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About Root Board Game
Ratings & Reviews
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How board game apps should be done.
Oct 17, 2020 Root is a fantastic game. It’s not an easy game to learn, nor is it for everyone. But for anyone out there interested in this strategic war game set in a woodland setting with cats, birds, mice, and even a lone badger thrown in, you couldn’t ask for better. Many apps translate a board game experience into a digital experience fairly easily, and with roots intrinsic complexity you wouldn’t fault a more basic experience for this one, but that’s not what you’re getting here. No, this is the premium deal with combat animation and catchy beats, each character on the map has heart; this is bar none the best digital adaption I’ve ever witnessed. Bravo to the developers. If your new to root or just to the app, the tutorials are brilliant. The controls are fairly straight forward, but give the tutorials a glance, because there’s a lot going on. That being said, the app condenses much of the fiddliness of the physical game and manages things with ease. A couple of points that I’d love the developer to consider in future updates: an option to invite friends to a game and a small notification when a message in in-game chat has been sent. Thanks.more -
Feb 25, 2021 Gameplay is awesome! Love the experience. One minor flaw with the game is that when the cat or anyone attacks Vagabond the relationship becomes hostile, when it is supposed to be the opposite. -
Great adaptation
Nov 6, 2020 Animations are a fun novelty but quickly turned them off and zoomed all he way out. I wish you were able to see the other players info without clicking on their player icon but it is a trade off with the screen. It would be fun to see a match history tally. So you know what faction you are best with. And of course, I hope to see other factions include soon. 10$ is a lot, especially when you’ve already bought the game and expansions once! But I downloaded this game this afternoon and have already played about a dozen games. Always room for improvement but all in all would recommendmore -
Feb 23, 2021 Great underlying board game and graphics. Fairly frequent stability issues though many have been fixed. Currently hard to finish a multiplayer game without some players dropping out. Works well enough for async games with people you know. Five stars once it's possible to reliably complete games with random players.more -
Feb 24, 2021 Great game, root is very well designed and the online version is almost spot on! My biggest confusion is to why some of the rules are different? For example, why when battling do u get points for removing enemy pieces and tokens? That is a despot only ability I thought, and is not in the normal root boardgame for all factions. Anyway, still great overall!more
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Feb 15, 2021 Async suffers from frequent issues, such as buttons becoming unselectable and actions being retrospectively undone or lost. I would like to request a refund. -
Requested an Undo at launch, still not implemented.
Dec 1, 2020 Don’t care how great a digital adaptation of the physical game this, and actually it is rather good, but lack of an undo button in any digital board game is nothing short of negligence from the developers and frustratingly punishing to the players (as can be seen by many other reviews also aggravated by this oversight). Couldn’t bring myself to spitefully rate it a one star, but it’s a two until this basic feature which should be included in every digital board game is finally, hopefully implemented.more
No reviews available
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How board game apps should be done.
Oct 17, 2020 Root is a fantastic game. It’s not an easy game to learn, nor is it for everyone. But for anyone out there interested in this strategic war game set in a woodland setting with cats, birds, mice, and even a lone badger thrown in, you couldn’t ask for better. Many apps translate a board game experience into a digital experience fairly easily, and with roots intrinsic complexity you wouldn’t fault a more basic experience for this one, but that’s not what you’re getting here. No, this is the premium deal with combat animation and catchy beats, each character on the map has heart; this is bar none the best digital adaption I’ve ever witnessed. Bravo to the developers. If your new to root or just to the app, the tutorials are brilliant. The controls are fairly straight forward, but give the tutorials a glance, because there’s a lot going on. That being said, the app condenses much of the fiddliness of the physical game and manages things with ease. A couple of points that I’d love the developer to consider in future updates: an option to invite friends to a game and a small notification when a message in in-game chat has been sent. Thanks.more -
Great adaptation
