Arise: A Simple Story

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3.9/5

( 17 Reviews )

3.9

17 Reviews

English & 13 more

Overall most helpful review

Posted on: February 4, 2022

Atnas

Verified owner

Games: 86 Reviews: 5

Touching little story

I bought this game on 50% off, and played through it in roughly 5-6 hours (not bothering to do the small extra collecting stuff). The game resolves around a strong of body but elderly man as he wakes up in the afterlife. You glimpse back at key events in his life via levels that are a mix of light platforming and puzzles, together with a time manipulating mechanic. As you progress the level, you get wonderful little cutscenes, atmospheric fantastical landscapes and emotional, competent music. In his past, he has experienced both positive and negative things. These you get in about equal measure- and the levels themselves are designed with symbolism in mind, sometimes quite cleverly. By the end, I had shed a tear or two. I think the game was lovely. The negatives of the game are the controls that feel imprecise, and that some of the levels have infuriating platform elements. I'm not saying they were challenging, but rather just... annoying. Sloppy control of the character and at times difficulty to estimate length of jump/landing, and so on. Additionally, while I feel that 5-6 hours is the perfect length for this type of game, I find it hard to justify the original price tag of roughly 22$. It's always hard to put a price on games that lean more towards 'art' & 'story' rather than gameplay, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone for that price. For 11$ however (the price I paid), I'd rather it a fine 4/5.

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Posted on: February 26, 2023

triviumx51

Verified owner

Games: 309 Reviews: 2

Beautiful game, emotional story.

Played co-op mode, completed in about 5 hours. The graphics are stunning, and the story is moving (if a little sad at times). The game has some challenging moments, but overall it is very fun. Works fine on Linux (I'm running Debian 11) using wine. I used wine 8.2 with win10 mode and dxvk 1.10.3 installed, and that's it. WIthout dxvk the game runs, but textures will be missing.

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Posted on: February 7, 2022

joveian

Verified owner

Games: Reviews: 50

3 hour game that takes 6 hours...

This game is the first game from a new studio and it shows. If you haven't played RiME yet I highly recommend playing it first since it does everything better. There are a few things this one does well, particularly the time mechanic and some of the imagery, however there are many frustrations that pointlessly extend the game and make it a much worse experience than it could have been. Problem 1: The main character can jump but he often lands on his face. The height that makes you restart from the last checkpoint doesn't seem to be consistent and doesn't seem to be affected by you jumping vs walking off the edge. Problem 2: Each area has points where you can't backtrack, but there is nothing to distingish them from paths where you can backtrack, they only exist to make you frequently need to replay the level if you want to collect everything since you sometimes won't realize you have missed something until you can't go back to get it. (RiME has this as well unfortunately, although it is usually more obvious when it will happen and the better graphics, controls, music, and overall experience make replaying not such a chore). Problem 3: The nearly fixed camera combined with the graphics style makes it frequently difficult to figure out where a ledge you are trying to reach is. I often had to restart due to missing what looked like an easy jump. Problem 4: Later on, the game has quite a few areas where you need to use a path that is both narrow and slippery. This is made worse by controls that are not horrible but somewhat slow and imprecise. I think a couple of spots took me over a dozen tries (as someone who has played quite a few platformers). This kind of thing should be a top example of platformer difficulty that is not fun. There are some minor frustrations as well but I think that covers the major ones. Music is by David García Díaz who did the RiME soundtrack but this one is more generic and without the cellos, decent but not memorable.

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Posted on: March 5, 2023

omnigate

Verified owner

Games: 96 Reviews: 3

Challenging Controls

I think it's a great story, no narration, but intuitive, just enough guidance to give you the feeling of solving it on your own. There's queues that come up like music when you are on the right track after completing a sub-area which is nice. It unfolds the mystery of the story nicely. I also liked the time forward and reverse, very nice touch. The biggest complaint I have would be the controls. I'm a veteran gamer and this feels like old school keyboard WASD plus some extras, which was a bit nostalgic and fun. However, the controls don't feel entirely accurate. The different camera angels (seems like only - works, not the + for tilt for some reason), along with the way you are trying to run or move feel slightly off. Not sure how casual players would manage. You'll die plenty of times, but it usually picks up almost right where you left off. If you are willing to have more finger gymnastics rather than story/problem solving, then it's worth checking out. It's a little short but was intriguing and had many creative elements to it.

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Posted on: April 23, 2023

ReadyMadeGamer

Verified owner

Games: 316 Reviews: 1

I thoroughly enjoyed this game!

Beautiful game. Stunning visuals. Amazing music (would have loved to purchase the soundtrack). Just the game I needed in my life right now. It is a truly beautiful love story told throughout a man's life, and a very compelling take on the beauty and struggle of life. From falling in love, the pain of loss, finding acceptance, and the bonds that come from the persistence & commitment to those you care about. Even with little to no dialogue outside of chapter titles, it's still able to convey a deeply emotional atmosphere through strong cinematography and evocative music. At times it is tragically beautiful in its melancholy and other moments its warm, sweet, and playful. All the things that come from living a long and fulfilling life. I would say this story is a HEA, but like all stories of life told in its totality it is also undoubtedly bittersweet (Especially levels Fruit and Ashes, which may be triggering for some). If you are looking for a comparison, I would say it feels similar in game mechanics to Psychonauts - where a lot of the visuals are just as much literal as they are steeped in metaphor but instead of entering someone's mind in order to investigate, manipulate or heal; we are instead privileged to tag along as the protagonist reminisces on his memories in his own way, before he approaches that eternal light on the horizon. Game mechanics: A lot of this game rides on the jump/platforming mechanic, with some hit and miss choices, so keep that in mind. I enjoyed the time manipulation aspect of the puzzles, they were clever and rarely, if ever, felt repetitive; same goes with each artfully woven level design. It is not a difficult game, which is good, otherwise it would take away from the ebb & flow of the story's pacing. Full in level backtracking would have been nice, but it's also a fairly short & sweet game anyway. I played for about 6 active hours with all memories collected. Worth purchasing, especially on sale. Tissues sold separately. 9.2/10

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Close, but not an exact hit

Arise: A Simple Story

YOUR ADVENTURE OF LOVE AND LOSS

INSPIRED ARTSTYLE

MASTERY OVER TIME

PLAYING TOGETHER

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