The Indie Informer

Not even two hours after taking my first steps in And Roger, tears roll down my cheeks watching its conclusion. Its brevity isn’t a shortfall. Within its streamlined scope, I marvel at the world’s unembellished style. I appreciate its creative breadth of gameplay. And I’m undone by its emotional honesty. I have played many games this year, and will play many more. However, I can’t imagine any of them will stay logged in my brain longer than And Roger.

First, I’ll make sure to repeat that this game will squeeze your heart. Be prepared when you hit that start button — I wasn’t. The interactive, story-driven visual novel doesn’t hold back. Beyond that, it’s hard to explain without robbing you of the initial emotional gut punch: Fear.

I don’t know what’s going on, both as the player and the main character. Nothing seems to work the way I know it should, and my circumstances quickly fly past mysterious and head straight into horror territory. Mechanically, this is orchestrated masterfully.

The developers place me in the heroine’s headspace using familiar concepts. A pop-up appears asking if I’m a robot, forcing me to click all those dumb squares with a building in it. It doesn’t seem to be working right. I know, I know how this should work. I know it should be accepting my answer. It just isn’t, and I can’t unscramble the wrongness of it no matter what I try. For these few moments, I can promise you I’m feeling the protagonist’s frustration in trying to navigate a world where everything feels so well-known and incomprehensible.

The game doesn’t communicate what to do with the player, but it isn’t confusing. This makes And Roger feel easy in a way that is incredibly hard to achieve. I might be trying to paint a watercolor one moment and escape out a locked door the next — each involving completely different prompts — but the Intuitive design ensures I’m never lost on what I should be doing.

The hand-drawn visuals shine with a bright, flat, and pastel color palette. With these aesthetics and relationship themes, it’s hard to imagine it’ll escape the comparison to Florence. And while the two share certain qualities and narrative aspects, it would be inaccurate to tie them too closely together. Though I hope And Roger finds as much success.

And Roger took me from fear to joy to heartbreak, landing somewhere close to bittersweet as the credits rolled. Its constantly shifting controls not only replicate the characters’ inner feelings admirably, but also manage to tell me what to do without saying a word. Everyone should take the time to experience this game for themselves. Just be sure to have tissues on hand.