Röki is an adventure game inspired by Scandinavian folklore; a dark contemporary fairy tale underpinned by a touching narrative, alluring art style, ancient puzzles and atmospheric exploration. We join Tove on a fantastical journey to save her family. A journey that takes her deep into a hidden and long forgotten world of lost folklore filled with strange locations and even stranger creatures. Explore the ancient wilderness, solve it’s mysteries, save your family in this modern adventure game for all. “EXPLORE a Living Fairy Tale Forest” - Join Tove to Explore a rich and beguiling world of wintry Scandinavian folklore, a world alive with detail and life crafted in Röki’s signature graphical art style. “Make Friends WIth MONSTERS” - Seek out the ancient and magical creatures of the Scandinavian wilderness, some are friendly, some not so much!. Röki has a rich cast of unique ‘creepy-but-cute’ characters to discover our own take on Nordic folklore. “SEARCH for Long Forgotten Items” - The ancient wilderness holds many secrets. Seek out long forgotten items to aid you on your adventure. “SOLVE the Riddles of the Wilderness” - Röki is a game of brains not brawn. Can you unlock ancient pathways and solve the riddles of the ancients “CHART your Journey” - Tove charts her progress in her trusty journal, it’s her grail diary. Map uncharted regions, delve deeper into the rich lore of Scandinavian folklore, collect loot and earn unique ‘wilderness explorer’ badges “An ADVENTURE For ALL” - Röki is an adventure game for ALL gamers. With its non-violent gameplay, accessible controls and universal themes it is a journey to delight all gamers. The game is designed uniquely to pose a challenge but to also offer a helping hand when adventurers need it meaning it can be enjoyed by all. A truly modern take on the Adventure game genre.
Released on
Genres
Reviews View More
Rӧki is a point and click style adventure game based on scandinavian folklore that has you searching for your brother in a mysterious world filled with magic and creatures while solving various puzzles. The puzzles are pretty standard for point and click style games and mostly require you to search for certain items that can be used on different things in the environment or combined with other items to progress. They are mostly straightforward but some are surprisingly complex. Sometimes they are a bit too elusive in that it is not very clear what items need to be used or combined together in order to proceed. Additionally sometimes the items needed to complete a puzzle are scattered across the map and if you miss these it is very tedious to go back and try to find it. This is because backtracking in this game is very tedious and is required fairly often.
Navigating the world in this game is just slow and not very fun. After you've explored each room it can be a bit of a pain to have to go back and search the whole map for an item you’ve missed and need for a puzzle. This got so tedious that towards the end of chapter 2 (out of three chapters), I ended up following a guide as I wanted to focus more on enjoying the environments and story rather than slowly trekking through each level looking for a means to progress. I suspect that people more familiar with point and click style games might not mind this as much though. This would have been extremely annoying in chapter 3 where items are scattered throughout the entire map and you control two characters. Most puzzles require both the characters meaning you often have to move one character from point A to B, switch to the other character, and then move them from point A to B yet again. Traversing the world is just quite tedious and is my main gripe with this game.
The world and creatures are fortunately very well designed. There are some annoying issues with the camera (I honestly wish that they just went 2D or a semi-3D route), but these creatures look so good and are paired with some great animations. It's very fun exploring every room for the first time and seeing what this world has to offer. Some animations that play during cutscenes are not the best but typically the art direction side of things is fantastic. The titular character Rӧki especially looks amazing. Unfortunately the cutscenes overstay their welcome very frequently and these cutscenes are everywhere. I get that the story needs to be conveyed somehow but these definitely could have been trimmed down a lot. Especially since these cutscenes just involve clicking through dialogue and watching characters on a screen. There are a few cutscenes that have you repeat the same action multiple times in order to break up the dialogue and this just doesn’t work. It feels like padding and I think the better strategy would be to break up some of these cutscenes into smaller chunks or strip some of the dialogue back.
