Röki preparing for monster release in 2018

Written by Jack Allin — May 23, 2017 at 12:18

Monsters don't just hide under our beds and in our closets. Sometimes they're out in the wider world as well. Don't believe us? Then just wait until next year, when indie studio Polygon Treehouse unleashes its side-scrolling debut point-and-click adventure called Röki.

Röki stars a young girl named Tove, who must venture "deep into the forbidden wilderness, a land of dark mystery, ancient magic and monsters" in order to save her family. One such legendary monster living in this wintry wilderness is the titular "towering dark shadowy creature with glowing eyes." Although specific story details are being kept under wraps for players to discover themselves, the fates of both heroine and monster will prove to intertwined, as Röki is "a large part of why [Tove] is venturing so far away from home into this strange, forgotten and mysterious land." More than simply a tale of journeying home, this is a story "about love and loss, and facing up to some of your darkest fears."

Featuring a lovely hand-drawn art style as displayed in the early promotional screens and trailer, Röki may look at first to be a Limbo-styled platformer, but according to Polygon Treehouse it is a (mostly) leisurely point-and-click adventure with an emphasis on exploration, discovery and solving puzzles. Carefully crafted animations will give it a more dynamic look than the genre usually offers, however, as the developers want the protagonist to "run, climb, jump, swing, crawl and squeeze through gaps so that watching her navigate the game world feels like a real delight." That's not to say that a game about "adventure, bravery and courage" won't have a little tangible danger, of course, but any such action elements are intended to be "rarer moments that punctuate the gameplay experience at certain points to heighten the drama, emotion or to perhaps even to scare the crap out of the player (……just a little!)."

Though Röki represents the indie Cambridge-based studio's first game, its co-founders Tom Jones and Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou are established industry veterans who worked together previously at Sony Computer Interactive and Guerrilla Games on titles such as Killzone series. The freedom of independent design has allowed them begin their own development blog about the game, where you can follow its progress in the coming months.

Unfortunately, that'll have to tide us over for a while, as production on Röki is still in "super early days" with a target release set for sometime next year. Initial development is focusing on Windows and Mac, with mobile and console ports likely to follow.