About This Demo

A Deeply Personal Roleplaying Experience

You play as Salem, torn between family legacy and forbidden love, thrown into a death tournament. Can you help him survive, love, rescue and betray... while figuring out who he wants to be? With 14 endings in Episode 1 alone, your Salem could become a hero, villain, or something far more complex.

Dynamic Character Relationships

Friends and villains remember what you did and evolve alongside your choices. Betray, and suffer the consequences. Show kindness, and enemies might become allies. Every one of the 100s of choice options shifts Salem’s personality in some way, creating a truly personalized experience every time!

Every Second Counts

Face tense moments where hesitation means life or death, and split-second decisions determine the route you’re going down. Rottenroots delivers action, heart and moral dilemmas at a fast pace that will keep you hooked till the end!

This Episode 1 demo contains the first hours of Rottenroots. No annoying demo cliffhangers.

The remaining episodes will follow at once in the full game next year! 

Why You’ll Love Rottenroots

• A branching story where your decisions matter. Every decision you make changes Salem and his relationships with the people around him.

• A battle royale full of mysteries. As his dying father asks for help, Salem gets sucked into the Königstanz, a three-day death tournament where teens fight each other to win the world’s highest honor. Can you help him survive the first day in this 2-4h long demo?

• Starting classes and role-playing. Rottenroots uses RPG elements to let you choose who you want to be. Are you a shy outsider in the Occult Club by night and/or the Football Club captain by day? Or more the nerdy Literature Club type that does fencing on the side? 45 different starting class builds change how you interact with the world and how Salem’s story unfolds!

• A dynamic relationship system that reacts to everything you do. Who will you love and who will you hurt? Every choice shapes the direction of the story, spun around an impossible love triangle.

• 14 different endings all with steam achivments. People told us our demo is to long. We said: Good! Lets make it even longer! Unlocking all of them and puzzle toegther what secrets this world might hide...

• Gouache and watercolor meet digital post-processing. Immerse yourself in the vibrant, surreal and hauntingly beautiful art by Laura Meggers , whose distinctive blend of handcrafted textures and digital techniques brings this dystopian world to life.

• A whimsical, mysterious and sometimes horrifying soundtrack. The soundtrack features heartfelt, otherworldly melodies composed by Atelier Magicae. But it also includes intense tracks by other artists that get deep under your skin, as you wander through the dark woods, in search of hope and love...      

Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

Rottenroots contains themes of discrimination, violence, implied self-harm and mortality that some players may find disturbing. The game explores difficult psychological content and is recommended for mature audiences. These topics presented solely through text in the visual novel format. All actions are contextualized within the narrative.

If you're struggling, please don't be afraid to ask for help.