Rootbound is a silly RPG made for the IGMC 2015.
Join three troublemaker on their epic quest to save the world and continue their heritage.

You loot, you go through a few dungeons, loot some more, and bicker all the time and make fun of any and everything you find. It is all about the bickering.

The visuals are stunningly beautiful. Especially the portraits are simply gorgeus, and with their serious expressions a nice contrast to the overall goofy and silly atmosphere.
The sound is from an extensional official pack, and part of the graphics are too. They fit each scene well, with nothing standing out to me while playing.


The story is very simple with a slight but well-hinted twist.
Your party consist of people with strange seeds as their heirlooms, which demand your attention as they start glowing and indicate something beyond your knowledge happening.


Just look at it!

You play as a wannabee knight Accha (hah, imagine Accha as a violent one!) with her magician friend Loa teaming up with some random dungeon looter who happens to have a seed as well. Not just the seed, fresh bruises from Accha as well.

So on you go to discover your goal step by step, through three dungeons, a few passageways as you grow closer and prevent Harid from getting any more bruises than he already has.
The fun is focused around the hilarious dialogue and banter between the unlikely heroes, as well as the many related friends and family you hear about.
We have got our absent King leaving his shy and overwhelmed prince alone to handle the small kingdom, a grumpy knight as Accha's brother, love stories, loving parents, silly plot devi- *ahem* villains and helpers. As well as a few NPCs who are just standing around. Do not ask about the story. The villain being named "Masked Weirdo" should say it all.

Now, the characters do show some greater depth which is explored every now and then (Accha is not just braindead and violent) - but the tone is always kept to silly, joking, goofy - never really taking itself, their task or this game seriously. This in itself is highly enjoyable and well done, but the lack of any breaks or calmer passages inbetween make it far less effective than it could be.
I had a blast early on which slowly deminished as I kept playing.
The mechanics, the dungeon design, the love-stories, the characters - fun and hilarity, but that is at their core their every first dialogue focus.

The battle and item mechanics are a very interesting system.
I love how the sparkles do not come immediately to sight for picking up hidden items, too.
You are healded up to 50% of your hp after each battle, you do not have any healing spells, but additionally to the useable items you find you have a restockable amount of health potions, mana potions and 1 revive potion-thingie.
Now, monster drop not money but tiered crystals/gems to trade in with either equipment, a few skillsor permanent upgrades to the maximum amount of potions you can stock up on in the inn (think dark souls flasks).


Flasks!

I really enjoyed playing with this system early on as I waged which equipment is really worth investing in versus having more supplies.
Sadly, though, it is very easy and you later also have enough crystals to buy any and everything with ease. I did not need to use any potions .. at all. Maybe one in a bind, but I really never got nowhere near to use up my limited supply - nevermind the abundant additional items you can find. Just removing hp regeneration completely would make it far more important to use.

Another feature is that you can get additional loot after you beat a specific number of enemies in the dungeon - which is what I did and had abundant crystals as a result.
At this point I would like to point out that the first chest is too strong. The later ones are just potions and soso equipment. The first one has a pendant recovering 5 hp each turn in battle if I remember correctly (about 50 is the maximum, later on) - Accha was always full hp, always.

No, the system is very intuitive and it is fun, battles are easy but quick enough and enjoyable. You have a few methods to play around, and the small mp recovery (1 each turn) keeps using skills viable. Some are useable every single turns, others are on cooldown. You can get plenty of additional skills later on, many of which are .. kind of useless or obsolete.

Harid has a double attack (right away or once purchased I do not recall), so I just equipped him up to his teeth with atk boost, boosted him up and let him destroy anything while ignoring his attack or support spells.
Accha is a good tank with a nice "YO MAMA" taunt, some attack spells as well as defense up and a retaliation one.
Loa has damage spells and a few support ones.

Enemies are varied and can have great magical or physical defense, so you will vary up your skills depending on them. Yes, poison does wonders. They also almost always can be avoided, as they are touch encounters! They also do not respawn while you run back and forth the temple.

There is little difficulty overall - but it is varied and short enough to keep you engaged. I would advise to stay clear of those big, magical, inviting treasure chests. Just avoid enemies and you will make it much more interesting for you.


Really, you don't.

This is a very fun game. I believe there could have been much more added and polished up in our town and our battle prowess, but it remains as a very recommendable game if you are searching for a lighthearted one!
Goof around a bit.