The Roottrees are Dead is a great work. thanks for sharing it.
i sent you a little cash through the support button, & i urge other people reading this to do the same!
I do appreciate it (truly), but I want to re-iterate to everyone that the game is definitely free on purpose. I built this game for people to play it, and enjoy it, and one of the things I was most worried about was it finding an audience.
So, what I would love most is to get the word out there. If you're reading this and liked the game, please try to think about if there is anyone else you know who would as well, and if there is, please feel free to share it with them if you have the opportunity.
Thanks again!
have been playing all day off and on, about 6 or 7 hours total. Completely hooked, this game is AMAZING and definitely one of my fave this year. So much fun!!!!
Thank you, I really appreciate it!
I just finished! THIS GAME IS AMAZING!!!! I'm telling everyone to play it - loooooved the ending!
I played it with my partner and we loved the Obra Dinn, so the Rootrees are Dead is right up our alley!
We did really well until 44/49, we gave up at first, then I replayed it and found more clues we missed or forgot to look! I even laid in bed and realized who the very last person to guess was...It's so good.
If you're stuck at that point, I would recommend to search unrelated spouses on the net(Women usually take the name of the husband, don't forget!), and to also not brush off businesses and fanbases.
Additionally, the Intuition numbers will always point you generally in the right direction. if something has a number on it, there's a reason. Sometimes it can be a little roundabout, but generally if you search for every single thing or person related to that evidence you can narrow in on what you're missing.
Thanks for playing!
That's good advice! I thought there's no point searching for people not on the "Notable Roottrees" list. But it's called "Notable Roottrees", not "Notable People".
I'm stuck at 45/49 because I don't know how to get the last pictures... any hints for the youngest members? Otherwise wonderful game, makes you feel like a real sleuth!
If you're missing who I think you are, the Intuition System should have a number on something pretty important. You might think it's just "the story of the game" but there's an important link in there.
If you need any additional hints, the discord found in the game's menu has people who have beaten it that can get you more details.
i'm in the same place! i've made it up to 45 without trying to get help from anyone else but i'm soooo stuck now. I've only got a couple things marked with numbers and I've been searching them for an hour and can not figure it outtttt aaaaa!! gonna try again tomorrow
If you still can't find it, and come to the discord tomorrow I can do my best to give you hints that still let you have moments of discovery.
I finally finished it, oh my god!! This game is perfect. I've spent two nights playing this. The first night of absolutely not knowing who's who, then tonight, I was shocked at what I learned about their family (guessed the optional on the first try :D). Truly amazing! Kinda wish there was more to the family so that I could keep playing it, although it is a recipe for a headache hehe. I had a hard time figuring out the partners of the family tho, like April, etc., so I had to go back and figure it out after finishing it. 10/10 would recommend <3
I love the game so far it's so interesting but im stuck on the pictures on the sister part, and Rhose birth name, also does it turn red when it's wrong?
red is for female family members. as for rhose, just keep searching and reading carefully about her and her immediate family, you'll get there!
i created an account just to comment on this. i played for 8+ hours and was completely engrossed in this. i'm only stopping now because i need to go to sleep but i will be back to finish the mystery tomorrows. my only critiques is that not enough people know about this masterpiece.
Is this normal?
nvm i fixed it
For anyone coming to ask this... no, this is not normal, and not intentional. The way to fix it is to refresh the text ins some way. if it happens on the computer I recommend using the back and then the forward button. If it happens in the diary I recommend switching tabs and then coming back. I apologize!
how do you find out which picture belongs to who?
trial and error, there are also sometimes hints about character's ages or appearances that will help
I blacked out for five hours, and when I came to, I had 21 of the 50 blood relatives filled in. For a seemingly mundane premise (going through archived information to find names to fill in a family tree,) this game is INCREDIBLY fun. I'm taking a break for now because my brain will melt if I do more of this, but I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes mysteries and puzzles.
I can't find where Rhose Roottree on the name menu I'm just sitting kinda feeling dumb lol
EDIT : nevermind i am just dumb
When you search for Rhose Roottree online there is a small hint built into the results that should maybe give you a push in the right direction. If you need an additional hint let me know!
I can't find it still!
edit: Nevermind I got it :)
You're not going crazy... Rhose isn't on the list of names for a reason. If you do a search for Rhose Roottree on your in-game PC you will get a small hint about how you can find her. Often times, searching for things associated with people can reveal new information. For example brand names, or trying to find more details about what they do for a living.
If you need any additional hints, the discord server in the settings is a good place to ask, there are people who finished the game there that can help you.
Ahhh I got it!
Rhose Roottree Rose, no results. Rhose Rootree maplecrisps no results. Rhose Roottree career no results, what are you hinting at?
