Rookie Rook

Rookie Rook

A puzzle game about a kid with no trade and no money, getting by however he can. At first he steals to eat. Then he starts noticing who's been taking from everyone else, and things change.

You don't move the character: you write what he does

No clicking and waiting here. You drag word blocks to build a complete sentence, hit execute, and watch the trickster carry it out step by step.

Take the bone. Give it to the dog. Climb the well. Pull the rope.

Sounds simple, right up until your plan is twelve blocks long and exactly one of them is in the wrong place.

Every level is a small theatre with a life of its own

The characters aren't set dressing. They have routines, obsessions and weak spots.

• A dog that only shuts up for a bone.
  
• A donkey that would do anything for a carrot.
  
• A priest who never leaves the altar.
  
• A tax collector so vain he takes off his hat halfway through his own speech.

Study how they move, work out what each of them wants, and find the exact order of actions that sets the whole thing in motion.

They wreck the place, not you

You almost never break anything. You hand bread to someone hungry, nudge a carrot a few steps, flip a sign upside down.

Then you step back and watch it all collapse on its own, without anyone ever suspecting it was you.

Six chapters, thirty levels

A dusty village where you learn the trade. A corrupt tax collector begging to be humiliated in public. Five masters, each more miserable than the last. A court full of very important people. An impossible escape. And a ship bound for somewhere unknown.

No violence, no rush, no punishment

Nobody gets hurt and nothing is chasing you with a stopwatch. If you get caught, you're back instantly and your plan is still there, waiting for you to swap one piece.

Just you, a stage full of people, and all the time you need to find the move.