Arise: A Simple Story — Told Simply
Gather ‘round, friends. I’ve a story to share with you. It doesn’t matter what language you speak, how you live your life, or what you want to do with your life yet. We begin at the very end. This is a story of comforting recollection. A story of one life, lived as best it can. This is Arise: A Simple Story. Through mechanics, music, mood, and more, the simple story is told simply, but no less beautifully.
Players control the Character as they revisit key parts of their life: they move, jump, and (when able) interact with the environment. However, unlike most games, the camera is a fixed perspective, shifting with the Character instead of by the Player. I read this to be some element of the Character’s history being fixed, that the time is already lived and cannot be changed, only revisited. It took a moment to get used to, but with less than four instances throughout playtime, it didn’t detract from the experience; the camera keeps characters honed on where to go next, always with a sense of progression and momentum.
Players don’t lose use of their “camera control” control stick, though. Through its ten main levels, Arise cleverly gives the Character (and Player) control over a part of the world: the seasons, the sun’s positioning, terrain, water movement, snowfall, and so on, each level using a different part of the world to control. It remains accessible, like moving a slider on a horizontal axis; you can only go so far in one direction or the other before there is nowhere left to go. In manipulating the world, Character and Player can progress through the level, discover and reclaim memories, and move forward in their story. Perhaps symbolic of the power of hindsight, of being able to see things so clearly after the fact. Perhaps just a novel storytelling method.
There is one kind of collectible in Arise: memories. Bright, butterfly-surrounded motes of light reward still-images, elaborating even more on the level’s themes and the Character’s life. They are simple, intuitive, and universally understood. A snapshot of a time we already understand. Simply drawn, beautiful in their simplicity.
Otherwise, the visuals are simple. Rounded edges. Neutral, blank faces. Like someone could have whittled them out of wood or chiseled them from stone, given enough time. Simple. Beautiful. Perfect for this kind of story. The Character interacts with the world simply; noises, mostly. Grunts as they swing in the air, or land from a jump. But it’s in their smaller moments that the Character is given life: little laughs as they bounce on a trampoline-like surface, soft sobbing as they revisit life out of their control, proud noises of affirmation to their past self, a soft sigh as they give way to sorrow, even for just a moment.
The music (composed by David Garcia) follows a cinematic approach, flowing and swelling with established points throughout the story. This might be noticeable in other games, but the way Arise is designed to encourage flow and natural progression, it works. The music crescendos as the Character reaches the top of an arc, or as they make important progress forward, just as much as it dips and sinks away during more tense moments. Listening to it separately, listeners can still follow the entire story, start to finish, with track titles alone serving as the guides for tone. It is a wonderful listening experience on its own merit, made all the better by accompanying the interactive tale.
Lastly the mood: the story itself, and how it’s told. This is a journey through memories, yes, but also feelings, abstract emotions that deny simple manifestations. Childhood adventures are larger than life. Love is grand, sweeping, filling rivers what it means. Pain is dark, uncertain, with pockets of brightness, whether that brightness comes from acute sorrow or hope. There is pride from the Character in the journey they have taken throughout their life. There is joy and grief, elation and devastation, glee and unease. All of it is presented in such a way to not overpower one another, but to complement the full story. It is a simple story, told with elements we can all understand. There are worse ways to spend an afterlife than what Arise has presented.
There isn’t much to say about Arise, but there’s a great deal to experience. Easy controls, novel mechanics, and a beautiful soundscape set the stage. In the end, the story, and how it’s told, is the ultimate reward. Arise is a simple story, told simply. No words, no lore, nothing that need be understood before sharing in it. Just a simple, universal story, and truly all the more beautiful for it.
