Röki, from developer Polygon Treehouse, is a game I have had my eye on for a while now and I got the opportunity to play it in advance for this review!
A copy of this game was provided for the purposes of this review.
In Röki, you play as Tove who is trying to find her younger brother Lars after he disappears in the forest. But this isn’t just any forest, but one filled with trolls, trees with eyes and portals, and other mystical beings from Scandinavian folklore. You need to help these beings in order to find the Guardians and to save Lars.
I have really enjoyed this game. The atmosphere the devs have created is excellent and very dynamic to what is happening at the time. Music alone deserves a shout out for being so good at building a mood in the game.
Gameplay is also really well-done. The puzzles build on each other really well and you are always in the midst of solving two or three puzzles at once to get to the next step. And many puzzles cross and connect so it’s fun to figure out what order to do everything in. There was a time or two where I wandered a little lost trying to figure some puzzles out, but I never had to use a walkthrough to figure it out eventually. All it takes is some creative thinking. They also did a great job at interesting new mechanics throughout the game to create complexity as you get closer and closer to the end.
The story is really interesting since we initially learn of these being and Guardians via a bedtime story to Lars. One crazy night later, and we are in a realm where the folklore is reality. Connecting the dots between that story and the game has been fun and the story was never obvious to me on where exactly it was going. It still had plenty of surprises to keep it interesting.
Overall, I am so happy with Röki and have enjoyed playing it a lot. I’ve spent hours non-stop playing and haven’t regretted any of it. So if you enjoy puzzle games, indie games, and interesting source material, you should play Röki.
Röki releases tomorrow July 23 and will be available on PC and will also be on the Nintendo Switch.
What games have you been looking forward to recently? Let me know with a comment below.
Sounds interesting, I will have to check it out. Thank you for sharing your experience.
I have never heard of this game. I might check it out. Nice review!