Roots Devour Preview (PC)
Eldritch horror has become a real fertile ground for my interest in the past couple of years. Like a madman slowly losing his sanity as the unknowable power of a being far cosmically superior than he, wraps its tendrils around his mind, I too have succumbed to its embrace. I’m also a bit of a fan of deckbuilders and card-based games, the likes of which the video game space has seen a splurge of more recently. Roots Devour combines both of those interests into one wholly unsettling gift from the great beyond.
You may wonder quite how Eldritch Horror can translate into a playable video game. If so, join the club, I too was rather confounded. Having spent a couple of hours testing my hand at a preview build of Roots Devour, I can dutifully report that not only does it work, it’s a fascinating prospect for the full game.
Ye old Lovecraft has arrived at the shores of what is essentially, a puzzler-adventure title that combines elements of typical deckbuilders with exploration and resource management. You are a fledging seed of mind-bending disorder, buried in the roots of a deep forest. Upon your emergence, you are destined to expand, grow and devour every living thing in your wake. The mortal world is beyond the reasoning of your greatness, and with the help of a typically cryptic and unknowable Fauna, you must serve MOTHER’s wish by consuming.
So far, the story and writing have been exactly what I’d expect of Lovecraftian-inspired fare. The “objective” of the game is both clear and vague – go forth and corrupt. Events you’ll creep your way into will be relatively obscure, featuring usual varieties of cults, for instance. However, it’s the interactions with smaller scale creatures like rats and owls where Roots Devour really works its dark magic. I’ve only seen a teaser of what’s going to be on offer, but I’m oddly drawn into the mysterious and obtuse nature of it all. Also, whatever you do, DON’T play/consume the owl. Just don’t. I beg of you.
As for the gameplay, it was both easy and a little confusing to wrap my poor small brain around, given I’m not an infinite cosmic deity and all that. You have supplies of both blood and water, each consumed with each branch you extend to cards on the map, representing living beings, obstacles and locations. Blood can be regenerated by consuming live creatures, water is expended when creating longer branches, and is much more limited in terms of refills. The levels aren’t RNG or procedurally generated, meaning you can learn them and find different paths to expand into on each “run”.
This is where Roots Devour took on its more puzzle sided feel for me. You can draw card packs from your deck to fill space (though the contents are random), as well as use particular cards in your hand to help shorten space, use blood more efficiently, or create new pathways by making some cards consumable. Each attempt is a combination of your knowledge, previous exploration and effective use of your hand or deck. It’s surprisingly skill orientated, which I really appreciated the more I played. It’s got a bit of a learning curve and the tutorials could do with being a bit more informative of say, water vs blood, but overall it’s a solid base.
There is one element of the preview build I found myself lamenting to a degree, and that’s the repetition of levels to aid progression. Akin to a roguelite, Devour Roots has persistent upgrades you can acquire through the spending of blood points earned in each run. These are massively important, as higher water/blood capacities literally determine how far you can or can’t make it. There was a solid 30-40 minutes of my two hours where I was just replaying the same section over and over to hit the next threshold for upgrades just so I could get on with the main path, which dents the enjoyment and grinds the pace down to a halt.
I’m not sure how much of this may be necessary in the full release, as it could be just an unfortunate byproduct of the early portion of the game, but it’s something I hope is smoothed over or less present for the final product. With that in mind, I did like the expansiveness of the upgrade tree, which also enhances the use of certain cards and mechanics, encouraging more of their use. If the developers promote more of this, I reckon Roots Devour has the makings of a satisfying progression system that can complement its other mechanics.
Exploration was the other big takeaway from my preview experience. There are multiple paths to progress, oftentimes with secret or hidden routes to uncover that may hold a new event, character or card type. Firing up a new run to go down a completely random side pathway was exciting, and feeds into the sense of Eldritch horror, where you’re constantly seeking out some form of answers or certainty. I couldn’t even get to some side paths in the demo, owing to lacking the right cards, so there’s a replayability factor that will likely come into effect the more you play and become more powerful.
Though my time with the demo or preview build was short, Roots Devour has left a pretty hefty impression on me. The visuals and sound design are spot-on for psychological discomfort, with frequent fleshy sounds, disquieting ambient noise and the squelching audio of creatures being absorbed. The developers make great use of the cards too, shaking them to indicate fear, twisting and turning them to demonstrate terror. Despite not using a whole lot of graphical real estate, the game is dripping in dark atmosphere.
It’s such a unique and engrossing concept that I’m really looking forward to seeing what developer Rewinding Games has in store for the full release. Much like my fledging Eldritch abomination, Roots Devour has a host of branches coursing in all directions that are whispering in my ear, begging to be explored. I know it can only lead to ruin, but what’s more Lovecraftian than descending the rabbit hole for answers, only to be driven to base madness in seeking them? Video games are a wildly vast medium, and Roots Devour demonstrates that ocean of creative possibility.
I look forward to degrading my hold on reality and deeply regretting my curiosity in consuming owls when the full game ekes its way into the cosmos, and my mind.
Roots Devour will be available on PC via Steam sometime in 2025. A free demo is currently available on Steam.
Developer: Rewinding Games
Publisher: GCORES PUBLISHING
Disclaimer: In order to complete this preview, we were provided with a promotional preview build of the game.
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