Arise: A Simple Story, A Beautiful Journey

 *Note: I received a game code for the Nintendo Switch version of the game from Untold Tales in order to review it. This does not affect my honest review of the game. Thank you to Untold Tales for the game code.

Arise: A  Simple Story shows that it is a narrative story game right from the start with an introduction to a funeral pyre for an old man who appears to be a beloved tribal leader. The music for this scene is sad, but quite pretty. 

A funeral pyre and saying goodbye. 

The old man wakes from his funeral pyre on a snowy hill which seems to be limbo. This is where the story in Arise dives in as the old man looks back through his memories of the life he lived. The earliest memories are filled with childlike wonder and joy which makes sense because it is showing the man's memories from when he was a child. This includes a sweet memory of a girl who was his childhood friend and became his first love and later his partner.

Remembering first love. 

In this area exploring his youth, things are bigger because when you are a child the world around you seems like a huge place. This introduces some interesting game mechanics with a bit of light puzzle solving. You can move time forward a few seconds or rewind a few seconds depending on what you need and where you need to go. For example, you can speed up time in order to be able to lasso a bee to hitch a ride to a high ledge you can't reach or rewind time to hop on a snail's back to jump up to a tree branch. 

Hitching a ride on a bee. 

One of the things that really stood out to me in Arise was the musical score. It perfectly emotes the feeling of each area and moment of storytelling in the game. The upbeat happiness of childhood memories and the sadness of heartbreak at losing someone you love are felt in each musical note as well as being depicted beautifully in the art of the game. 

A beautiful field of sunflowers in the youth memories.

There are collectible art pieces as well sharing the memories of the old man's life and they are charming with a lovely watercolor storybook feel. Each area has a certain amount to find and that adds another layer to the game's platform jumping and puzzle solving style. 

Collectable art of a memory of a great day. 

Of course, the memories are not all happy ones. This is the old man's story after all and for many of us life has a lot of ups and downs. I loved that Arise was about looking back on all of it, the good and the bad. There were may moments where I was moved to tears because of a heartbreaking memory or smiling because of a sweet memory. Arise does a wonderful job of telling the old man's story with the right tone of emoting and music. That's not to say it's completely perfect. Sometimes the camera is fixed in an odd position making it hard to see where to jump. I died a lot and would have to try again which could be a little frustrating at times. Sometimes, it wasn't obvious what to do in a puzzle and I would have to figure things out by a lot of trial and error which would distract a bit from the story. However in spite of those couple of things, by the time I got to the end of the game after eight hours and was again weeping because of the heart and emotions of the story I realized I loved Arise: A Simple Story. It eloquently shared a beautiful journey and reminds us about the importance of remembering and appreciating the people we love throughout our lives. 

A beautiful journey.

*Arise: A Simple Story is available on the following platforms: Steam, Epic games store, Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Cat Cafe Manager Purrfectly Relaxing

 *Note: I received a free game code from Stride PR to review the game on Nintendo Switch.  

Cat Cafe Manager is exactly like it sounds. You get to run a cat cafe in the small town of Caterwaul. Setting up the game is fairly straightforward with designing your character with a small variety of hair styles and colors. You also have the opportunity to give your cat cafe a name. After that you get to choose a cat to be your starting companion and mascot for the cafe. Each cat has a trait that benefits you and your cafe. 

Choosing a cat for the cafe.

The major aspect of the game is you need to build your cafe. There's not really much of a tutorial and the game kind of throws you in the deep end to figure it out. It does have a codex that tells you the game controls and what each item does, but that's pretty much it. I had to build and rebuild and just figure things out with a lot of trial and error. There are six different types of customers who pay with their own form of currency. For example, witches pay you in nectar which is used to buy recipes and food while fisherman pay in fish which is used to buy cat food and lures for strays. As you level up, so do your cats and you can expand the cafe and buy better furniture which increase customer patience. You also can buy new recipes and add to your cafe's menu. 

Working on expanding the cafe. 

As the game progresses, you can adopt more stray cats with lures. Different lures attract different types of cats that can be placed in a bowl outside the cafe. You have to build up trust with the stray cats. You can choose a cat to pet and when the trust meter is full, you can choose one to foster in your cafe. The entire point is to take care of the cats until you can get them adopted to a forever home. There is a bulletin board that shows all the different people who are looking to adopt and the kind of cat they're looking for. You can choose which cat fits that description and have them adopted and the people who adopt them will give you rewards that help you and your cats. 

Building up trust with stray cats. 

Another cool thing is you have regulars that you can call on that will come to the cafe and as you level up your friendship with them you get an extra bit of dialogue with them learning about their personalities and some of their backstory. You also learn that they're not happy with the big business corporation that is trying to move in and take over the town. The story is a bit light, but you get the idea and the regulars are charming, funny, and interesting. I definitely had my favorites like Finley who really opened up about her passion for writing and creating music. 

Finley is the best.

Later on in the game, you meet the Grimalkin, a mystical creature that looks very much like a cat who introduces you to the cat shrine. It directs you to restore the shrine and help to save the town and all the cats in it. 

Meeting the grimalkin. 

The cat shrine basically acts like your skill tree. On top of the currency they use, customers will also pay you in delight which looks like happy little hearts. Delight allows you to restore the cat shrine. The cat shrine unlocks things like being able to hire extra staff for the cafe, expanding your menu, and adding more cats as well as items for the cats. 

Restoring the cat shrine. 

Where the game really shines is the cats and regulars. Adopting as many adorable cats as possible is fun and the art style of the game is the perfect amount of cute and whimsical. The game itself is relaxing and you can play for a short burst or as long as you like. The game lets you go at your own pace which is quite nice. There were some technical issues that hinder the game experience a bit. On the Switch there would be short lag and freeze issues. The game also crashed hard a couple of times. I'm happy to say a recent patch update to the game from the developers helped those issues immensely and the game runs great now. I love that there's no goals to meet, there's no rush, and it's just a game that wants you to enjoy cute cats, charming characters, and celebrate all the joy it brings. 

Cute cats everywhere!

*Cat Cafe Manager is available on the following platforms: Steam, Nintendo Switch

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer