From the very moment I booted up Rosewater, I could tell that developer Grundislav Games were going to be true to the Western theme and all its tropes. The game opens with Harley Ledger, the adventure’s protagonist, giving a monologue about her connection to the Western frontier as she stares out the window of a train bound for the sleepy town of Rosewater. She’s moving to the town from Lamplight City with “just a little hope” that she can make a living as a journalist at the local paper. Once she arrives at Rosewater, she automatically becomes involved with the personalities of the town, and it doesn’t take long to form friendships and find a fortune to hunt that takes her far from the dusty streets of Rosewater.

Rosewater is set in the fictional game world of 2018’s Lamplight City, and although both are point-and-click games, the latter focuses more on mystery-solving, whilst Rosewater very much encapsulates the ‘adventure’ genre. It’s also worth noting that you don’t have to play Lamplight City to understand Rosewater. Both of these fictional towns are part of the Commonwealth of Vespuccia, an alternative United States where independence was never declared, steam-powered technology is further advanced, and ‘aethericity’ is a mystical concept within the world.

The game begins with you having the opportunity to get acquainted with the town of Rosewater and its mechanics, essential for a game that can involve over twenty hours of gameplay! Rosewater follows the blueprint for point-and-click game mechanics by presenting narrative puzzles throughout that see you interacting with townsfolk and objects to see what information you can gather to solve your dilemma.

When you hover your mouse over certain objects, an eye or a cursor with blinking dots will appear, showing you exactly how you can explore each item. The eye icon lets you ‘look’ at items, which will lead Harley to comment on what she’s observing; keep on probing, and more dialogue options may appear that will lead you down the right track. There is also an interact option, but this will only appear if you can interact with the item. Whilst some point-and-click games will let you handle any item you desire, Rosewater tends to steer you in the right direction rather than keep you continuously trying to make items interact when there’s no point.  If you are struggling with finding what is possible to interact with, you can highlight all items that can be searched, which makes it easier to know exactly what you need to be focusing on.

It is through Ledger’s journalism gig that you meet the charming Gentleman Jack, who just happens to be on the hunt for a fortune and wants you to come along for the ride. The majority of the gameplay in Rosewater revolves around adventuring with your pals to find a semi-hidden treasure that will make you all ridiculously rich. This journey will take you right across 1850 Vespuccia through different towns, where you come across varied personalities and lifestyles as you become one step closer to those riches. However, as the old saying goes, it’s the journey, not the destination that is important, and Rosewater is a total testament to this.

Throughout the game’s beginning, you will slowly pick up your five travel companions. These five come from different worlds and have varied abilities and life experiences, which opens up different dialogue options throughout your journey. Along for the ride is the aforementioned Gentleman Jack, his quick draw gunman Danny, the revolutionary Phil, your wagon driver and tracker, and Doctor Nadine. The cast is fully voice acted, with the likes of Maya Murphy from Black Myth: Wukong playing Harley, and Roger Clarke, who played Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption II.

The extensive voice acting extends to the back stories and narratives in Rosewater. I was constantly enthralled by the extent of the narrative in Rosewater, including dialogue choices where you can ask most characters dozens of questions about the current problem you are trying to solve and also get to know your companions just that little bit more. I love how the developers really encourage the player to get to know their team. They do this by having a sort of play structure to Rosewater; you will go on an adventure with one or multiple group members, and then once you are done, you will be placed in a communal situation with your posse. Here, you will ‘wind down’ from your adventure and be able to discuss exactly what your team thinks about what has just occurred in the game. The only real aim of these moments is to learn more about the people you are travelling with, and by including this mechanic, you really do feel like you are immersed in this world.

I did have some issues with the game, however, and these mainly come down to a number of bugs that I encountered. Rosewater has a ridiculous amount of dialogue and narrative and, therefore, a number of cut scenes. I found that some of these cut scenes skipped, leaving me unsure what had happened in the narrative and taking away from the immersion of the game. Also, even though the art design is beautiful, especially in regard to the changing Western landscape, some of the characters’ facial expressions didn’t change when certain landmark events happened. I found this especially for Harley, who, when a man drops from an overhead window and lands at her feet, is completely expressionless. However, these issues didn’t take away much from my incredible journey through Vespuccia.