The original Rusty Lake Hotel ($1.99) was a cult hit for its surreal sense of spookiness that was also a lot of fun to play. However, its relative brevity in only having six rooms to play through meant that many fans were asking for more, and another chance to play through the evocative universe that eponymous developers Rusty Lake managed to create back in 2015. Thankfully, today the wait is finally over – despite its name, Rusty Lake: Roots ($2.99) is not a throwback or a return to the series’ roots, as it is only the second game with the Rusty Lake prefix. Instead, Roots is a brand new game, that takes the same eerie evocative charm of the original game, but adds almost six times as many levels and an entirely new narrative to make this the definitive Rusty Lake experience on the App Store.
At first glance, Rusty Lake: Roots is extremely similar to its Hotel iteration, and despite not being a direct sequel, it certainly shares a lot of positive traits. The same point-and-click meets puzzle gameplay remains, with a similarly unique retro cartoon graphical style and engrossing soundtrack behind it. However, Rusty Lake: Roots is a far more ambitious title – with more than 33 levels, and an interesting mechanic of having to build a family tree up throughout the game, and presumably encounter numerous grizzly fatalities along the way, the developers have really gone all out on delivering a premium point-and-click adventure, which for $2.99 is an absolute bargain. Let us know whether you think Rusty Lake: Roots is worth dying for on our forums.