Nov 6, 2020 Animations are a fun novelty but quickly turned them off and zoomed all he way out. I wish you were able to see the other players info without clicking on their player icon but it is a trade off with the screen. It would be fun to see a match history tally. So you know what faction you are best with. And of course, I hope to see other factions include soon. 10$ is a lot, especially when you’ve already bought the game and expansions once! But I downloaded this game this afternoon and have already played about a dozen games. Always room for improvement but all in all would recommendmore -
Feb 21, 2021 Such a great implementation! Just can't wait for when they bring out the expansions. Edit: The AI is terrible. My review is for the game implementation for playing other humans. Would recommend playing AI to learn the rules, not for a challenge. The developer needs to put a lot of work into this side of things to make it playable and fun. ie, Eyrie going into turmoil all the time for no good reason, and no AI factions seeming to be able to deal with Dominance cards.more -
Feb 9, 2021 Fantastic digital version of a great board game. Great way to learn the rules of the board game without reading pages of text. Animations and UI are terrific, I hope they bring this switch soon. -
Jan 28, 2021 Best board game app available. Challenging game that really feels like you are in a woodland encountering other creatures. I have found the AI great in learning how to play the game, and fairly difficult to beat. The clockwork automata expansion provides an additional challenge, and endless replay value. Essential for anyone who loves challenging strategic boardgames.more
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Feb 25, 2021 Gameplay is awesome! Love the experience. One minor flaw with the game is that when the cat or anyone attacks Vagabond the relationship becomes hostile, when it is supposed to be the opposite. -
Feb 23, 2021 Great underlying board game and graphics. Fairly frequent stability issues though many have been fixed. Currently hard to finish a multiplayer game without some players dropping out. Works well enough for async games with people you know. Five stars once it's possible to reliably complete games with random players.more -
Feb 24, 2021 Great game, root is very well designed and the online version is almost spot on! My biggest confusion is to why some of the rules are different? For example, why when battling do u get points for removing enemy pieces and tokens? That is a despot only ability I thought, and is not in the normal root boardgame for all factions. Anyway, still great overall!more -
I never write reviews
Oct 15, 2020 But this is important. BUY ROOT. I need enough people to buy this game that they have reason to release the expansion factions! At the very least the winter map would be a nice change of pace. We need new content, and you need to experience the sleekest version of what very well might be the greatest board game of our generation. Oh, and devs - if you could speed up quick battles like 20% more (especially when the outcome is certain like removing an Alliance token) you’ll have earned your fifth star. Also also - the AI for the birds is nearly braindead (ive seen it place cards in recruit for suits it doesnt have a roost in at the time, and it doesnt value having a card in build especially a bird nearly enough) although at the same time the bird bot made a galaxy brain play and favor of the foxed on the last turn one time which was hilarious. And the vagabond has a pretty weird prioritization for which items get damaged - instead of letting other items get damaged then repairing them with hammers or ranger repair it just damages the hammers in the first place.more -
AI/Animation Speed Need Work — Rest is Good
Nov 21, 2020 Just echoing some comments from other people: (1) Please, please, PLEASE implement an “undo” button. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve clicked the wrong button (especially on the phone, where the buttons are tiny), and can’t go back and fix it. (2) The AI definitely needs work. One poster made a comment about (ex: ) the Eyrie putting cards into its decree that are automatic fails, and the Vagabond choosing strange items to damage. I’d add to that the fact that none of the factions seem to recognize when another one is about to win. They’ll just watch blithely as (ex: ) the Eyrie builds its 5th and 6th roosts and is just a few points away from victory, but the Vagabond with 3 swords or the Cats with plenty of warriors will just bypass lightly-guarded roosts. At some point — when a faction is nearing victory — the other factions need to pay some attention. (3) One more +1 for speeding up battles/animation. The animations are really well done, but I think the game takes 50%-100% longer than it needs to in order to show them off. I don’t need to see (ex: ) each individual bird or cat leap out of the air when they’re recruited, or walk back and forth between clearings. Some sort of setting that lets you speed up the animations, or bypass them entirely with a screen press/button, would certainly make the game less frustrating at times. But it’s a great start — keep up the good work!more
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Great board game, meh mobile game
