And Roger Review – A Touching Portrayal of Mental Decline

Studies estimate that 50% of people age 85 and older have dementia. Is it a prevalent issue that currently permeates our society and will continue to, because it not only affects those dealing with the disease, but their caretakers and communities at large as well. It is a difficult topic for me because I have an older family member who has an early onset of it, so to see a person you deeply love slowly lose their cognitive abilities is nothing I could ever have been prepared for. And Roger, a narrative experience described as an interactive novel, portrays a story through light gameplay elements that is as timely as it is moving.

The game begins by asking a series of questions, as if you were setting up the options, before displaying its gorgeously hand-painted stills. You soon realize that some of these menu options do not make sense. In the choices for the query “Choose three topics that you are interested in:” having “sports”, “agree”, and “name” available makes the activity feel like there is something wrong. An unsettling static interrupts the screen until it breaks, making way for the story to start.

A kid is lying in bed, presumably early in the morning, trying to get her bearings, eat breakfast, and be ready for school. After going through the motions while seriously questioning the environment around her, she tries to wake up her father on the couch, only to realize that the person is not her father. Through ingenious clicking to move across the house unnoticed to escape, the interactivity is light but clever. To go into further detail on the narrative would be a disservice to it.

Through the course of its three chapters, and Roger progresses via a mouse cursor that you control to move its artistic panels. The prompt to click a button is as natural as it feels compulsory. The game knows this and cleverly uses players’ expectations to great dramatic effect. Clicking a series of buttons that appear on the screen is evident, only to be swept by the exponentially deafening sounds, the more buttons you press. It is clear this is what you need to do in order to advance the story, but it feels wrong somehow.

Even when facing such a complex subject matter, and Roger allows for moments of levity. The subversion of everyday actions in today’s internet, such as proving you’re not a robot by choosing images that are a car or a chair, is unexpected. Several puzzle interactions where a couple is falling in love to the tune of a gentle soundtrack give hope in otherwise moments of darkness. Bright pastel colors juxtaposed against gloomy blue tones work to give the intended effect of finding hope when all seems lost.

Verdict

And Roger is a brief but emotional one-hour visual novel. It does not take long to understand its narrative argument. But the way it is presented is so impactful that it does not need more than that to accomplish its goal. To witness a loved one’s mental decline is devastating, to the point where the game even goes on to mention approaching religion to find solace in times of need. Thanks to its unique ways of interacting with the story it feels like a post-modern work of art that knows how to captivate its audience. A tale of unconditional love in the face of uncertainty, and Roger’s disarming honesty is bound to connect with whoever engages with it.

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