What makes a standout adventure game to me is when I’m slowed by a puzzle but not stopped. I enjoy being challenged but I don’t enjoy being frustrated. Röki kept me moving in a world that should have stopped me at every turn. Inspired by Scandinavian folklore and presented beautifully with a low-poly painterly art style, I was captivated from the beginning. Really, things just kept getting better from there. I met strange and interesting creatures, I was given unworldly yet logical puzzles, Röki and I just seemed to click.
Röki
Developer: Polygon Treehouse
Price: $19.99
Platform: Nintendo Switch and PC(reviewed)
MonsterVine was supplied with a PC code for review
In Röki, primarily, you take on the role of Tove. Tove is a young girl that lives with an absent father and looks to spend most of her time babysitting her younger brother Lars. Taking Lars home for the evening, Tove is tasked with making dinner for the family and putting Lars to bed. I felt bad for her. She seems to have this reverence for her father and at the same time wears herself to the bone taking care of Lars. After falling asleep while reading Lars a bedtime story, Lars wakes Tove up because he needs to use the restroom and there’s no indoor plumbing out in the backwoods of Scandinavia (I’m assuming.) From there, it goes downhill. Lars ends up being abducted by the dreaded Röki and Tove tasks herself with getting him back.
Röki is split up into 3 chapters and is paced very well. While you’ll likely be spending most of your time in the second chapter and possibly the third, the entirety of the game feels somewhat weighted. Though the game could be seen through a light-hearted lens, and there are light-hearted moments, for the most part, there’s a lingering sense of somberness. While none of the game is voiced, Tove occasionally will sadly say ‘Lars’ when bringing him up in conversation.
I almost gave up early on when Lars is abducted. Quite frankly, I was done with that kid. This kid is jumping on his bed when you tell him to go to sleep, he’s wandering off on his own when a giant beast is chasing you through the woods, this kid is just begging to be abducted by a scary creature. So when it happened, I dusted off my hands and yelled ‘good riddance!’ But Tove seems like such a sweet kid and her genuine desire to help and save her brother yanked on what few heartstrings I have left. So I joined her on this noble quest and wild adventure.
Röki is tagged as an Adventure game on steam but its roots are heavy into the point-and-click adventure genre. Along with some intricate puzzles, many of them are inventory-based puzzles. One point I won’t be able to emphasize enough is that the puzzles actually make sense in Röki. Despite being in a fairytale forest surrounded by mystical creatures and storybook legends you’ll be completing puzzles in a fairly logical manner. Not once did I think, “How was I supposed to know this bridle would turn this snake into a horse?” Instead, puzzles were solved naturally and with a small dopamine rush, the way the good lord intended.
The third chapter is split between Tove and another character, solving puzzles with a shared inventory but in somewhat of a parallel dimension. Tove being in the fairytale land and Henrik being back in the human world. Despite being in separate dimensions, their actions and changes to the area remain consistent with each other’s worlds.
Throughout the game, I really became attuned to Tove and what she was going through. This isn’t simply a fairytale that’s meant to instill a lesson or behavior but rather a journey of self-discovery and understanding. Tove learns to face her past and be okay with what happened and who she is. Overall, it becomes less of a story about Tove and more of a story about her family and families in general. And it’s truly a beautiful one.
The Final Word
I’ll remember my time with Röki fondly. It wasn’t just a well-told story, but one that was delivered beautifully and masterful. Masquerading as simply an adventure game set with Scandinavian folklore in mind, Röki offers so much more and I urge you to give it a shot if this type of game is your bag.
MonsterVine Review Score: 4 out of 5 – Good
