*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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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