Rusty Lake: Roots is a simple, yet engaging point and click puzzle game focused on the Vanderboom family and their lives on the shore of Rusty Lake.
Controls
As a point and click adventure, the controls are fairly simple: you point and you click. Other than that, actions feel responsive and interactions with the world don't generally feel like they last too long or move too quickly.
Gameplay
Rusty Lake: Roots focuses on maintaining a simple core mechanic of combining one or two items together to create something new, then using that item in a series of complex puzzles. Due to the vast amount of puzzles available and the relatively short length of the game, the gameplay never really feels like it gets stale at any points.
Sound
Overall, the music wasn't bad, but also wasn't anything amazing. It always fit the tone of the game appropriately and never felt too out of place. There were also a few moments where the music played very nicely into the gameplay and led to quite memorable moments, even if the music itself wasn't very memorable on its own. The voice acting was OK at best, often failing to match the dramatic tone of the game.
Art
The art of the Rusty Lake series continues to astound me from game to game and nothing about that changes in Rusty Lake: Roots. The only part that annoys me personally was the film grain-esque filter applied over all the gameplay. It aims to help to match the overall tone of the game, but ends up feeling like more of a distraction than an actual improvement.
Story
I've always been a fan of providing a story piecemeal to a player rather than in one long series and this game plays very nicely into that strategy. The overall story is relatively short, making it easy to keep straight when the pieces start being revealed. The actual story itself isn't terrible throughout, with an ending that feels fair, albeit a bit lackluster.
Note: Review originally written Feb 8, 2019
Controls
As a point and click adventure, the controls are fairly simple: you point and you click. Other than that, actions feel responsive and interactions with the world don't generally feel like they last too long or move too quickly.
Gameplay
Rusty Lake: Roots focuses on maintaining a simple core mechanic of combining one or two items together to create something new, then using that item in a series of complex puzzles. Due to the vast amount of puzzles available and the relatively short length of the game, the gameplay never really feels like it gets stale at any points.
Sound
Overall, the music wasn't bad, but also wasn't anything amazing. It always fit the tone of the game appropriately and never felt too out of place. There were also a few moments where the music played very nicely into the gameplay and led to quite memorable moments, even if the music itself wasn't very memorable on its own. The voice acting was OK at best, often failing to match the dramatic tone of the game.
Art
The art of the Rusty Lake series continues to astound me from game to game and nothing about that changes in Rusty Lake: Roots. The only part that annoys me personally was the film grain-esque filter applied over all the gameplay. It aims to help to match the overall tone of the game, but ends up feeling like more of a distraction than an actual improvement.
Story
I've always been a fan of providing a story piecemeal to a player rather than in one long series and this game plays very nicely into that strategy. The overall story is relatively short, making it easy to keep straight when the pieces start being revealed. The actual story itself isn't terrible throughout, with an ending that feels fair, albeit a bit lackluster.
Note: Review originally written Feb 8, 2019