This Horror Game Could Happen To Any One Of Us

Summary

Rot and Grief follows Liam, an abusive alcoholic whose wife, Liviana, tells him she is leaving. The game opens with a countdown and a bleak daily routine: Liam eats pizza beside Liviana’s corpse, cleans their trash-filled house, and feeds their dog, Drew, while news broadcasts warn of a spreading outbreak.

As the days pass, Liam’s chores grow increasingly disturbing. He gathers Liviana’s belongings, burns a letter from a friend recalling happier times, and destroys her possessions with an axe. Later, Drew is mutilated, but Liam continues filling the dog’s bowl as if nothing has happened. Liam also kills Liviana’s mother, Bethany, and decorates Liviana’s favorite tree first with photographs and then with her body parts.

The broadcasts describe hostile creatures called the Rotted approaching and breaking into homes. The game gradually reveals that the creatures were never real: they are manifestations of Liam’s guilt and deteriorating mental state. He sees the people and animals around him—including Bethany, Drew, and the police—as monsters.

Gameplay Highlights

• Explore the house and complete task-list objectives, such as cleaning, feeding Drew, watering plants, and gathering Liviana’s belongings.
• Listen to news broadcasts that provide updates on the supposed outbreak.
• Use an axe to destroy Liviana’s possessions by pressing the displayed prompts.
• Prepare the house by boarding up windows and barricading doors as the countdown approaches zero.
• The story has different outcomes depending on whether Liam kills Bethany:
  • If he kills her, he flees from the imagined Rotted and takes his own life rather than face responsibility.
  • If he spares her, she leaves, and the approaching threat is revealed to be the police. Liam is arrested for Liviana’s murder.
• In either ending, choosing to accept his fate does not change the outcome.

The video interprets Liam’s routines and visions as expressions of denial. He keeps acting as though Drew is alive, refuses to acknowledge his crimes, and blames Liviana for his drinking and failures. His treatment of Liviana’s body and her favorite tree is presented as one final attempt to control her. The story also emphasizes the painful complexity of abusive relationships: Liviana may still love Liam despite his abuse, which can make leaving difficult.

Featured Gamers and Sources

• LotusIsSpeaking — Video narrator and commentator.
• Spookly — Developer of Rot and Grief. The video says the game was found on itch.io and directs viewers to the developer’s itch.io and YouTube pages.