ARISE: A SIMPLE STORY
A Norse adventure that will bring a Tyr to the eye
“A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO EXPLORE AND A TERRIFYING SPACE TO FEAR.”
As Arise is the debut game from a first-time studio, general manager Alexis Corominas says the team are pouring their hearts and souls into it: “It’s our dream coming to life. We want to take you on this one-of-a-kind journey that will bring back memories of your own life, both happy and sad, but all part of your story.”
While it sounds a lot like Marley And Me: The Game, it’s actually not. Thank goodness. What Arise: A Simple Story is, however, is an adventure through a character’s life. The game starts where many begin, on a fiery funeral pyre. As your Nordic protagonist’s soul is released the fun starts with a journey through the afterlife towards a mysterious light flickering atop an elegantly curved mountain peak.
The world around you will shift constantly, and your sense of time and space will be affected. Playing Arise, you’ll be surprised time and again.
“We turned our hero’s rich life experience into beautiful landscapes, which will shift along with your emotional state as you roam through varied environments that reflect the current tone of the narrative. As the story unfolds, your power to manipulate time also transforms to fit the moments you’re reliving.” says Corominas
Key to reaching that glimmering light is our hero’s knack for platforming, which includes using a rope to manipulate the world. We’ve seen the little Viking warrior snag a bulbous bumble bee to ride through an equally overly fertile forest; watched him use the rope to ascend a snow-swept, broken bridge; and observed how he can pull at areas of the environment to create makeshift paths – a felled tree makes a handy bridge.
AFTER LIFE
There’s a solidity to the world that we love, and the stylised fantasy afterlife is both a beautiful place to explore and a terrifying space to fear. Lightning exposes an army of shadowy men, most likely our warrior’s victims or felled clansmen. The snowy grave of a girl ticks another emotional note. And in the distance that light on the cusp of a mountain keeps calling us.
“In Arise you never know what’s around the corner,” says Corominas as he reflects on his studio’s game. “You enjoy the good times to the fullest knowing they might not last, and endure the hardships working to turn them around. To put it simply – that’s just life, right? Beautiful and scary at the same time.”