Rusty Lake: Roots

 
This is it folks. This is the Rusty Lake magnum opus. It has an intriguing story that ties itself beautifully to the established universe. Its gameplay builds on the solid foundation of its predecessors, and it stays engaging throughout the entire experience. The game even incorporates a little humor to balance the series' usual morbidity. Roots is easily my favorite entry in the franchise thus far, and I don't see it losing its throne anytime soon.

As the second paid title in it's series, I had big expectations for Roots. The first premium game, Rusty Lake Hotel, earned its price tag with major plot points and a lot more content than was usually on offer from its Cube Escape peers. I anticipated that Roots would at least match that, but in many ways, it more than excelled. The characters were far more interesting, and their horrid relationships with one another were truly engrossing. Contrast to Hotel's looping structure, playing this game made me feel like I was really progressing thanks to the tree-like level select. In the end, the story felt more substantial too. It's hard to say why, as the long-term importance of the Vanderboom family is yet to be revealed. However, the end of the game definitely made it seem like something big was coming.

I was thoroughly impressed by Rusty Lake: Roots, and I think it was absolutely worth my investment. If I hadn't played the previous games in the series, I know for sure that this wouldn't have been as hard-hitting. With that in mind, I cannot recommend this as a standalone title. However, if you've played all of the games up to this point, I couldn't recommend it any higher.

The game is available on Steam here (as of 2/24/21): https://store.steampowered.com/app/532110/Rusty_Lake_Roots/
The game is available for Android here (as of 2/24/21): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.RustyLake.RustyLakeRoots
The game is available for iOS here (as of 2/24/21): https://apps.apple.com/app/id1142016085

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