Arise: A Simple Story

A beautiful adventure that will stay with me forever. Arise: A Simple Story is one story told through amazing animations played through a beautiful world, accompanied by a soundtrack that makes this game a masterpiece in every piece of its design.

Arise combines the picturesque appeal of Journey with the challenges of a classic jump-and-run.

Arise: A Simple Story is a moving story about a man that relives the joy and the anguish of his past. Piccolo Studio's opera truly knows how to touch the soul of a player.

In some ways, Arise: A Simple Story is perfectly named because it forgoes traditional dialogue or text-based narration for visual storytelling. However, through the inventive environmental game design that pushes the narrative forward to its well-realized and emotional conclusion, there is a complexity to Arise that left me misty-eyed by its affecting story of love and loss.

By making a point of keeping things simple, Arise: A Simple Story excels in all the right places. Basic 3D platforming is elevated by the introduction of time manipulation, transforming the beauty of its locations into an interactable piece of art. And when its visual design is already this stunning, it makes for an experience that delights every sense imaginable.

Arise: A Simple Story mixes its narrative-driven adventure with puzzle-platforming in some ways that can be deemed successful. The time-altering mechanic gives the game some variety throughout its four to six-hour runtime, never overstaying its welcome. Paired with its beautiful art direction and well-told story, there is definitely a reason to pick up Piccolo Studio’s new game. However, there isn’t any facet of Arise: A Simple Story that strikes deeper emotional chords; it just lacks any personality. In turn, it does make it very approachable with themes that are easy to understand. You may not need any tissues as you endure the old man’s tale, but if you’re into narrative-driven adventures, Arise: A Simple Story might be for you.

Arise: A Simple Story is pretty to look at, but the moment you have to start playing, it falls apart. A mish-mash of imagery, tone, gameplay, and narrative that seem okay on their own, but fail to come together.

I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such a beautifully emotional game. You guide a recently deceased man through the afterlife as he relives the memories of his life, each level a symbolic landscape representing a pivotal moment. The melodious music, striking scenery, and tender story combine to hit you with an emotional gut punch; like a freight train wrapped in silk. Arise captures everything from the magical joy of young love to the soul-crushing weight of grief, from the isolation of loss to the enduring light of hope. In just a few hours, you chase memories through the seasons of a lifetime: reliving the euphoria of youth, the warmth of romance, and the heartbreaking struggle to fix what can never be fixed. If you remember the gut-wrenching opening of Pixar’s Up, you’ll understand the emotional force this game delivers. You don’t just play Arise; you live it, you feel it, and you come away misty-eyed and smiling. It’s absolutely beautiful in the most tender way. 10 out of 10. Highly recommend.

This is a sweet game, a piece of art made out of pure love by the devs. The art style is cosy and the soundtrack is phenomenal as you embark on this sweet story about love and loss, life and death. Though, the story is very very simple (in the name), meaning that not a lot goes on. It makes you feel but not a lot happens. The gameplay is nice but again could have been expanded on a bit more

A beautiful game, but quite a short one. Nice visuals, music and story but don't understand why everyone in the comments says they were crying over the story.

Really good concept of rewinding time but the gameplay is poorly made and you just keep dying because there's no polishing in something as simple as a jump, for example. Also the sound gets distorted when you're rewinding, at least on the Switch. Thankfully I got it on a big sale, otherwise this isn't worth your time.

This is one gorgeous, haunting, little indie game. The setting is beautiful, almost dreamlike. The soundtrack is perfection. Every little thing about this game screams love. It's sad, though, that it offers one of the WORST, most broken platforming I've seen in years. Although Arise is a beautiful game to LOOK AT, it is a CHORE to play. I was actually sad to be mad and frustrated at this game; but, after you fall in the same pit over and over and over again it becomes difficult not to hate it. It just seems to be poorly made, rushed, unpolished. There is no fun in falling, dying, missing jumps because of bad game design. At the end, I know they wanted to give me a strong story but I'm afraid I could not enjoy it, I was hating this game so much. I just wanted to get it one and move on. It is a shame that such a beautiful game is a pain to play. I simply had no desire to find the collectibles, I was just happy it was over. Art direction and soundtrack 10. Gameplay design 0.