Roki

 Switch
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. Finger Guns
    Oct 26, 2020
    90
    Röki blends the mythic with painfully real, the supernatural with the human to tell a story of reconciliation that’s spellbinding for its entire 12 hour length. A few foibles with its point and click roots are the only blemishes on an otherwise exemplary and accessible adventure that’s one of the best you’ll play this year.
  2. God is a Geek
    Oct 29, 2020
    85
    Röki is a wonderful fairy tale adventure with an affecting story, delicately told. It's a shame that this Switch version doesn't take advantage of the unique console features, but it does nothing to diminish this lovely, warm point and click adventure.
  3. KeenGamer
    Oct 28, 2020
    85
    All in all, Röki is one of the most surprising indie experiences I've had on the Nintendo Switch in quite a while. It has all the usual trappings of an indie darling — mainly its consistently wholesome nature — but manages to do more than I ever would have expected. A very special story, imaginative use of folklore, simple but effective game mechanics, and a gorgeous art-style and soundtrack mean that Röki goes far beyond what indie adventure games usually do in terms of polish, but also just never stops being lovely.
  5. NintendoWorldReport
    Oct 19, 2020
    75
    Even though some of the character designs are a little off-putting, the overall art style is quite attractive. Despite not really bringing anything new to the table, Röki provides a solid puzzle-adventure experience that only drags a little towards the end.
  6. Starbit
    Nov 18, 2020
    70
    It's obvious that Röki has a certain ability to touch plyers in their souls and that's clear from the very beginning. With a plot and development that feel anguishing, solitary, but also comforting and reassuring at times, this point and click adventure may not be the most ambitious production ever made in the history of gaming but this shadowy fairytale earned its place on the collections of Nintendo Switch owners.
  7. Vooks
    Oct 30, 2020
    70
    Incredible art and animation lift Röki up even without any particularly exciting mechanical design present (though what is there is very good). If you don’t enjoy point and click adventures you might find Röki lacking, but otherwise, this is an enjoyable and touching tale.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 36 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 36
  3. Negative: 3 out of 36
  1. RedPixel
    Apr 25, 2021
    6
    I bought this game because of the stellar reviews, and I am disappointed.

    The mechanics are awkward. Moving around feels slow, and    I bought this game because of the stellar reviews, and I am disappointed.

    The mechanics are awkward. Moving around feels slow, and sometimes things that should work don't, till you try them again. The style of the game is back and forth and back and forth to get a new item which enables you to get another item, run over here, run over there, run back here again. It got old pretty fast for me. This became almost tedious in the second phase of the game. Also, some of the puzzles have weird solutions (as opposed to clever). However, the mechanics shift a bit in the third phase of the game, and I enjoyed that much more.

    OTOH, I do appreciate the overall story and the graphics.

    The gameplay style and level of the puzzles, and even the fairytale quality of this lend itself to playing with kids (or a game FOR kids), but... there are some scary parts that would not be good for some kids, including monsters that come after you.

    I finished this in a day, FWIW, though it was a longish day.

    Update: I've thought about this more and here's a relevant facet for me about not quite enjoying the game. I tend to prefer an adventure game when there are different sorts of tasks that you can work on when you're in a different mood. In a lot of games, you can run around gathering things, or you can focus on leveling up, or there are sometimes "big tasks" and "little tasks". This game is mostly the running around little tasks, to my mind (and the puzzles are not especially fun), and that's my issue here.    … Full Review »
  2. MvdLaar
    Nov 16, 2020
    10
    Gorgeous, soothing and challenging at times. Lovely to get stuck in this forest with its endearing themes and widely set up puzzles.
  3. GetSchwifty
    Oct 22, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. This is the kinda game that has its highs really high, and its lows pretty low as well.
    I have only played it on Nintendo switch and beat it within a weekend. 7/10: I would play it, but never again (even if it’s not a puzzle game).

    You can easily tell that this game is made with love. For sure. The storyline is so touching, and arranged in a beautiful way. Characters’ personalities are vivid and real, such as the pickle-holic dad that seems too depressed to stay awake until his home got destroyed by Roki. You will appreciate the emotion journey when you finished the game.

    Artwork? Phenomenal. The visual language in this game is just so gorgeous. Details were carefully designed in the graphic too. When you are in the wolf vision, you will need to navigate around by peddle on a cookie. And when the girl stepped on the cookie, the cookie just sinked slightly. That is a very nice touch! You will see this kinda details a lot within this game.

    Puzzles are good too, the majority of them are pretty logical, so you would find them where you think they should be.

    The not-so-good part:

    First, this game is a heavy subtitle reader. I mean I get it, the producer wants to use the dialog to make the story line complete. And important hints are given in conversations. I get it. But having to press A button for every-single-sentence is ridiculous, especially for the beginning and the end.

    “Where are you” Press A button,
    “Go peeing” Press A button,
    “Wake up papa” Press A button,
    “Time to climb” Press A button.

    You cant even skip them!

    It’s just so very slow. There are a lot of the conversations that can be packed in animations. I sincerely don’t understand why they didn’t do it. Instead, they think it’s better for you to press A button hundreds of time for meaningless dialogs.

    2: Loading is extremely frequent and takes tons of time, breaking the whole game into pieces. For a puzzle game that is trial-and-error based and does require you to travel multiple rooms/sections for even the simplest missions, the loading time is unbearable for an inpatient S.O.B. like me. Especially for the last Chapter, every time you walk our a room, there is a 8-second loading. You may end up playing the game for 3 second but wait for the loading for 8 second and then another 3 second of playing followed by another 8 second of load. I truly don’t understand how can this game loads much more frequently than Zelda or BioShock. (Note: I was playing the very first version of this game right after it’s released, so they could optimize that in updates.)

    This two points made this game unnecessarily slow to play.

    If you have never played it, it’s definitely worth a try. But there are many times I just want to abandon this game due to this slow gameplay design. I only continued till the end because I spent 16 dollars on it.

    Mixed feeling: Great story. Great graphics. Good puzzle and two-character-to-control design. Terrible game play design.It’s like playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on a PC from 2004: The game is great , but your user experience might be really shirty.    … Full Review »
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