Step into a thrilling world where the past is not just history—it’s the key to a deadly mystery. The Roottrees Are Dead, an adventure-puzzle game developed by Evil Trout, offers players a chilling crime-solving experience that spans across decades. Set in a digital age long gone, this unique game invites you to uncover the secrets of the enigmatic Roottree Corporation and unravel a family tree buried deep in lies, power, and betrayal.
As a digital sleuth, your job is simple in theory: trace the roots of a prestigious family tree. But nothing about this game is simple. You’ll navigate old internet pages, decrypt forgotten emails, and chase hidden truths in archives long untouched. With its immersive storytelling and nostalgic web-based gameplay, The Roottrees Are Dead challenges your wit, logic, and emotional intuition.
The Premise – Ancestry Meets Intrigue
At the heart of the game lies a powerful idea: family is more than blood—it’s legacy, reputation, and sometimes, crime.
You begin as a researcher hired by a mysterious patron to investigate the Roottree Corporation, a once-prominent family-run conglomerate with ties to tech, politics, and wealth. But things quickly take a dark turn. One by one, the members of the Roottree family are either missing, dead, or presumed to have gone into hiding. What’s left behind are fragmented documents, encrypted clues, and a series of interconnected websites from the early internet era.
Your mission is to trace the family’s lineage, connect the dots, and uncover what really happened. Was it greed? Betrayal? A secret hidden in the family name?
Gameplay – A Detective’s Digital Playground
Unlike most traditional games, The Roottrees Are Dead doesn’t offer maps or quests in the usual sense. Instead, it transforms your screen into a detective’s workstation filled with ancient web browsers, message boards, floppy disks, and digital diaries.
You’ll browse imitation retro websites complete with vintage layouts, blinking gifs, and lo-fi background music. Players must search the early Internet for:
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Obscure family records
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Forum threads with cryptic usernames
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Password-protected documents
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Personal blog entries filled with emotional clues
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Email chains with internal corporate tension
The reward system is knowledge: each breakthrough helps you rebuild a fractured family tree, unlocking more of the story and bringing you closer to the truth.
The Roottree Corporation – A Legacy of Secrets
The Roottree Corporation was once the envy of the tech world, known for its advancements in telecommunications and computing. But behind closed doors, the family that ran it lived by a different set of rules—ones built on manipulation, control, and silence.
As you explore, you’ll uncover:
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Scandals involving inheritance disputes
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Whispers of internal sabotage
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Mysterious deaths covered up as accidents
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Financial black holes
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Family members whose identities were erased or faked
This is not just a game about solving a crime—it’s about understanding the psychological grip of generational wealth and trauma.
Atmosphere and Aesthetic
The game thrives on atmosphere. The moment you enter its world, you’re enveloped by retro visuals, ambient lo-fi sounds, and eerie silence that stretches between discoveries. The aesthetics create a haunting feeling of exploring something abandoned—but still very much alive.
Everything is designed to trigger curiosity:
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Outdated internet icons
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Disconnected web rings
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Ads for extinct tech products
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Chatroom transcripts that feel too real
It’s nostalgia weaponized into storytelling.
Characters – Ghosts in the Machine
As you build the family tree, you meet digital ghosts of the Roottree family:
Miriam Roottree, the matriarch who kept a meticulous journal.
Caleb Roottree, a software prodigy who disappeared after blowing the whistle.
Edgar Roottree, the cold-blooded CEO who built the empire.
Nina Roottree, the youngest heir trying to expose her family’s crimes.
Their lives unfold not in real-time cutscenes, but through data—text messages, photo archives, newspaper clippings, and voicemail recordings. Each character is richly layered, and understanding their motives is just as important as solving the case.
Puzzles – Intellect Over Speed
The Roottrees Are Dead is not about reflexes or combat. It’s about intellect, patience, and analysis. Puzzles involve:
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Decoding scrambled family trees
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Cracking outdated encryption
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Reading between the lines of personal emails
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Matching photos to aliases
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Using timestamps to reconstruct events
Many puzzles are nonlinear, allowing players to explore threads in any order. This sandbox-style exploration creates a realistic detective feel.
Reception and Community Impact
Since its release, The Roottrees Are Dead has developed a cult following. Gamers praise its originality, depth, and emotional weight. Reviewers highlight how it combines the thrill of puzzle-solving with the slow-burn satisfaction of true crime storytelling.
Communities have sprung up online to discuss theories, share Easter eggs, and map alternate endings. Some players even discovered hidden meta-layers in the game—entire websites that exist outside the game but are part of its extended universe.
Themes – Legacy, Lies, and Loss
At its core, this game is a meditation on legacy—how one family’s ambition poisoned everything around it. The game doesn’t offer clean moral answers. You’re forced to reckon with uncomfortable truths: sometimes justice comes too late, sometimes the truth is buried too deep.
Yet it also leaves players with a sense of catharsis. By reconstructing the Roottree lineage, you help bring light to what was hidden. You give voice to the silenced.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Roottrees Are Dead?
The Roottrees Are Dead is a narrative-driven, retro-style crime-solving adventure game developed by Evil Trout. It focuses on uncovering the mysterious downfall of the Roottree Corporation through digital investigation and puzzle-solving.
What is the objective of the game?
Your goal is to investigate a prestigious family tree tied to the Roottree Corporation, explore old internet archives, find clues, and piece together the truth behind the deaths and disappearances of family members.
What makes the game unique?
The game mimics the experience of browsing the early Internet. Players explore fictional retro websites, decode hidden messages, solve complex puzzles, and follow a branching narrative based on digital artifacts from the late 90s and early 2000s.
Is this game action-based or puzzle-based?
It is a puzzle-based mystery game. There are no combat mechanics. Instead, players engage with story fragments, solve logic-based challenges, and interpret clues hidden in digital content.
What platforms is the game available on?
The game is currently available for PC and Mac, with possible browser-based versions for some platforms. Check the official website or game distribution platforms for current availability.
Is the game suitable for all ages?
The game features dark themes, psychological elements, and mature storytelling. It is best suited for older teens and adults who enjoy slow-burn mystery and detective stories.
How long does it take to complete the game?
Playtime varies depending on the player’s approach. Some may finish it in a few sessions, while others may take longer to uncover every secret and complete the family tree.
Conclusion
The Roottrees Are Dead is not just a game. It’s an experience. It asks players to think, to feel, to search. It’s part digital archaeology, part psychological thriller, and part emotional reckoning.
In an age of fast-paced shooters and instant gratification, this game stands out by asking players to slow down, dig deeper, and connect the dots—not just for entertainment, but to witness a tragic narrative unfold across time.