The Roottrees are Dead Is a Mystery Game About Untangling a Billion-Dollar

The Roottrees are Dead is a genealogical mystery game now out on mobile. Developed by Evil Trout and published by IndieArk on Android, it gives you a dial-up modem so that you can figure out an entire family’s complicated history.

It’s 1998. A private jet belonging to the Roottree Corporation has crashed, killing the three Roottree sisters and their parents. Between them, the family was worth more than a billion dollars. And now, because of the wishes of their great-great-grandfather Elias Roottree, that enormous fortune has to be redistributed among the surviving members of the family.

But nobody actually knows who’s related to whom

So, you’ll be digging through a recreation of the late ’90s internet. You’ll search archived websites, old newspapers, interviews, advertisements, photographs, books, and other records to figure out who’s who. Names, faces, occupations, dates, and little details scattered across different sources all matter here.

Put the family tree together yourself. Every correct deduction helps narrow down where the remaining names and photographs belong. You’ll need to cross-reference everything, take notes, and pay attention to timelines.

The Roottrees are Dead also includes Roottreemania

It’s a completely new mystery that takes place after the events of the main game. You’ll get another entire family tree to complete, digging into the scandals, lies, and infidelities lurking behind America’s largest maple candy empire. Succession or Dynasty?

The original version of The Roottrees are Dead was created for Global Game Jam 2023 and released for free on itch.io because it relied on AI-generated art. It ended up becoming quite beloved for its clever puzzles, retro computing interface, and unusual world-building.

Then it was released on PC in January 2025 after being remade. This version features hand-drawn illustrations by acclaimed board game artist Henning Ludvigsen. It also has a 3D living-room perspective that connects all the different puzzle systems together.

And now, The Roottrees are Dead is out on Android. The game involves heavy browsing and typing, so I think it’s a perfect title to be played on mobile. You can grab the game from the Google Play Store for $9.99.

Also, read our news on Vampirio: Defend & Survive, a New Roguelike Action RPG from the Makers of Talking Tom.

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