Old man traverses clouds, sunflowers, to relive worst moments of his life.
Games, as a medium, often struggle to strike a balance between how the game presents its narrative and how the game plays. Often at ends with each other, narration can either be a detriment to the gameplay or vice versa. In Arise: A Simple Story, Techland and Piccolo Studio manage to marry these two concepts and strike that balance brilliantly. Arise not only manages to marry gameplay and narrative design but it does so with a truly remarkable art style that pairs beautifully with the soundtrack.
Arise: A Simple Story
Developer: Piccolo Studio
Price: $20
Platform: PS4 (reviewed), Xbox One, and PC (via Epic Game Store)
MonsterVine was supplied with a PS4 code for review.
Arise is an incredibly clever 3D puzzle platformer that compels the player to move on through an extremely fun time control function that makes the puzzles themselves an absolute blast. Though the narrative didn’t particularly land with me, I feel that at its core, Arise is a very fun and enjoyable experience.
Not necessarily just, but mostly, time is controlled by the right joystick. In some areas, you’re controlling whether or not snow is accumulating. In other areas, you’re controlling where the sun is and therefore where giant sunflowers are facing. The puzzles are primarily based around this concept of moving time forwards or backward. As you turn time back or move it forward you’re given a glimpse into the trials and tribulations of our protagonist’s life.
It’s unfortunate I didn’t connect with the protagonist because the actual gameplay itself is where Arise shines the most. I enjoyed the puzzle platforming and abuse of time to solve puzzles, immensely. Unfortunately, for me, there was no emotional connection with our hero’s journey. Perhaps it’s the amount of time you spend with the character or maybe it’s the fact that the game doesn’t rail hard enough on the story beats you’re supposed to be paying attention to but the one spark I was hoping to hit me never landed.
Artistically, Arise maintains a consistent style through sun, snow, thunderstorms, and time. The beautiful art manages to capture each moment in time and let you live in this world as though it were real. The story is told in such an abstract way that a lackluster art style might ruin the delivery but Arise’s style manages to remain visually striking throughout the entire game. From the snowiest valleys to the sunniest sunflower fields, Arise manages to look gorgeous the whole way through.
The Final Word
Arise offers a beautifully crafted narrative in the skin of a 3D puzzle platformer. Though it’s not a game-changer, Arise manages to excel in everything it offers to the player providing a well-refined experience.
– MonsterVine Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – Great
