Below the Root

Below the Root is an adventure and platform game based on Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s The Green-Sky Trilogy. After the Kindar and Erdling societies unite, lingering distrust and political tension threaten their fragile relationship.

The player chooses one of five characters from different ages and backgrounds to investigate the prophecy, “The Spirit fades, in Darkness lying. A quest proclaim, the Light is dying,” and discover how to ease the conflict between the two societies.

Gameplay

• Explore tree-based Erdling lands and the underground lands of the Kindar.
• Progress primarily by talking with characters and finding items for specific situations.
• Handle platforming challenges and acquire movement-enhancing items.
• Use psychic abilities including pensing, kiniporting, and grunspreking.
• Avoid violence, which harms the player’s reputation.
• Escape from “prison houses” if captured after entering areas controlled by the wrong faction.
• Eat regularly to maintain energy; Erdling characters do not eat meat.

Developed by Dale Disharoon and published by Windham Classics, the game was released for Apple II, Commodore C64/128/MAX, DOS, and MS-DOS.