Last updated on January 4th, 2026 at 01:26 pm
Rusty Lake: Roots – Adventure Game Review
Rusty Lake: Roots is a Adventure/Puzzle game from Rusty Lake B.V., first launched in 20th October 2016.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 1,082+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Rusty Lake: Roots Stand Out
James Vanderboom's life drastically changes when he plants a special seed in the garden of the house he has inherited. Expand your bloodline by unlocking portraits in the tree of life.
Rusty Lake: Roots is the second premium point-and-click adventure by Rusty Lake, the creators of the Cube Escape series and Rusty Lake Hotel.
Features:
- Pick-up-and-play:
Easy to start but hard to put down. - Unique storyline:
Experience the beginning and end of characters' lives and build your own family tree. - More than 33 levels:
The biggest Rusty Lake game so far is filled with puzzles - Full of suspense and atmosphere:
Switching from calm to very dark moments - Immersive soundtrack:
Each level has its own theme song and variations - Achievements:
The tree has more secrets to unravel
Tap on the arrows, drag or swipe to navigate around the environment. Some objects you can drag. Interact with people and objects by tapping. Select found items in your inventory and tap somewhere on screen to use them.
We will unfold the Rusty Lake story one step at a time. So check RustyLake.com every day for new content and follow us: @rustylakecom.
This Adventure game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Rusty Lake: Roots is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 13th February 2019
Recent improvements include:
Thank you for playing Rusty Lake: Roots! We fixed a few bugs in this new version.
Download & Availability
Rusty Lake: Roots is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Rusty Lake: Roots on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We absolutely love playing all the games. Its the first time we actually have ever spent money on buying an app. Any time we see a new game, free or not we play the game. Its amazing lore, graphics, background, and unique story. Its mysterious and horrifying intriguing. Keep up the good work guys! If you like puzzles and mystery and thrillers, youll love this game.
We have become a diehard fan of rusty lake over the past two weeks. We have played almost every game they have made (Im about to start paradise) and so far this has been our favorite. It was actually difficult to step away from this game. We were almost late to church because we just wanted to keep playing. The story is so interesting and you never know where its going to end up going. We need a 10 page paper analyzing the meaning behind all of the lore in this game at this point. The mini games are challenging but entertaining at the same time. We only needed help on two of the puzzles but Im sure we could have figured them out even without a walk through. However, expect to go through withdrawal after you finish this game, it is actually depressing to realize youve run out of content. We are so excited for what the developers do in the future and we are so sad that Im about to have finished their entire catalogue. If we could give a million stars for this game we would. Genuinely the best game Ive played on the App Store.
This game is so engrossing, Ive been hooked and going back through all of them in order. Well done, devs, we hope these continue.
Dude this was crazy we went into an old guys nips and took out his heart 10 out of 10 we like this.
Can you make a video game novel and make it graphics claymation.
We are a huge fan of rusty lake and u guys did not disappoint mwah.
100/10 game, took awhile to complete! But we had/am still having a little problem with it on "the war hero" we would put the birds in the correct spot and the green one would disappear or just keep it in a flying position and we dont wanna delete the game but idk what to do.
We will Always get Rusty Lakes games! They are challenging and so much fun. Thank you for the WALKTHROUGHS! They are truly a saving grace.
Why cant more companies make games like Rusty Lake? Theyre so good, and have a creepy side to them. We only wish that they didnt end because youre like, More, please.
We love Rusty Lakes imagination! From more elaborate games like this to the fast cube escapes, they are always interesting and challenging – even having played them before. This one is segmented into perfect chunks so you can puzzle as long or as little as youd like. We love the art, story, macabre details, and will buy every game they produce.
We have been playing escape room/ puzzle games for years, rusty lake games being our top choice of them all, but Within all the choices they offer we have completely fallen in love with Roots. It has been the most intriguing and fun game so far. We only wish we could forget about it so we could play again and again.
Literally addicted to rusty lake we cant stop playing the storyline the art its all top tier UGHHH we just love it Im so sad to finish this game.
This game was awesome just like the others and we rlly like the new lore and creepy stuff and new characters. Only thing a little confusing with this game is none of the people have animals heads lol. But Im starting to think that all the animal head people represent some of these people so Im definitely not complaining! Cant wait til everything makes sense haha.
