Arise: A Simple Story is a story-driven, atmospheric 3D platformer by Piccolo Studio. You play as a man who recently died, traversing environments that symbolize meaningful moments in his life. For example, sometimes you’re as small as a bug, jumping across lily pads and hitching rides on bees. Statues in the environment represent other people he knew and help tell the story since it largely has no words. As you traverse, you find pickups called memories, which depict an exact moment in his life. The placement of these memories ranges from obvious to hidden, but even if you only grab the obvious memories, you’ll understand the story.
Ultimately, neither the narrative nor the gameplay offers anything complex. However, in that simplicity, there is room for beauty to flourish, and Arise offers a touching story that had me in tears at the end.
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Review copy provided by the publisher. Reviewed on PC.
Published: Dec 2, 2019 10:22 am