Pay close attention to how things like company or brand names are spelled (uppercase? lowercase?) and punctuated when searching ;) And sometimes just searching one name or brand name alone can be more helpful rather than combining them.
my brain not big enough for this but it's fun and nice to play. REALLY COOL
This is stupid. Why is this just sitting here on a website instead of being sold and making the author the millions of dollars he deserves? (OK, tens of dollars, I'm realistic about how the game industry works, but still.)
Seriously, this thing is fantastic. Completely engrossing, completely fair, completely believable--there's like an entire worldbuilding going on in here. I am so glad I played this.
Wow! this was incredible! I took wild stabs at some non-blood relatives, some clues I discovered that were immediately 'useless' as i had figured the relevant part out earlier some other way, other times I missed obvious clues and so got nowhere. Hell, in the end I knew what was in the locked section before i found a single piece of information on Jim's children; information i could have found 6 hours earlier.
it took me ~8 hours to do, and i probably should have gone to sleep halfway through (its well over 4am as I'm finished), but i loved every minute of it. Extremely well made
Pretty fun game so far at 15 solved, but the AI images are kinda uncanny
hhhhhhhhh this is so good !!!!!! i love it
There's no Rhose Rottree in the dropdown for me, and I'm stuck at the Roottree Sisters section :(
keep searching. That's not her birthname :)
Oh! Thanks. My saved game loaded but the text field to search is stuck and I cannot change it. I'll delete the save data but maybe the bug report helps :)
Can you get me more detail on this bug? When you say the text field to search is stuck, what do you mean? On the computer? It won't let you edit it?
Yeah it was filled with my last search and didn't let me edit it at all
Okey, loaded the game again and it worked and damn I lost so much time to it amazing game! I'm stuck at the last 8 blood relatives. The numbers shown in the magnifying glasses are so deeply confused. Can you give me a hint? :S
This feels like a next step in the deduction-style genre. It has a bunch of really neat tricks that separate it from all the games that came before (Her Story and Obra Dinn feel like the closest comparisons).
If you are interested in neat story telling and a few deductive jumps, then you will enjoy this.
It took me around 8-9 hours to play through, and I'm lucky I found this in the morning, so it was only my day that was sunk, not my sleep.
I don't know how I got here. I was just idly surfing the web before going to sleep and somehow randomly stumbled upon this game from google search. I haven't thought about playing a video game in months but I checked it out and got sucked in. It was very fun.
Thought I'd dig up my old account for this website to say thanks for the experience! I would comment about what I liked about the game but truth be told, completing this game kept me up until 4AM and all my brain cells are gone and I need to sleep now to work tomorrow so goodnight.
Minor feedback: I found it hard to scroll when assigning names/jobs to the family tree, and would've liked the option to type it in (similar to the search bar in the full list of names).
A steady drip of information keeps your mind turning over as you attempt to accurately identify the members of the Roottree dynasty by name, face, and profession.
For me, it rewarded thinking in a satisfying way, and had plenty of 'ooooooh i feel smart' moments.
Should be noted that if you don't want to read, it's probably not for you - there's a lot of reading.
Excellent game.
I did some beta testing for this game, it's great. A LOT of high quality gameplay for a free game, definitely worth checking out if you like games like family trees, Return of the Obra Dinn, or games with computers inside of them.
I played an early version of this, and loved it. Since then, a lot of bells and whistles have been added that make it an even more enjoyable experience. As others have pointed out, if you're a fan of Return of the Obra Dinn, then this game is for you. It's very much along the same lines, with a lot of sleuthing and mystery-solving packed into an interesting story. Try it out!
Disclaimer: I beta-tested this game
I highly recommend this game to fans of games like Her Story and Obra Dinn, where you sift through huge volumes data to sleuth out the truth. It's got an expansive catalogue of in-universe content to explore, and a ton of UI/UX systems in place to prevent the player from getting inexorably stuck. Voice Acting/Music/Aesthetics are crisp and contribute positively to the play experience, and overall I'm really glad I got the chance to play it!
(Note: This recorded version of the game is pretty different from the final game, lots of UI improvements and some script/clue changes, but I thought maybe someone might enjoying seeing the ways it changed in development)Disclaimer: I beta-tested this game
This scratches a very similar itch to Obra Dinn.
As much as I enjoyed that game, the backtracking to different floors to dive through layers of memories was a bit tedious.
This does not have that issue.
It's a nice clean family tree, and an inventory full of documents (with notifiers, to tell you when you've followed all paths in said document.)
I absolutely left my house after playing this for an hour or two, and thought about the connections I was struggling with while away from my pc.
Very worth your time.