Great puzzles, creepy atmos – what else do you need from a PnC game? Our only complaint is that we want more.
Its worth every penny, please never stop creating games guys.
We just played it over for the second time (Im replaying all the rusty lake stuff now) but this one is by far our favorite. We love the elaborate storyline that stretches for three generations and each puzzle is so well done and perfect. We wish we could erase our memory to replay it for the first time. AND we love how its so long. So much great work and artistry has been put into this game. Its so good.
We are obsessed with the Rusty Lake games! We only have Paradox left to play. As a huge fan of Twin Peaks and Donnie Darko, these games are right up our alley. We cant wait to learn more about this story.
We do not regret purchasing this game at all. Played the collection over a month ago within such a short period, became engulfed in the story. This game truly helps piece it all together, makes you remember things from past games that bring the story to life. Some puzzles are simple, then theres ones Im stuck on for a day. Brilliant complexity and simplicity meshed together to piece together an amazing story. Very well done.
We loved this game and enjoyed playing it so much! This game is great and for a puzzel solver like us will be captivated by this game. The game is also amzing in the way that makes us want to play it more. When we finish a level we do not want to stop playing. We think the cost of this game is worth it. The graphics alone are AMAZING! Thank you for making this game. It has given us something to do that is fun and challenging! Please make more games like this.
Thank you for making them inventive, dark, addictive, and entertaining. When we start one, we cant put it down until we finish. Im glad you have the you tube walk throughs, though we try not to use them, you do get stuck sometimes. We prefer logic to trial and error and most of the puzzles can be logicd. Thank you, we cant wait for another one. We wish you would do more after quests, like in this one, we really enjoyed going back for more.
The narrative really holds our breath.
Great game. Strange story but fun. Good puzzles.
But the baby at the end is that the murder victim in the cube escape games we NEED TO KNOW.
If youre debating buying this game: do it. Ive tried escape room type games in the past and disliked them, but the Rusty Lake series hits differently. This game is amazing – its perfectly challenging (not so hard that its frustrating), has a haunting soundtrack and a totally fd up story to go along with it (nightmare fuel!). So worth the $2 for hours of gameplay and our new addiction to Rusty Lake games.
Ive played most of the rusty lake games and this one is our favorite so far. We plan on buying all the rest of their games after this. We see people putting these games down and we just dont get it. Everything about the games is, at the very least, more interesting than most other games of this genre. Great stories, artwork, puzzles, etc. Also, thanks a lot to the developers. Its really good of you to have put out so many great (and 100% free) games. We respect that a lot and will continue to support you in the future because of that fact. We dont mind paying, though. Ive played for free for a long time now and we appreciate that. The games are fantastic. If you have doubts about buying the games, therere plenty to try out for free to get the feel of how the mechanics work. And not just 1 or 2 levels, full games. Thats a rarity anymore.
We love love love this developer and these games (every single one of them), and Roots is our favorite of them all. LVE! And more please.
Loved this game! Hard but not overly. Spectacular game. Thanks.
We finished all the rusty lake games. It was genius and fun. We really addicted it. We hope from the developer more of these games. We recommend it to puzzle fans. Thank you.
This is the best one out of the bunch! All of the Rusty Lake games are awesome, but Roots is the most interesting, fun, tricky, and intricate of them all. You get a full story with an interesting ending and just when you think the games is over… Awesome game and highly recommended.
Ive played all of these games in chronological order. The free ones are short, the chapters you have to pay for are much longer. Theyre worth purchasing. Do yourself a favor if you like creepy, interesting puzzle games. Buy and download all of the chapters, Google the chronological order of these games, and play them in order. We cant wait for more chapters to be released.
This game is amazing. The puzzles are challenging and the general mysterious creepy atmosphere is exciting. We hope they keep making more, we like the others too. If you like this one, try Paradise as well.
If you like cube scapes you have to play this. It will connect everything and let you know about the blood line and family tree and.
The Rusty Lake games have become some of our all time favorite games. The storylines are great, the art style is great, the voiceovers are awesome. Overall amazing games and would definitely recommended you play them at least once.
