- Publisher: Evil Trout
- Release Date: Jan 15, 2025
- Critic score
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Mar 30, 2025The best thing a puzzle game can do is make you feel smart; The Roottrees Are Dead made me feel like the second coming of Sherlock Holmes. Its exceptional mystery is bolstered by stimulating puzzle-solving, a satisfying ending, and a cozy nostalgia that makes it weirdly relaxing to mull over a cup of coffee. Don’t let this quirky search for answers pass you by.
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SiliconeraFeb 10, 2025An unforgettable mystery to dig up.
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Feb 6, 2025The Roottrees Are Dead is a fascinating tale of a famous family with secrets in their closet. Exposing those secrets is some of the most fun I’ve had with a game in a long time, and anyone who has enjoyed similar investigative titles like Her Story, Return of the Obra Dinn, or The Case of the Golden Idol needs to look into the history of the Roottrees.
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Jan 20, 2025Never has putting a family tree together been so much fun. I couldn't put down The Roottrees are Dead once I started playing it, leaving me feeling like a true detective, searching web pages, library archives and more to piece together this intriguing family's history. This is a must-play for any puzzle fan.
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Feb 9, 2025A great detective game gets a lavish remake and an improved expansion in one essential package.
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Jan 27, 2025The Roottrees Are Dead is a triumph of investigative fiction, offering a compelling yet grounded family mystery within countless articles, websites, and archives waiting for you to uncover. The game has been much improved over its original iteration on itch.io, and the extra content “Roottreemania” adds a cool follow-up mystery to the main one. Any fan of investigation games will have a great time with The Roottrees are Dead.
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Jan 23, 2025The Roottrees are Dead is a great video game for any players who like experiences like Obra Din or the two Golden Idol titles. It feels good to investigate, starting with a list of names, and reveal the rich history of an entire family. The feeling that there’s something more to learn, to understand, is always present and the game has a decent hint system to help players who get stuck. As cool as the feeling of discovery is, the game is limited in terms of mechanics. Players search for text strings, read results, and make connections. The cool soundtrack helps with immersion, but the loop can become repetitive after one or two hours. The Roottrees are Dead is unlikely to draw new players to the deduction genre but has all the ingredients needed to keep fans engaged in the long run.
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Jul 7, 2025As a carefully crafted mystery game, it won’t be for everyone. But for those who enjoy slow-burn investigations that reward patience and persistence, this title delivers a satisfying experience.
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Feb 10, 2025Filling in a family tree may not sound all that compelling, but digging up the sordid secrets of a prominent family of celebs is such voyeuristic fun that it’s hard to tear yourself away from The Roottrees Are Dead until not one but two sets of mysteries are solved in this polished and expanded commercial remake.
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Mar 25, 2026The Roottrees are Dead, just like the giants in the image of which it models itself, is unmissable for any aspiring detectives out there seeking a good mystery to unravel. The game delivers a lean experience, user-friendly no matter the skill level, and now in Brazilian Portuguese as well.
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May 18, 2025The Roottrees are Dead focuses on solving the family tree of the rich Roottree family in an interesting and addictive way. The detective-like concept challenges in many ways and rewards attentiveness, quick wits and good reasoning skills.
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Feb 7, 2025The game does a great job of letting players logically put together clues. It hides them well at the center of the Roottree's web, but the farther out it goes, it may grate over time. The writing is worth absorbing as players go along and this feels like a real family that could have existed. While this story is certainly told in a way that makes it one of the more unique mystery games out there, it's the method in which players are asked to discover it that holds it back.
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Feb 10, 2025The Roottrees Are Dead is for those of us who are too nosy to stop ourselves from opening up Google and snooping around. It may look retro, but it feels no different than using a modern computer or app, which is precisely what makes it hard to put down until you have the whole messy picture. [Impressions]
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Feb 10, 2025Maybe most importantly (if also most difficult to pin down), the new version of Roottrees simply has a better feel to it than what I got while clicking around in an itch.io window a few years back. Looking back at the old version, it’s perfectly functional, but also bears many of the barebones hallmarks of a game more interested in its ideas than its presentation: The fake websites look a little more sketchy, the typing feels a little off, etc. The new interface tweaks—including blessed quality-of-life features like an in-game notebook you can send notes to by highlighting text, and a search history for your online queries—do exactly what any truly great remaster should: Make it easier to experience the genius of what was already there, letting the game get out of its own way.
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Feb 10, 2025A relatively short game, The Roottrees are Dead is compelling enough to keep your attention throughout its 6-ish hour playtime (or roughly 12 hours, including the Roottreemania mode). Its puzzles are challenging enough to keep you scratching your head but not enough to pull your hair out. And when you’re stuck, a convenient hint button is always available to nudge you in the right direction. For the stay-at-home types, it’s the perfect experience for an amateur gumshoe to get their hands dirty.
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