Röki: a Review

Just over a month ago, I streamed Röki on my Twitch channel. Röki is an adventure game inspired by Scandinavian folklore and I was really interested in the game because it's beautiful. A general spoiler warning for this review as a whole. We'll be covering some story elements that aren't covered in the descriptions of the game that you see before buying.

A screenshot of the church featured in Röki. Tove just off the middle of the screen looking towards the alter.

Röki drew my attention because of its aesthetic but also because it was receiving a lot of awards and I knew that I wanted to experience the story. Also, I was getting a little burnt out on rougelites and wanted to play a game with a linear story line. In Röki, you play as Tove. She's a young girl who's just trying to keep her family together after the death of her mother. Along the way, her younger brother, Lars, is kidnapped and so you enter a world of magic to try to save him. Also, you might set your entire house on fire in the process of trying to save your brother.

Over the course of the game, you're introduced to characters that Tove had always thought were just myths. But Tove learns that there's more to these creatures than she expects. We meet Trollhilde, who you have to help by removing a sword from her arm. You learn that all of the male Trolls have turned to stone after they left to go on adventures. This game is about helping the people that you meet and overcoming your fears. But I'm not sure that it always hits the mark. The first speaking entity that I met in the game told Tove that the success of her quest was dependent on Tove moving past her fears to see the possibilities available to her.

E3 Trailer for the game, Röki

The game play mostly consists of help Tove navigate the fetch quests and puzzles throughout the world to get to the next area. You collect items along the way that help you create new paths to explore. My personal favorite was when Tove had help sharpening the sword. I was not expecting the character design of that particular character.

As I mentioned earlier, Röki is beautiful. The designers really came through in creating a world that felt lively and like it was fading all at the same time. The world that Tove enters has been fighting a darkness that's threatening to overcome everything they know. Tove experiences this darkness through the presence of crows but also through the nattamare parasites visions. These sequences take you through Tove's memories and let you understand a little more about Tove as a character. Each area felt distinct and invites players to explore each little section to see if it held something to add to the journal or the next part of the story to experience. The only place that feels truly barren is the location where Lars is being held.

Screenshot of the game featuring Tove walking up mountain steps towards a giant, sleeping wolf.

Alongside Tove's story, there's a narrative that you see glimpses of as Tove. As you find out more about who kidnapped Lars, you begin to see different representations of the Jotun, or the guardians of their world. You're tasked with as awakening the guardians so that they can help you get to the entity who kidnapped your brother. And so the story begins the thread of redemption for Tove and for the Fourth guardian.

At different parts in the story, you also get to see what's happening to Lars. His situation is admittedly dire. He was kidnapped to serve as a sacrifice so that the main "antagonist" can make her son appear human. Rörka, the guardian who's kidnapped Lars, only wants the best for her son. Her motivation is to make sure that he can live a normal, human life. Her anger towards her fellow guardians drivers her to cover the world that Tove and Lars find themselves transported to in darkness. It also drives her to commit some pretty serious transgressions against humans as she tries again and again to change who her son is. It's honestly a lot. I mean this in a couple different ways. First, Rörka goes to extremes when it comes to trying to "care for" her son. But also, the game frequently dips into some really dark themes with no warning. I'll talk about this more at the end because it gets into some intense spoilers, but a warning to those who want to pick up this game. It looks like a childrens game on the surface, but Röki deals with some very heavy topics that my community and I weren't necessarily prepared for. '

Overall, the game is an enjoyable one. There are moments where it's really unclear where the next puzzle is, especially when you get to the final chapter of the game. My community and I enjoyed the environment and getting to meet the different characters. I'd recommend this for people who are looking for a good entry into the adventure game genre. The soundtrack is also hauntingly beautiful, which is another way to describe this game.

My rating: 7/10

Alright, here we go. This is your last warning before we get into some major story spoilers.

Screenshot of the game. Tove walking up to a cave entrance and there’s spider webs everywhere.

Still here? Cool.

I didn't like the end of Röki. The story wants players to feel a sort of redemption for Rörka at the ending. She's spent generations essentially killing kids so that she can make her son more human, when he doesn't even want to change. And the game really ends with her just being like, alright, it's time for me to go.

Also the ending of the game makes it seem like Tove has been carrying around guilt from all the years since her mother died giving birth to Lars. Rörka stands over the scene in the background of the final sequence reminding Tove that she is the true monster here because she wasn't able to save her mother. And my problem with this is that the game doesn't really set that up over the course of the story. It felt just added in at the end to increase the conflict with Rörka. And I don't think that was necessary. Tove has faced enough hardship over the course of her life by having to essentially take care of her entire family from the time that her mother dies moving forward. Her dad, Henrik, is overtaken by grief and can barely do more than sit in his rocking chair. Tove cooks, looks after Lars, and makes sure that the house is clean all on her own. I don't think that we needed to add in a layer of guilt over her mom's death to that. I'm honestly not sure what would have made this part of the story better to me.

In stream, we talked about how a few of the games that we'd played recently all set up the antagonist for redemption at the end. While I'm here for a redemption arc, I'm not sure that Röki sets up enough of the story for me to make it believable. Rörka should face some sort of consequence for the decisions she made. Instead, it feels like she gets to pass on into the next stage of her immortal life without even thinking about what that means for her son. It was frustrating especially thinking about that fact that her son is now left alone. Sure, he has Lars and Tove to hang out with, but there's no one left in the world for him to turn to when he inevitably has questions.

The first 75% of the game was engaging and fun. I enjoyed the puzzles and meeting the different characters, even the weird water dude. But the ending really didn't stick the landing for me. The castle portion of the game dragged a bit towards the end and the conclusion of the story left something to be desired for me.

I'm excited to see what Polygon Treehouse does in the future. They create beautiful games. I appreciate the story that they tell here, even if I don't agree with the full delivery. They made me want to know more about Scandinavian folklore, which I count as a success for their storytelling.

Thanks for reading! Have you played Röki? If so, what were your thoughts?