Combing a true RPG with a puzzle game sounds like something that would be extremely hard to do and yet Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure succeeds in doing it. Part an RPG, part a puzzler, this is one of the most unique games I’ve played this Summer and I’m here to tell you why you should try this game too!
You’re a bit of a misfit
In the game, you play as Jemma, a small-town misfit who goes on a journey to get some big questions answered. Her world is ruled by fear that’s caused by a strange immovable static force. Jemma seems to be the only one who’s able to stop the force. In a world held by a static force, Jemma can clearly maneuver her way through the mysterious world. Although she doesn’t really walk herself, she’s able to move the tiles around her, enabling her to move in rows or columns. An interesting gameplay mechanic that’s really tied into the story. As a true RPG, there is a lot of dialogue and world exploration but it’s all so amazingly written that you’ll have a blast discovering new characters and locations. I loved the fact that the moving rows and columns are also part of the story. When Jemma moves a row that kicks a poor character off its ladder, said character will certainly respond to what happened. In short, the story is pretty straightforward but the clever writing and humor really make you want to read every bit of dialogue. The game takes you to some interesting locations and you’ll meet a lot of interesting characters along the way, making it a fun game to play even though you’ll finish it in around ten hours.
Puzzle combat
Exploring the world while using this unique mechanic to ‘walk’ around is great but the puzzle gameplay truly shines in combat. In combat settings, you’ll have to move around in the same four directions but often you’ll find an object blocking your way. Most of the time, you can solve this little puzzle by sliding off one of the edges to appear on the other side. Things get more interesting when objects are combined with monsters. If you want to get past the monsters, you’ll need to move a sword around by manipulating the rows and columns so that the sword collides with the monster, which will defeat it. It sounds pretty complex and it certainly takes some time to get used to these unique mechanics. I do like the idea and had a lot of fun with it during the first half of the game but the more I advanced the more I noticed the lack of variation. Every puzzle feels a bit the same and uses the same mechanics over and over again. Nothing that bad since it’s still an amazingly fun mechanic but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the developers could have done a bit more with it, really pushing the boundaries of the puzzles.
That being said, Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure is without a doubt one of the most unique puzzle games I played this Summer and I really enjoyed my time with it. The puzzles are a bit hard to master but to help you out, there’s a stellar assist mode that enables you to skip portions of the puzzles by jumping to one of the marked points. A great addition to limit frustrations and you can easily toggle assist on and off. Veteran puzzle players won’t use it but it’s great to have it as an option nevertheless.
Conclusion:
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure is a gorgeous game that successfully combines puzzles with true RPG gameplay. It’s an extremely original game that deserves your attention so be sure to give it a shot!
