Review | and Roger - Time Well Spent
[This review contains spoilers for the entirety of and Roger]
And Roger is a narrative-driven game that will leave you an emotional wreck as it takes you through a seemingly normal life via point-and-click style gameplay. Despite this quiet slice of life set up, the game manages to instill you with a sense of unease as you try to figure out why this unsettling man won’t leave you alone. You play as Sofia, portrayed as both a young girl and an older woman, depending on the chapter. The game is short enough to play through in one sitting. However, by the end of that brief runtime, it is so devastating that it will leave you in tears and reflecting on your own life, your loved ones, and the ever-looming march of time.
The game is very simple: you watch a short comic-style single-panel animation, read dialogue and thoughts from the main character, and click a single (sometimes multiple) button to complete a puzzle or minigame. At first glance, the game feels deceptively easy and much like a visual novel. However, the developers, TearyHand Studio, brilliantly made the most of this simplicity by packing the most unique narrative-gameplay-with-a-single-button mechanic I’ve ever seen.
You begin with a single white button that progresses the dialogue or performs an easy action, such as “get out of bed.” Soon though, you’re introduced to multiple white buttons, sometimes moving around the screen. Sofia’s hand reaches for the door, but she’s unsure of exactly how to open it. The buttons have no labels, and now you’re left guessing which one to click and in what order. If you make a mistake, the door lock resets and the buttons shuffle around, vibrating away from the cursor as you make your best attempt to get out of your room. This confusion is deliberate and plays directly into the main theme of the game that has been obscured until now.
As the narrative builds and another character is introduced, the single button evolves into something slightly more complex and engaging, reflecting Sofia’s new thoughts and actions as her life expands. You might slide the button across an invisible track in order to connect your stomach to the perfect pastry to satisfy your craving. You might also navigate the button around a block maze in order to successfully chat with the handsome man you just met and not fumble the opportunity to meet your future partner.
You’re taken through many scenes and environments that made an impact on Sofia’s life. Sometimes you find yourself in your kitchen trying to recall a recipe; other times, you explore the city before being tempted by the bakery right across from your home. And Roger will even have you revisit certain locations with a new perspective or show a bit more of Sofia’s memories with each visit.
The quaint but simple art style combined with the basic soundscape of the game might not seem enticing at first glance, but I found myself quickly growing fond of Sofia and becoming invested in her life story. The straightforward game design plays into and Roger’s strengths as the game makes you focus on the here and now, instead of trying to overwhelm you with options. There are rarely opportunities for choice in this game as TearyHand Studio wants to tell a hand-crafted story, and even if the game offers multiple dialogue selections, it does not change the outcome of the story.
And Roger does an excellent job evoking Sofia’s personality through the sincere conversations, hopeful music, and vibrant imagery, often leaving you feeling just as excited and vulnerable as our main character. While there are many positive and optimistic moments throughout the game, the heaviness of this game’s thesis left me in a state of melancholy by the end.
And Roger absolutely destroyed me. I went into this game knowing basically nothing about it, and about five minutes in, I could immediately tell that Sofia suffers from dementia. The game does its best to hide this fact from the player until maybe halfway through the first chapter, but anyone who has seen a loved one suffer from memory loss will quickly pick up on the nuances the team has baked into this character and realise exactly what is happening to Sofia.
No, you are not waking up late to school and stumbling upon some older stranger in her childhood home. No, you did not just come across your dad in a bakery. Sofia is actually waking up into an “episode” of dementia, unsure of her current age, confused as to where she is, and not sure how to live. She sees this stranger and immediately seeks the comfort of her father, not realising this “stranger” is actually her husband, Roger, who is around her own age, while her father has long since passed.
The use of this second character playing either a positive or villainous role (depending on whether or not Sofia is currently suffering from an episode) helped push the narrative forward, shifting the player’s perspective along with it. Sofia is terrified by this intimidating figure (often portrayed with darker color schemes and a lack of identifying features), doing all she can to sneak past him to find her father, not realising that this frightening man with a flashlight is trying to provide her with the consolation and reassurance that she is seeking.
Sofia will have moments of clarity after her confusion, realising what she has done or what trouble she has caused the love of her life. You, as the player, feel that guilt and anxiety whenever your husband sighs and cleans up the mess that you innocently made, hearing a hint of resentment behind the deep warbles that are produced from his mouth. Sofia consistently struggles throughout the game, trying to piece together her relationship to this man even though the photo of their wedding day lingers not far from her. This hit close to home, recalling moments in which my own grandmother would not recognise her own son standing in front of her.
I’ve been unfortunate enough to witness my paternal grandmother be diagnosed with and suffer from dementia. So starting up and Roger instantly triggered a resurgence of memories with this person who helped raise me. My father and I would frequently visit her in a senior assisted living home (similar to where Sofia ends up at the conclusion of the game). Each time we entered that facility, we would notice something concerning that needed to be addressed right away. Be it a hob left unattended with the fire on or rubbish littered throughout the floor. The vigilance and fortitude that Roger displayed to take care of her was a far too accurate reflection of my own experience, and I empathised with every instance of his frustration.
