The surreal, spooky adventure Rusty Lake: Roots comes out this week

Rusty Lake Hotel was a strange little game that came out of nowhere and really knocked me off my feet. It's a haunting, hand-drawn adventure-puzzler about tastefully murdering five animalistic guests of a stately hotel. I don't want to reveal much more than that about it because I really do think that it's the sort of game that's best enjoyed when you go into knowing as little as possible. So instead I'll just say that I really liked it, I think you should check it out, and a sequel, Rusty Lake: Roots, is coming later this week.

There's not much in the way of information about the new game at this point, although that's probably appropriate. Roots is the biggest Rusty Lake game so far, with more than 33 levels, and promises "suspense and atmosphere, switching from calm to very dark moments." The YouTube description of the launch trailer is similarly cryptic. "James Vanderboom's life drastically changes when he plants a special seed in the garden of the house he has inherited," it says. "Expand your bloodline by unlocking portraits in the tree of life."

Calling it the "biggest" Rusty Lake game so far may seem a bit cheap, since it's also only the second Rusty Lake game to be made. But Rusty Lake Hotel is actually a descendant of the Cube Escape games, of which there are many. Each is a standalone game and they can be played in any order, but Gamezebo says "they are easiest to appreciate as an unnerving whole when played in proper succession... Experienced as a whole [it] is a brilliantly blended sense of surrealistic horror, turning even seemingly mundane puzzles into opportunities for disturbing imagery or events."

I haven't played the Cube Escape games but I can attest to the promise of disturbing imagery (in a good way) based solely on my time with Rusty Lake Hotel, and so yes, I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel. Rusty Lake: Roots comes out on October 20 and will set you back $3 on Steam.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.