Bleeding Roots

About Bleeding Roots

Bleeding Roots is a short horror walking simulator by Mechanikoi with Luka Hizo Algo, released free on Steam in September 2024.

You play a man who has been through hard times and finds some peace in his small back garden. You walk the paths, water the flowers and read about them, and the game moves from season to season. Then, looking for new books on botany, you find one you have never seen before. It speaks of alternative ways of caring for plants, and it seems to call to you.

The controls are simple on purpose: tank controls to move, one key to look and interact. It is drawn in low-poly 3D with soft, blurry textures, mostly seen from above, like a game from the late nineties.

The horror is quiet for most of its length. Players describe it as soothing and sad at first and gruesome by the end, and some note it has no scares in the usual sense. Its weight is in the story of grief and what a lonely man is willing to do to hold on to something.

It suits anyone who wants a free, one-sitting horror story with something to say, and fans of short PS1-style indie horror.

How to play Bleeding Roots

1. Get it free on Steam.
2. Move with tank controls and press the interact key to look at and use things.
3. Water the plants and read about them as the seasons change.
4. Read the strange botany book and follow where it leads.

Tips

• Read every description; the story is told through what you look at.
• It takes well under an hour, so play it in one sitting.
• Be ready for the store's warning: it shows suicide and mild self-harm.
• Play with sound on; the mood comes from the quiet.

Questions