The story itself is nice although it is nothing terribly groundbreaking. You are searching for your brother while also unraveling the main character’s tragic backstory. Its ending feels a bit rushed but all in all it’s a fine story that mostly serves to showcase the folklore stuff. The dialogue feels a bit simple and childlike but it's definitely fitting for the style that the devs were going for. I do appreciate the lighter approach to the narrative as it feels like lately there’s been a lot of media looking at fairy tales and folklore in a more mature and darker way so this was a bit of a breath of fresh air.
I can tell that there was a lot of heart put into this game and there really is still quite a bit to appreciate here. I really did enjoy playing up to part way through chapter two where things started to go downhill for me. Although I got a bit tired of things as it went on I expect that fans of this style of game would enjoy it more. This is also a surprisingly long game for an obviously indie title, taking me a bit over nine hours to complete. I almost wish that it was shorter as I think that would help to mitigate some of the tedium I experienced in the latter half of the game. Nevertheless, there are bits and pieces to love here and the design of the world and creatures makes it worth the visit.
Navigating the world in this game is just slow and not very fun. After you've explored each room it can be a bit of a pain to have to go back and search the whole map for an item you’ve missed and need for a puzzle. This got so tedious that towards the end of chapter 2 (out of three chapters), I ended up following a guide as I wanted to focus more on enjoying the environments and story rather than slowly trekking through each level looking for a means to progress. I suspect that people more familiar with point and click style games might not mind this as much though. This would have been extremely annoying in chapter 3 where items are scattered throughout the entire map and you control two characters. Most puzzles require both the characters meaning you often have to move one character from point A to B, switch to the other character, and then move them from point A to B yet again. Traversing the world is just quite tedious and is my main gripe with this game.
The world and creatures are fortunately very well designed. There are some annoying issues with the camera (I honestly wish that they just went 2D or a semi-3D route), but these creatures look so good and are paired with some great animations. It's very fun exploring every room for the first time and seeing what this world has to offer. Some animations that play during cutscenes are not the best but typically the art direction side of things is fantastic. The titular character Rӧki especially looks amazing. Unfortunately the cutscenes overstay their welcome very frequently and these cutscenes are everywhere. I get that the story needs to be conveyed somehow but these definitely could have been trimmed down a lot. Especially since these cutscenes just involve clicking through dialogue and watching characters on a screen. There are a few cutscenes that have you repeat the same action multiple times in order to break up the dialogue and this just doesn’t work. It feels like padding and I think the better strategy would be to break up some of these cutscenes into smaller chunks or strip some of the dialogue back.
The story itself is nice although it is nothing terribly groundbreaking. You are searching for your brother while also unraveling the main character’s tragic backstory. Its ending feels a bit rushed but all in all it’s a fine story that mostly serves to showcase the folklore stuff. The dialogue feels a bit simple and childlike but it's definitely fitting for the style that the devs were going for. I do appreciate the lighter approach to the narrative as it feels like lately there’s been a lot of media looking at fairy tales and folklore in a more mature and darker way so this was a bit of a breath of fresh air.
I can tell that there was a lot of heart put into this game and there really is still quite a bit to appreciate here. I really did enjoy playing up to part way through chapter two where things started to go downhill for me. Although I got a bit tired of things as it went on I expect that fans of this style of game would enjoy it more. This is also a surprisingly long game for an obviously indie title, taking me a bit over nine hours to complete. I almost wish that it was shorter as I think that would help to mitigate some of the tedium I experienced in the latter half of the game. Nevertheless, there are bits and pieces to love here and the design of the world and creatures makes it worth the visit.
I enjoyed the plot elements and the puzzles in the middle sections of the game, but I ended up really souring towards the game
I did not connect with the characters, so I found myself not investing myself in the story. This was an issue when it came to the last 10 minutes of playtime, where the game dumped a load of story at the end. I was smashing the enter key on my keyboard as fast as possible just so I can get through it as quick as I could.
I ended up having to use a walkthrough for some of the larger areas where you needed to puzzle solve because some parts of the game really dragged for me. It also didn't help that I got stuck on how to proceed a few times, as the solution would sometimes be obstructed by parts of the environment, because I didn't move my character in a specific area to change the camera angle.
