The Roottrees are Dead is a detective game centered around filling out a family tree. Carl Roottree, the president of the Roottree Candy Company, has died along with his wife and children in a plane crash, and due to a unique succession and revenue distribution scheme, it's up to you to identify all the blood relatives of the original founder of the company.

The premise is a little silly, but it works well as the setup for the game. Early on, it's revealed that you're actually working for a "Secret" Roottree family member who provides you with pieces of evidence to help fill in the tree. The gameplay loop is pretty simple, you look at pieces of evidence and then search for people, company names, etc. on a primitive computer (the game is set in 1998). You can search the web, various magazines and newspapers, and public library sources. As you find important notes, it gets added to your evidence pile. You often have to cross-reference several pieces of evidence to completely fill in each member's name, job, and portrait. 

There's a pretty robust note-taking system within the game, too. You can highlight text on the computer, and it automatically gets added to the notebook. There's also a pretty great hint system that does a nice job of guiding you along to your next piece of evidence without outright giving you the answer, unless you want it to.

Really happy with this pickup so far, as I casually enjoy genealogy and piecing together my own family tree. I've heard that the free DLC story Roottreemania is a bit of a mess, so not sure I will play that, but definitely will finish the main game.

Verdict: Keep Playing

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