The end of the year is useful for one thing: it gives you permission to go back and play the stellar games you somehow missed. I recently finished a title that hit me so hard its credits left me wondering how I’d overlooked it earlier in the year — and I’m clearly not the only one who did. While it received some press, it still hasn’t accumulated the four scored reviews Metacritic requires to post an aggregate, and it has under 750 Steam reviews (notably, about 95% positive).
It costs five dollars and can be completed in a single sitting.
And again: it’s like nothing else released in 2025.
And Roger — released July 23, 2025 for Nintendo Switch and Windows PC — is labeled a visual novel, but it quietly transcends that tag. At first you inhabit a character who seems to be a young girl waking up confused: unsure what time it is, uncertain whether homework is finished, simply trying to get ready for the school day. The “gameplay” mostly asks you to click buttons in the right order or align sliders to the correct position to complete routine tasks.
You try to brush your teeth: four on-screen buttons appear, and you must select items in sequence — pick up the toothpaste, grab the brush, apply the paste. Pick the wrong order and you fail. Try again. Try to remember to take just one toothbrush this time.
You go downstairs to wake your father. For a split second you recognize him, then his face shifts — he’s wearing a hat, which he never does. His features blur and vanish, and the scene becomes unsettling: a stranger is in your home.
You attempt to call for help — 911 seems the obvious choice — but the phone’s buttons don’t correspond to the interface. By the time you manage the right sequence, the man has reached the line and hangs up.
If you prefer to enter the game blind, stop reading now. Personally, I think the marketing undersells And Roger; its hinted “twist” is only a sliver of what makes the experience emotionally profound, and concealing it diminishes the game’s true power.
Ed. note: Spoilers for And Roger follow.
Before long, the game makes clear you aren’t a child at all but an older woman living with dementia, a cognitive condition that erodes memory and is commonly associated with Alzheimer’s. The “stranger” in the house isn’t an intruder; he’s someone important to her who she can no longer recognize.
He struggles to care for her and to retain patience — with himself and with the person he loves. Small gestures reveal the strain: he writes recipes in large, clear handwriting, tidies up messes, collapses from exhaustion on the sofa, prays, and cries. His presence underlines that dementia’s burden extends well beyond the patient.
Through its mechanics, And Roger dramatizes the daily frustrations of dementia. Buttons slide around the screen so you cannot reliably remember their positions; sliders move along invisible tracks with no clear handle to solve them. Tasks that should be trivial become maddeningly opaque.
That design choice is quietly brilliant. By turning ordinary interactions into obstacles, the game gives players a visceral sense of disorientation akin to cognitive decline. As you persist, the relationship between the woman and the man slowly unfolds, and you begin to learn the woman’s personality: she’s a gifted cook who adores baked bread and baguettes, prefers marigold but also likes periwinkle and fuchsia, dislikes public speaking. Then — just as she reconnects with a memory — it slips away.
Memory loss is frequently used in games as a convenient plot device — an amnesiac protagonist who conveniently relearns the world as the game progresses and reclaims lost memories alongside new powers. Reality is harsher. Dementia affects tens of millions of people worldwide each year, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International, and there is no cure; care focuses on managing symptoms and associated complications, which can include cardiovascular problems and, in severe cases, a refusal to eat. Our knowledge has advanced over more than a century of study, but significant mysteries remain — and recent clinical work continues to expand understanding. Ultimately, progress depends on awareness, and portrayals like And Roger help broaden public understanding in ways traditional reporting sometimes cannot.
Every few years a modest game arrives that delivers a message with surgical precision, cloaked in elegant design. Gris (2018) offered a wordless meditation on depression; Unpacking (2021) explored obsessive-compulsive tendencies and the fallout of unhealthy relationships; Gone Home examined trauma; That Dragon, Cancer confronted terminal illness. Those small, heartfelt games often leave a bigger mark than the year’s blockbusters.
And Roger is that kind of game for 2025 — quietly devastating and impossible to forget.
And Roger is available now on Nintendo Switch and Windows PC. This review was conducted on Nintendo Switch. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
Source: Polygon