While I got this game for less than a fiver on a GOG sale, I can't say that it was money well spent.
I did not connect with the characters, so I found myself not investing myself in the story. This was an issue when it came to the last 10 minutes of playtime, where the game dumped a load of story at the end. I was smashing the enter key on my keyboard as fast as possible just so I can get through it as quick as I could.
I ended up having to use a walkthrough for some of the larger areas where you needed to puzzle solve because some parts of the game really dragged for me. It also didn't help that I got stuck on how to proceed a few times, as the solution would sometimes be obstructed by parts of the environment, because I didn't move my character in a specific area to change the camera angle.
While I got this game for less than a fiver on a GOG sale, I can't say that it was money well spent.
Was longer than expected :D Very nice and coherent adventure game with Nordic mythology and a very emotional story about a small family and their fate. It was quite tricky at times but never unfair. It went under the radar a bit and wrongly so, nice game.
Pretty good
This review contains spoilers
Röki is a game that addresses death, family relationships, and, consequently, the impact of death on family relationships. The game addresses these issues from a child's perspective, constantly conveying a heartache feeling. The story develops along with the maturation of the character's relationship with the death of Eva, Tove's mother. This development is very well written and very beautiful, but it doesn't make the game cozy because it constantly hurts. Despite not being a cozy game, it is indeed a peaceful game, as the characters' maturity makes them come to peace with themselves. And we have the opportunity to experience their whole process of maturation.
We can better appreciate the game if we think about what it would be like if it had gone down a different path. Imagine that Eve hadn't died, but was in the forest helping to restore it. Or that she had some relationship with the Jötnar, and that she had needed to fake her death for some reason. The characters would never have the chance to develop. Fortunately, the game took the story in exactly the opposite direction.
By making Eva's death something definitive and real, the game allowed Tove and Henrik to develop. At the beginning of the playthrough, I didn't know how Henrik would behave throughout the story. I was afraid Henrik was a character who could only be happy again if Eva appeared alive somehow. That was not the case. He became a healthier person, and his participation in the third chapter was incredible. Playing with father and daughter explored very well the feeling of family unity, and how it is fundamental to overcoming past shared traumas.
Röki made me reflect on why the study of literature at school doesn't treat video games with the same care as it does with books. Röki, as well as What Remains of Edith Finch, contributed greatly to the literature on death, leaving nothing to be desired compared to great classics such as The Death of Ivan Ilych. Röki is a game that helps us mature our relationship with death and appreciate what we have while we have it.
We can better appreciate the game if we think about what it would be like if it had gone down a different path. Imagine that Eve hadn't died, but was in the forest helping to restore it. Or that she had some relationship with the Jötnar, and that she had needed to fake her death for some reason. The characters would never have the chance to develop. Fortunately, the game took the story in exactly the opposite direction.
By making Eva's death something definitive and real, the game allowed Tove and Henrik to develop. At the beginning of the playthrough, I didn't know how Henrik would behave throughout the story. I was afraid Henrik was a character who could only be happy again if Eva appeared alive somehow. That was not the case. He became a healthier person, and his participation in the third chapter was incredible. Playing with father and daughter explored very well the feeling of family unity, and how it is fundamental to overcoming past shared traumas.
Röki made me reflect on why the study of literature at school doesn't treat video games with the same care as it does with books. Röki, as well as What Remains of Edith Finch, contributed greatly to the literature on death, leaving nothing to be desired compared to great classics such as The Death of Ivan Ilych. Röki is a game that helps us mature our relationship with death and appreciate what we have while we have it.
Beautiful adventure set in Scandinavia (more specifically, I assume Sweden consjderjng the mention of certain aspects of Swedish folklore). The puzzles can be a little challenging but overall, I had fun and the backgrounds, and characters are so beautifully drawn. I wish there were more interactions between certain characters but I get this was meant to be a short game.