The Roottrees are Dead
Patch notes · News · Live player count
About
A genealogical mystery straight out of 1998. Scour the early Internet for clues, uncover hidden connections, and piece together the family tree behind the secretive Roottree Corporation.
Media Gallery(7)
Detailed
The year is 1998. A private jet belonging to the Roottree Corporation has crashed. On it were the Roottree Sisters and their parents. Combined, they were worth over a billion dollars. Now, due to the eccentricities of their great-great-grandfather Elias, their money must be redistributed to the rest of the family. But who's actually a BLOOD RELATIVE? That's where you come in. Armed only with the power of your mighty dial-up modem, you'll scour for photos, books, articles and other evidence. Then, you'll make connections and deductions based on the family relationships you uncover. With every spot on the tree you fill in correctly, the names and photos left in your possession will have fewer and fewer places to go — but the evidence will also be harder and more obscure to find. Can you put together the final pieces of the puzzle? The Acclaimed Armchair Detective Game, Re-imagined on SteamThe Roottrees are Dead was originally created for the Global Game Jam 2023 and released as a free browser game. It was beloved by many for its clever puzzles, retro computing interface and novel world-building. The Steam version is the same great game, but enhanced in many ways: Hand-drawn illustrations from acclaimed board game artist Henning Ludvigsen.A 3D living-room perspective that ties together all the unique puzzle systems An enhanced user interface with many quality of life improvements to make your mystery solving easier to use and more intuitive Remastered music and sound effects, with fully voiced cinematics.A handful of Easter eggs and little touches for those who can't get enough of the late ‘90s charmIncludes "Roottreemania", a brand new mysteryFind out what happens to the Roottree family following the events of the base game.A whole new family tree to complete!Discover the scandals, lies, and infidelities that took place behind the scenes of America's largest maple candy empire.
Patch Notes & Announcements(56)
MINORThe Roottrees are Dead arrives in Italian!
As promised, Italian armchair detectives can now take a crack at untangling the Roottrees’ family tree.Big thanks to our translation team and to our Italian players for their patience while we prepare
MINORPatch Notes for May 18, 2026
- Adds mac code signing and notarization
MINORPatch Notes for May 13, 2026
Italian language is now out of Beta.
MINORUpdate Notes for Apr 29
- Contains fixes for typos on French - Added simplified Chinese logo for Galley House for Chinese players.
MINORThe Roottrees Are Dead x Wax Heads
Jeremy sat down with Murray from Wax Heads to discuss game design, writing, and 80s music. You can watch the whole interview here:We're also delighted to announce that we'll be in a Steam bundle with
MINORUrgent Fix: Database was corrupt
In an earlier fix today, I somehow pushed out a corrupt database which meant that Simplified Chinese and Portuguese players couldn't search or input names properly. I also unfortunately did this right
MINORSmall Patch for Apr 23, 2026
- Try to eliminate visual bug with lots of white glow on the screen
MINORMinor PT-BR Fixes
- Addresses a couple issues with the PT-BR translation
MINORNow available in Mandarin!
In December we launched The Roottrees are Dead in Simplified Chinese, and we were blown away by how well it was received. Within two weeks it had outsold every language except for English, and it cont
MINORBrazilian armchair detectives, we have a challenge for you!
The Roottrees are Dead is now available in Brazilian Portuguese.This is great timing, because we've also just been nominated for Best Narrative at the gamescom latam BIG Festival.Thanks to everyone wh
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