Oct 16, 2020 A great board game that hasn’t translated too well to mobile. While the artwork and UI looks great, it does not bode itself well to how the game actually plays. In fact, if you haven’t played Root the board game, I wouldn’t recommend this mobile adaptation - not before watching gameplay of the actual game, at least. Even with the tutorial, new comers will find themselves stuck and confused with any race other than the Marquis as many of the game mechanics that are normally quite clear on the board game are poorly visualized here (the Vagabond especially). That’s not to say that it “looks” bad - in fact the game looks and sounds amazing - it’s just hard to tell what’s going on. Unfortunately, it seems too much info needs to be displayed to fit on a tiny screen, and while the developers have tried their best to condense that amount of info, much is lost. If you are a fan of the board game, then it’s not a bad purchase and will provide hours on fun, but I would wait for a few updates as a newcomer.more -
Dec 28, 2020 Looks like it is probably an old excellent port of the boardgame it is based on, but if you don't already know how to play, the app is pretty weak. The tutorial fails to explain the majority of game concepts and the in-app rules book is vague and incomplete. Only way to play is to just guess and reverse engineer it by brute force playing repeatedly. To the developer: seriously, just put the actual board game's full rule book in-app and it would get more stars.more -
It’s nice, but huge
Oct 6, 2020 I’ve been wanting to buy the hardcopy of this game since playing around with it “illegally” on tabletop simulator for a while. The devs and artists have done a great job with the interface, and despite being screwed by boardgame apps iver and over again, I can’t stop myself from indulging the hobby ... I wouldn’t recommend this for a normal iphone as it’s half a GB in size. My google drive app doesn’t take up this much space. Probably better for an ipad or something. I will have to delete it when I’m done with it each time sadly. Very pretty though. Also, I don’t understand the logic of locking tutorials. I don’t want to go through the same tutorials again when I reinstall.more -
Jan 21, 2021 Fun to play, but a few mechanics that don't allow me to play my cards at right time or are hidden by 'turn log' and can't select. Also, Ambush cards!! How do you play these during or before sending a battle?? -
Jan 14, 2021 Love the game, worked great on my previous phone. On my new phone (Galaxy S20) I have to tap things several times before it registers. Makes it very difficult to play.
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Requested an Undo at launch, still not implemented.
Dec 1, 2020 Don’t care how great a digital adaptation of the physical game this, and actually it is rather good, but lack of an undo button in any digital board game is nothing short of negligence from the developers and frustratingly punishing to the players (as can be seen by many other reviews also aggravated by this oversight). Couldn’t bring myself to spitefully rate it a one star, but it’s a two until this basic feature which should be included in every digital board game is finally, hopefully implemented.more
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Feb 15, 2021 Async suffers from frequent issues, such as buttons becoming unselectable and actions being retrospectively undone or lost. I would like to request a refund.
What’s Groovy
Root is king. Cute and vicious. This adaptation is great so far. The clockworks? Fun too. (and probably a better challenge than the vanilla AI sometimes, but that seems to be improving) Asynchronous play? Amazing. I await the other factions and all of the rest. 1000% worth buying. buy it for all your friends then nag them to play it. there will be mercantile otters eventually and then you'll be like oh man I should have gotten this ages ago.
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What’s Subpar
Great port of the boardgame. This is really well-done! My only issue is that I usually play in 2D (I love to see the entire board at once) and, while in 2D, the bottom-most left clearing is covered by the Vagabond's "mat," when I play that character. I can't see the pieces in that clearing. Also, the 2 other clearings on the left side are obscured by other "mats." Since we can't scroll the board in 2D, I have to switch back and forth (2D/3D) to see what's in the clearings. We should be able to scroll the board in 2D so no clearings are ever obscured. Put this fix in and the game is a solid 5 Stars.
OK, lowered my score due to another HUGE problem -- the lack of an "Undo" button after you perform an action but before any dice are rolled/cards revealed, etc. I have now lost 3 games as the Vagabond as I selected an incorrect item by mistake, didn't notice until I selected it and was unable to undo the choice after I hit continue (twice this happened because the screen is small and my fingers aren't).
Please put in an Undo button to cancel a given action as long as you haven't rolled dice, revealed something or moved to a new action. Do this and the game's rating rises again. As is, too frustrating to me to lose games because I touched the wrong part of the screen. :-(
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