Arise: A Simple Story
By Chad Sapieha,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Touching poetic adventure explores time, age, and death.
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Arise: A Simple Story
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Based on 2 parent reviews
Great game
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Beautiful, enchanting and heartfelt expierence!
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What’s It About?
ARISE: A SIMPLE STORY tells the story of an old tribal man in the afterlife. The game begins with his cremation, after which he awakens in a snowy hereafter where he re-experiences the most important moments in his life, from playing as a child, to falling in love with his lifelong partner, to the pair becoming pregnant. These themed levels are based on exploration, and see players running, jumping, climbing, and swinging their way past various obstacles. A key mechanic is the flow of time, which players can move forward or reverse at will with the right thumbstick. For example, moving time forward in a season-themed level will cause snow to melt and flooding to occur, while moving it backward will cause the water to freeze, creating new pathways. In another level, controlling time also controls the movement of animals such as snails and bees that can be used as platforms and anchor points for a grappling hook to swing between areas. There's no combat -- the primary objective is to learn about the life of the hero, including his personal struggles, responsibilities, and tragedies -- but that doesn't mean there's no danger. Careless and imprecise movement can cause the old man to perish by, say, falling.
Is It Any Good?
This is a game that encourages players to see beauty in everything, including the natural world, human emotion and ingenuity, and even death. Arise: A Simple Story is full of metaphor, most prominently when it comes to the concept of time. Given control over the passage of time, we can see how it's both a blessing and a curse. It renders the past immutable and unchangeable, but also creates hope for the future, as the game's old man sees over and over again as he relives his life. Parts of it almost feel like the opening moments of the movie Up, with months and years condensed into a few short minutes both joyous and sad. There are scenes bound to make empathetic players well up with tears as the old man finds love and confronts tragedy, overcoming certain hurdles while stumbling over others. Few games are as effective at conveying such a range of emotions so naturally and seemingly effortlessly.
It's also a lot of fun to play. Working out solutions to puzzles is rarely overly challenging, which gives players time to relish their control over the game world. Moving the sun back and forth across to sky and watching as giant sunflowers bend their heads to follow it and trampoline-like spider webs take shape is the type of game mechanic that never gets old. Things can get a little frustrating toward the end as the running and jumping scenarios become more challenging -- this is complicated by a sometimes uncooperative camera that can make accurate movement difficult -- but checkpoints are generous, meaning you never lose much progress. Arise: A Simple Story may not be perfect, but even its imperfections can be seen as metaphor for its ambitious tale of a human life well and fully lived.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about screen time. Arise: A Simple Story is broken into easily digestible levels comparable to a short episode of television, but did you feel satisfied playing just one at a time, or did you want to play more? Does the amount of time you want to spend playing a game depend on the type of game it is?
Do you think about not just growing up but growing old? How do you think people change as they age? Does it worry you, or are you looking forward to it?
Game Details
- Platforms: PlayStation 4 , Windows , Xbox One
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Techland
- Release date: December 3, 2019
- Genre: Action/Adventure
- Topics: Adventures , Great Boy Role Models , Wild Animals
- ESRB rating: E for No Descriptions
- Last updated: December 2, 2019
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