Preemptive Retaliation

Right at the end of last year I picked up The Roottrees are Dead, an investigation game in the style of Her Story meets Obra Dinn, and for about two weeks I was absolutely enraptured. This was during the Christmas break when there was so much going on – family, friends, events, evenings sat sprawled across a couch watching films – so when I had time of an evening I would settle down to play this game. I would be wrapped up warm, have a nice drink beside me, and I would tap away at my keyboard, researching the Roottrees and their large family tree.

And, I’ll tell you what, it was fucking cosy.

It was the perfect winter game to curl into. In a dark, quiet house, warm with merriment, it was the perfect low stakes game to snuggle up with and chip away at. the game was slow and methodical, and so well fleshed out that I would read and read into dead ends and red herrings purely because it was so entertaining to do so. And, like all good investigation games, it had the one-two punch of satisfaction to keep it driving. The ‘two’ of that combo is when the game confirms your deductions are correct, locking them in place in the corkboard family tree, but the ‘one’ – the deliciously satisfying thwack of a punch – is when the revelation first comes in. I read an article, and then a webpage, and I put two and two together to search for a book, and then there’s the gathering realisation that an assumption I’ve made is far from correct, and pursuing the real truth leads me to a rabbit hole of information and story. Sublime. A chef’s kiss of a game that I won’t shut up about to my friends.

I finished it five days ago. I’m pretty sad about that.

If I hadn’t been so busy during the Christmas period, I probably would’ve finished it by the end of the year. Like when reading Young Mungo, I could have pursued it relentlessly and polished it off before the bells rang close to the year. Instead we sailed into 26 before I finished the game – thus making it ineligible for my 2025 Top Five. And it would’ve been there, it really would have, knocking Blasphemous out very easily. Nothing against Blasphemous, I really enjoyed my time with it, but it was not on the same level. However, due to an arbitrary rule I’ve set for myself (based on a somewhat accepted calendar) The Roottrees are Dead doesn’t get to be one of the best games I played in 2025, but instead the first and greatest game I’ve played in 2026.

And that’s not a bad thing, per se. It sets the year off to an incredible start, a high bar that I get to try and surpass again and again, but then I know there is going to be some recency bias. In eleven months when I sit down to make this list again, will I remember how good this game was? How I pieced together so many little puzzles and followed the threads to unravel the family story? I’m sure between now and then there will have been another game (or three, or four, or seven, or ten) that really wows me. And I will forget about this little game, and it’ll be left off another list. Played too late to be recognised, too early to shine.

So this post is a testament to that – Joe, The Roottrees are Dead is a fantastic game. You’re not a fan of cosy games, but you’ve never felt so cozy playing one before. It was enlightening and memorable. So don’t you forget it.