Its a shame we didnt find out about the games these developers made earlier.
We love the rusty lake series and this above all was th most creepiest totally recommended the puzzles were great and fun.
We love the rusty lake series! This one is specifically about the history of the Vanderboom family. It tells you who is the crow and who is Laura in Case 23. It also has some connection with the five guests at Rusty Lake Hotel… We just love the feeling of playing all these mysteriously interconnected games and figure the big story behind! Big thanks to Rusty lake game designers!!!!! Looking forward to discovering more of the story of the lake.
We will always pay money for your games. Brilliant.
We previously wrote a review for one of the games in this series (the birthday one) without realizing the games were all connected because we had only played the first – we wrote feeling it was too violent. The suddenness of the storyline (the birthday one) took us way off guard since we didnt know it was a part of a much larger story. However, after playing through all of the games and finishing off with this one, Im completely blown away by the level of intricacy and detail invested in this series. Im actually preparing to go through a grieving process knowing Im all caught up on them, knowing Ill have to wait for the white door to continue our infatuation, and knowing that after that, Ill have to wait for more to be released (if that even happens – ahhh! . Excellent series – we highly recommend.
Deserves more tan 5 stars. A master piece.
We should write a review for each individual game theyve released in this Cube escape/Rusty Lake series, but there are just too many, so Im leaving our review here on perhaps our favorite of the bunch. These games are quite simply the best puzzle games Ive ever played. The story is intriguing and bizarre and mysterious, the puzzles are just the right amount of challenging, the design and art are astounding and often slightly grotesque, which is always fun. Most of the games are free too, but the paid ones are totally worth the cost, 100 percent. We will continue to buy these games for as long as they keep putting them out. They are literally ALL good, every single one, and they seem to be getting better and better. Please keep up the good work team.
This is the best ever game we played.
We love escape games and Ive played all the Rusty Lakes that are available. Hoping for new additions soon.
We love all of the games they have made, but this was so much better then the free ones. Plus it was long so it made it well worth your money. Would definitely recommend buying.
Ive loved rusty lake since the first time we played one of their games, Im pretty sure it was paradox but we dont remember. Their puzzles are super fun and we love the story and how every game sorta matches up.
Ive played all of the Rusty Lake games multiple and we LOVE THEM!!! Im also amazed that most of them are FREE! Thank you to everyone involved in this series, its EPIC.
In all fairness Im writing this review before having finished Roots. We are a little over halfway through, and am parceling out the remaining chapters like pillow mints, one or two a day to make the experience last – and that aint easy, kid. Roots has everything…and more. Superb puzzles that feel organic in moving the story along. And what a story – replete with well-crafted characters whose motives and emotions are so bizarrely human. And all achieved without dialogue, only through unique artwork and audio effects. Perhaps it is inaccurate to think of Roots, (or any of the Cube escapes) as devastatingly dark comedy, but we do chuckle while we shudder. And the gleeful anticipation we had before playing this game couldve led to disappointment. But we really should know better than to worry about a letdown when Rusty Lakes involved. Silly us.
Ready for more whenever you are !!! Love this series so much.
Im addicted to the whole Rusty Lake world. Just finished this puzzle game, the last one we had to complete. Not sure what Ill do now, but we look forward to the next Rusty Lake release.
We cant even begin to describe the mind blowing wonderful joy of these games. Ive played all of them, gifted them to friends and family, and theyve seriously blown every single other game/app out of the water. The creativity of these designers is insane. Our only complaint: there arent enough stories! Our life feels incomplete now that Ive done them all. Please please please keep making more of them!! We could rave for days, but this should get our point across. You will not regret purchasing these. For beginners, start with Rusty Lake Paradise. We think its the most intriguing of them all.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.2
- Size: 99.97 MB
- iOS: 8.1 or later
- Languages: NL, EN, FR, DE, IT, JA, KO, PL, PT, RU, ZH, ES, ZH, TR
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes, Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence, Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References, Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes
- Developer: Rusty Lake B.V.
Last updated: 13th February 2019 | Genre: Adventure, Puzzle | Developer: Rusty Lake B.V.