Like Roots in the Soil is a touching, beautiful game split across two worlds — one full of color and vibrancy, the other full of rot and despair. You travel through both of these, simultaneously, looking at how the world is different.
I got the chance to check out Like Roots in the Soil at EGX Rezzed, in the Leftfield Collection,. It’s a game where you move your view using a tin can with a plant in it. That might not sound like a normal controller — and it’s not. It was a special little can on top of a turnable area; you could rotate it right or left to view more of one world or the other.
As you view the game, your character walks forward. There are two people — a limping man, covered in various objects, moving forward in a world that looks like it has barely survived the apocalypse. The other character is a young boy, walking through a colorful world — clearly thriving. Both of these people move across the same land, though in vastly different times.
Scrolled across the bottom of the screen, words appear. You can read them, almost like poems, stealing moments as these men walk. You can tilt the screen to look more into the yellowed world or more into the thriving world, watching as they move forward — or you can split it down the middle, seeing the movement of half of both people, through their own worlds.
Like Roots in the Soil is very touching and the ending surprised me, as I had thought I had things figured out from the start. The entire game doesn’t take up too much time, but is well worth watching in its beautiful style and wonderful poetry that goes along with it.
You can play it for yourself, experience these worlds, and see what you make of it, completely for free.
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