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Root Film

ルートフィルム

Titles
ルートフィルム
Root Film
方根膠捲
Fanggen Jiaojuan
Play timeMedium (19h18m from 8 votes)
DeveloperKadokawa Games
PublishersKadokawa Games
Clouded Leopard Entertainment
PQube
Relations
Same series

√Letter

LinksWikipedia (en), Wikidata, IGDB, Lutris, VNStat
Shopssponsored links» US$ 16.99 @ PlayAsia
» US$ 54.99 @ PlayAsia
» US$ 57.99 @ PlayAsia
» US$ 69.99 @ PlayAsia

Description

Spirited young filmmaker Rintarou Yagumo is involved in a new TV project—a mystery drama production set in Shimane that also served as tourism promotion for the prefecture. It has been 10 years since the original pilot was shot, and while the project was discontinued for unknown reasons, plans for a revival seems to be in place. One of the characteristics of this project is that it is a competition between three filmmakers, and each filmmaker shoots using a different actress as the protagonist. Yagumo is excited to learn that the other two filmmakers are famous directors. Before long, Yagumo and the staff members head off to go pre-location scouting, but a murder occurs at their destination…

Yagumo and Riho are the two protagonists. As you progress through each of their stories and unravel records of the past, you will witness the truth… Root Film is a mystery title developed with realistic and beautiful backgrounds from data that was carefully gathered of Shimane Prefecture, which is where the story is set. Enjoy the deep story written by Hifumi Kouno, which points to the catharsis of art and madness in the darkness of today’s internet society.

[from Gematsu]

Mini reviews

By acewing905 on 2022-06-14r85029Vote: 8
<report>Bought during an eshop sale, didn't expect much, and was pleasantly surprised

Solid mystery
Entertaining characters
Well paced
The setting of the Shimane prefecture and the various locations you get to visit gives it a bit of a "going on a tour" vibe, which is nice

The downside though is the localization feels like no quality assurance went into it whatsoever
In some situations, it was clear the localizers never actually played the game they're localizing
0 comments 1 point
By filipv on 2021-04-12r71140Vote: 8
<report>Root Film is a murder mystery click-and-point adventure game with multiple chapters where it feels like you're watching Detective Conan.
While in most chapters you play as Yagumo, 2 are dedicated to Riho as MC.
Good: Voice acting is great. The humor and banter equally great. Great art! As a fan of Detective Conan I liked this way of storytelling, though it may not be for everybody. Some twists are genuinely interesting.
Less good: This game feels cheap, which is a shame because I paid €40. Lots of music re-use from Root Letter, characters are NOT animated (which feels weird with the great VA performance) and have very limited poses. Some hiccups in the EN translation (may be patched out by now).
Also: I cleared it in around 10h, about half the length of time I spent on Root Letter.
0 comments 1 point

Full reviews

By monado-boy on 2021-04-15Vote: 7.5
<report>I was pleasantly surprised by Root Film, especially considering I wasn't expecting it to be anything to write home about.

To start with the presentation. I liked the art-style a lot. Although there was a lack of variety to the character art in that they seldom changed their pose or expressions.

While I never played Root Letter, I am aware that a handful of music tracks were recycled from that VN, which certainly contributes to the low budget feel this VN has to it. The music in general was just okay. There were only about 3 or 4 tracks that stood out to me

The voice acting was also fine. Some might consider it a bit immersion breaking that many of the side characters share voice actors... Read more »
0 comments 1 point
By vario on 2023-12-06r85029Vote: 7
<report>Root Film is a honkaku mystery visual novel written by the creator of Clock Tower.

It's easy to find flaws in this game, but I still had fun with it. It was interesting to follow the story even though the game gave away its secrets a bit too early at times mostly thanks to the hint highlight mechanic. It can make you suspect someone much earlier than needed, so the story could be a bit harder to solve without all this game flavor. Which is a bit sad because you can feel that the writer is somewhat familiar with the genre at least, and elf actually published a trilogy of his detective games developed late 90s/early 00s.

Though I'd like some cases to be a bit longer and have more characters... Read more »
0 comments 0 points
By hexashadow13 on 2022-11-10r85024Vote: 6
<report>tl;dr: An overtly messy mystery game that has some interesting aspects at times but overall just doesn’t work.

Root Film is in the next game in the series that began with Root Letter, though beyond both being mystery adventure VNs set in Japan’s Shimane prefecture and some reuse of assets and voice actors they have essentially nothing in common. This entry is primarily centered around Yagumo Rintarou, a filmmaker who while going on trips for location scouting ends up getting caught up in various murder incidents, though with the help of his assistants, Magari and Kanade, as well as the leading actress Amakata, he manages to solve the cases and move forward with production. There’s also... Read more »
0 comments 0 points
By ayuanx on 2022-11-13r85029Vote: 5
<report>Honestly, I am disappointed. I do like Root Letter, but I can not say much good for Root Film.

First, this game is so cheaply made. There is almost no CG in this game, only static character sprites and backgrounds. The character sprites do not have different versions of emotions at all--it is one sprite for all scenarios, not to mention the lack of eye blinking or lip sync. Also, most background graphics are just batch converted from photos, which is fine, but even already with such cheap method, they still decide to reuse the same background photos at different locations! For example, they use exactly the same background photo for the lounge rooms of at least two different locations. How... Read more »
0 comments 0 points