Roots in the Sky: The Hand of Glory 2 Review
An excellent globetrotting mystery told with exceptional graphics and sound-design. Memorable characters give plot-driven puzzles that make progress feel earned.
Lazarus and Alice struggle against the looming shadow of their adversary. Shown against a cloudy sky with mountain in the background. The game’s title Roots on the Sky: The Hand of Glory 2: is prominent in the foreground. MadIt Entertainment / Daring Touch 2026.
Roots in the Sky: The Hand of Glory 2 is a point-and-click adventure game developed by MadIt Entertainment and published through a partnership with Daring Touch. The game is a powerful reminder of why video games are such a compelling art form. Its simple mouse-driven interface makes adventurers the focal point in a detailed, compelling narrative that is supported with superb graphics and sound-design. These three components are expertly and seamlessly combined into settings for characters who challenge adventurers with plot driven puzzles. All this painstaking work has built an excellent adventure game.
Adventurers control the actions of two protagonists when they play Roots in The Sky: The Hand of Glory 2; Lazarus Bundy and Alice Sharpe. The interface controls movement, gathering and using items, talking to characters, Kinsetics, and saving and loading the game. When adventurers left-click on a spot on the screen the character walks to the selected spot. All of the settings are filled with interactive hotspots which precipitate action on the protagonists’ part. Hovering over a hotspot reveals its name. Pressing the Space bar reveals all the hotspots on the screen. Left-clicking on the hotspot reveals a command wheel. It contains actions which adventurers may order the character to carry out upon the hotspot. Left-clicking on the eye provides a description of the hotspot. If the hotspot is an object left-clicking on the hand compels the character to interact with it. The most common form of interaction is picking it up and placing it in inventory. The inventory bag is on the upper-left corner of the screen. Left-clicking on this bag reveals all the items contained in inventory at the top of the screen. Many times adventurers will need to use items to progress. Left-clicking on an item and then left-clicking on the hand. readies it for use in the game. Right-clicking on an item provides its description. When adventures left-click on an item, then left-click on the hand, the cursor changes into a picture of the selected item. When adventurers move it over another inventory item and left-click again, the protagonist tries to combine the two items. The game lets adventurers know if they are successful. When it’s time to use an item adventurers may left-click on it, combined or otherwise and move it to a hotspot on screen. A white glow surrounds items when they are over a hotspot where they may be put to use. Left-clicking attempts to use them. The game informs adventurers if they are successful.
Adventurers may find out how items are used and other useful information through conversation with characters. Left-clicking on characters, then left clicking on the mouth, populates the bottom of the screen with images that represent conversational topics. Left-clicking on one of them activates a conversation. It was a difficult for me to ascertain what the conversational topic was by the picture alone. Once the conversation started its picture made sense.
Alice Sharpe has a very useful skill called Kinesics. It enhances her interrogations by letting her read the body language of suspects for weaknesses that she can use to gain insight into their emotional state. When playing as Alice, Left-click on a character, then, left-click on the orb icon to use her special skill. There are two difficulty levels when using Kinesics, normal, or easy. I chose easy because it gives adventurers more time to left-click on a suspect’s micro-expression before it turns black and white. If adventurers miss one, they may left-click on the red orb at the upper-left corner of the screen, to correct their error. Once adventurers help Alice collect all the information, they must help her use it to draw conclusions about the suspects. They must left-click on an observation and then left-click on a reason for why the suspect is exhibiting that behavior. When adventurers help Alice pair valid reasons to all her observations the story will continue.
Adventuring is tiring. When It’s necessary to take breaks, the game has an autosave feature that saves progress automatically. Adventurers may load the “autosave” by left-clicking on “Continue” from the title screen. They may also save or load their progress manually while playing. Press Escape to bring up the title screen click on “Save Game” left-click on an empty white square and left-click on “Save” to save your progress. Saved games are organized by date and time. Loading a game is a similar process. Press escape, left-click on “Load Game,” left-click on an occupied square, and left-click on “Load” to load a game. The simple save and load utility ensures that adventurers won’t miss a minute of this thrilling story. Left-clicking on the notebook that resides in the upper-left corner of the screen is a great way to return to the story after breaks.
Lazarus Bundy’s peaceful life in Venice is shattered. The answer why may be inside this beautiful house. Roots in The Sky: The Hand of Glory 2 MadIt Entertainment / Daring Touch 2026.
The peace of Rome, “The Eternal City,” forever shatters for protagonist Lazarus Bundy as he and his new partner Malcolm investigate the murder of a client. This inciting incident propels Lazarus on a globe-trotting journey that spans the distance from Italy to Japan. All of these settings showcase beautiful graphics and sound-design which make adventurers feel like a part of the scene.
I took breaks from the mystery by walking around and observing its settings. I enjoyed India’s locations the most. Especially the jungle scenes. They are colorful and lovely. Replete with green yellow and purple colors. Jordan, another location, is covered in brown and tan colors as befits a desert.
I enjoyed the lovely colors of India. Roots in the Sky: The Hand of Glory 2 MadIt Entertainment / Daring Touch 2026.
The sound-design, comprised of music and voice-acting, successfully augment the power of the graphics. My favorite track is on the title screen. Fast and suspenseful, it primes those who hear it for adventure.
Aside from the great music, the voice acting endows each character with life and a soul. All of the voices are great. I found myself drawn to Alice. She spends the first part of the game being angry with Lazarus for understandable reasons. When they eventually reconcile, the change can be heard in the warmer tones of her voice. The voice acting helps endow the characters with life. While doing so, it raises the stakes of the puzzles that adventurers receive from them. The voices make it easier to empathize with the characters. Adventurers will want to help them.
The plot-driven puzzles are tough but worth it. They make progression feel earned. Lots of the puzzles involve bringing items to characters, or using items on screen. My favorite puzzle involves a sword duel between Lazarus and his adversary. Adventurers must help Lazarus win by left-clicking on the right spot at the right moment. It isn’t hard to figure out what to do and there is enough time to accomplish it without spoiling the quick, action-oriented feeling of the scene.
Lazarus and his adversary face off in an epic struggle! Roots in The Sky: The Hand of Glory 2. MadeIt Entertainment / Daring Touch 2026.
Not all the puzzles are so easy. My least favorite puzzle involves rearranging the parts of a tree drawing in a specific way. I couldn’t figure it out without a walk-through and help from friends. Even so, the puzzle made sense in the context of the story. All of the puzzles are difficult enough to make adventurers feel a rush of pleasure after solving them.
This tree puzzle was difficult but worth it. Roots in the Sky: The Hand of Glory 2. MadIt Entertainment / Daring Touch 2026.
Roots in the Sky: The Hand of Glory 2
is a wonderful adventure game. It uses all of its attributes; interface, story, graphics, sound-design and puzzles to their fullest potential. Adventurers who play Roots in the Sky: The Hand of Glory 2 will enjoy it immensely.