It’s well past midnight, I’m chugging an ill-advised late-night espresso, and I’m intensely tapping my fingers, pondering what to sort right into a faux ‘90s-era search engine. I inform myself I’ll name it an evening after I discover yet one more lead confirming one other relative’s place on their household tree. I might spend many evenings reciting the identical deceive myself. The Roottrees Are Useless is an investigative thriller sport that captivated, shocked, stumped, and, sometimes, infuriated me. It additionally turned my first obsession of 2025.
Set in 1998, the president of a profitable sweet and style empire, his spouse, and his three celeb teenage daughters tragically perish in a aircraft crash. These are the Roottrees, and so they hail from a generationally rich household whose company empire dates again to the late nineteenth century. You management an investigator employed by a mysterious shopper to uncover each blood relative of the Roottrees to piece collectively their household tree for an unknown goal. The premise instantly hooked me, and the following thriller rewarded my curiosity.
The web is your main software to fill an expansive household tree with a relative’s beginning identify, photograph, and occupation. Just like video games like Her Story, punching search phrases into an web search engine, a library database, or numerous journal/newspaper archives finds proof reminiscent of diaries, pictures, and even music tracks, which yields new clues to look. It’s an engrossing train, not solely as a result of I really feel like an actual sleuth attempting to show the reality, however as a result of the data revealed alongside the way in which is fascinating. The Roottree household is an eclectic mess of a clan whose relationships are mired in infidelities, betrayals, and different controversies. As a lot as I wished to be taught the reality about their heritage, I had as a lot enjoyable studying about every member of the family as a character, whether or not they’re an previous Hollywood starlet or a spirited televangelist.
The sport throws loads of enjoyable curveballs appearing as small puzzles in themselves, reminiscent of discovering the true first identify of somebody largely recognized by a nickname, discovering the identities of older kinfolk with minimal on-line footprints, or studying the maiden identify of a girl who’s endured a number of divorces. Occupations could be equally obscured because you want a Roottree’s most up-to-date job. Discovering solutions is a tough however rewarding train of uncovering obscure on-line assets and utilizing context clues to infer main discoveries. The writing shines right here, as options are cleverly hidden in plain sight, and seemingly unrelated supplies or individuals can match collectively like excellent puzzle items. Even after I did not make a connection, studying the reply by no means made me really feel disgruntled as a result of it was too opaque; the reality was all the time proper in entrance of me. I simply failed to take a look at issues a sure manner.
Doing sufficient considerate digging can excavate an actual reply outright; nonetheless, you usually have simply sufficient info to method the end line and should join the dots to take an informed leap of religion. It by no means appears like I’m blindly guessing after I do that, as I normally have loads of ammunition to again up my suspicions. That the sport requires you to fill a batch of identities at a time earlier than it “locks” them – confirming the proper entries and thus eliminating them from the pool – means I should be fairly assured about my theories, additional encouraging thorough investigation.
Initially mundane or irrelevant proof could change into a goldmine of important clues when reexamined with recent views. Each breakthrough regularly appears like a triumph in that sense, and I really like how the sport commonly makes previous proof really feel thrilling once more. With a lot info to juggle, the in-game notepad is a useful software. It permits gamers to jot down clues, copy and paste total textual content passages from articles, create hyperlink shortcuts to earlier search outcomes for simple entry, and different quality-of-life options. And whenever you suppose you’ve got all of the solutions, the sport adjustments the query with a good harder second marketing campaign that builds upon your preliminary investigation and is a superb closing examination of your newly developed deductive abilities.
Getting caught is inevitable, however the giant household tree makes it straightforward to pause work on one difficult thread to sort out a number of others (offered you possibly can preserve your info straight, however that’s on you). I additionally recognize how the sport encourages gamers to maintain trying whereas stopping them from happening the unsuitable trains of thought for lengthy. Each bit of proof is accompanied by a quantity denoting the quantity of related clues it incorporates, and this quantity fluctuates primarily based in your discoveries. This retains me from needlessly analyzing supplies I’ve siphoned all usefulness from whereas maintaining me inspired after I hit a wall. I’ll not know what a World Warfare 2 diary I’ve reviewed numerous instances has left to supply, however seeing it has one clue remaining ensures there’s nonetheless meat left on that bone. And in case you’re actually stumped, a well-implemented trace system steadily nudges you in the best route with out giving an excessive amount of away instantly.
Moreover, many irrelevant search outcomes flat-out inform gamers the data isn’t useful and to maneuver on, generally in humorous methods. The Roottrees Are Useless has loads of false useless ends, however the actual ones are clearly communicated. Nonetheless, happening unrelated rabbit holes can result in humorous, generally fourth-wall-breaking search outcomes. I received’t spoil them, however I all the time searched phrases I knew had no connection to the case simply to see how the sport would reply.
The very best factor a puzzle sport can do is make you’re feeling sensible; The Roottrees Are Useless made me really feel just like the second coming of Sherlock Holmes. Its distinctive thriller is bolstered by stimulating puzzle-solving, a satisfying ending, and a comfortable nostalgia that makes it weirdly stress-free to mull over a cup of espresso. Don’t let this quirky seek for solutions move you by.
