Rosewater Review

It’s 1850s America, but not as we know it. This is the Wild West where scientific progress has blazed new fields. Just as Grundislav Games’ previous title Lamplight City presented an alternate history combining elements of noir and steampunk technology, Rosewater takes up the mantle in a frontier setting, set in the same universe. There are cowboys, Indigenous Americans, bar fights, missing treasure, and a roster of interesting characters tying the whole thing together.

You don’t need to have played Lamplight City to dive into Rosewater, however. The world of Vespuccia you’ll travel through (of which the titular town is a tiny part) is far vaster, and the adventure you’re thrust into involves less sleuthing. Instead, the focus is on the characters — and thankfully the cast is well developed, interesting, and funny.

It’s 1850 and journalist-for-hire Harley Leger has come to Rosewater to interview Gentleman Jake Ackerman, a travelling showman. Before long, she’s pulled into a quest for treasure which will take the pair across the country, along with some other companions: Jake’s assistant Danny, doctor Nadine, rebel leader Filomeno, and caravan driver Lola. All of them are engaging in their own way, and each has a tale (or five) to tell en route to your destination. Your trek is lethargic — in an enjoyable way — and every pit stop you make throws up a new fun distraction. Side stories, such as uncovering a scammer trying to get you to drink toxic water so he can rob you, getting rid of the Devil from a post office, or helping a character honour their late friend are enjoyable, sometimes touching diversions which fit nicely with the setting.

The interface has been refined further from Grundislav Games’ previous title. Your cursor will turn into an eye for things you can look at, or a yellow arrow if you can interact with it or pick it up. Right-clicking brings up your inventory and it’s straightforward to combine items in traditional point-and-click fashion. And if you can’t be bothered searching for interesting stuff in any given location, a hotspot key highlights everything of note. You can skip dialogue with a single click, and double-click to make Harley immediately move to the desired location. In short, it’s a streamlined experience which developer Francisco González has worked hard at to appeal to even the greenest player.

Conversations also follow a familiar genre path. Most of them don’t require you to exhaust all available dialogue options, but you’ll get far more information and enjoyment about your posse — and the local inhabitants — if you do. There are occasions where it’s necessary to speak to everyone in the vicinity, trigger an event, and then go and speak to everyone again to see if another response is available. In this respect, Rosewater flies a little too close to the games it’s emulating. Yet none of the conversations feel like they go on too long, or that you’re overloaded with information. Crowns can be used to purchase items or bribe the right people, although I never encountered a situation where I was short of cash.

Puzzle-wise, it’s even easier than Lamplight City, for the most part. Your journey is split into self-contained vignettes, which have all of the objects or people required to solve a problem scattered over a handful of locations. I didn’t come across anything that made me question the game’s logic and, wonderfully, many of the puzzles can be solved in multiple ways. As you travel in your wagon and get to know your companions, more side missions will open up to you, giving you even more insight into their personalities. Combined with the main story beats and other smaller tasks which are randomly generated, no two playthroughs of Rosewater will be the same.

As with so many period pieces, nailing the sound is pivotal to immersion. Rosewater delivers on all fronts here: ambient sound effects are stellar, music is appropriately twangy (and period-authentic without being pastiche), and the whole voice acting cast — including Maya Murphy, Roger Clark and Lamplight City lead Ben Britton — are simply fantastic. The whole story feels like a group of ragtag mates on a road trip. The stakes are pretty low and there appears to be no specific drive for them to get anywhere soon. Instead, they’re happy to bimble along, helping strangers they come across with little hint of aggression. It feels like a Western version of a quirky comfort TV show, like Firefly meets or Brisco County Jr., minus the spaceships.

It’s the attention to detail — particularly around the emotional cadence of the journey — which makes the game so endearing. Characters warm to you as you help and get to know them. Nightly campfire get-togethers reveal touching details about their hopes and dreams. The more time you spend in their company, the more the destination feels like an afterthought — it’s the journey, and the connections you form on it, that leave the real mark.

That’s not to say Rosewater is flawless. It occasionally leans too heavily on genre conventions, and its puzzles may not satisfy those looking for cerebral challenge. But it makes up for those shortcomings with sheer heart. This isn’t a story about changing the world. It’s about a band of nobodies becoming somebodies to each other — a slow, sunburnt amble across a semi-imagined America where compassion carries more weight than gold.

You might come for the steampunk Western setup. But you’ll stay for the people, the fireside stories, and the gentle ache of leaving it all behind.