Arise: A Simple Story

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Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 42

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Though the platforming can be questionable, Arise: A Simple Story tells is an emotionally fraught journey worth checking out.

Play It

Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 42

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 42

Though the platforming can be questionable, Arise: A Simple Story tells is an emotionally fraught journey worth checking out.

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Critic Reviews for Arise: A Simple Story

Critic Reviews

Score Distribution

42

Reviews

Average Score - 82/100

82%

Ranges

8.5/10

Chris Carter (Destructoid)

Arise: A Simple Story is true to its name and offers both function and form, which is why I’m so anxious to see what Piccolo Studio has next in the pipeline. It’s a pleasant surprise to help cap off a great year.

December 7, 2019 |

Full Review

Arise is worth checking out if you’re in the mood for a game like Journey or Gris, or if you just want to explore a magical world while listening to an emotional soundtrack.

December 3, 2019 |

Full Review

Recommended

Paul Tamayo (Kotaku)

9/10

Chris Hyde (God is a Geek)

Arise: A Simple Story is a delightful mix of stunning visuals, sounds, and engaging story. But there’s also a satisfying game underneath to enjoy too.

December 2, 2019 |

Full Review

Chris Carter (Destructoid)

8.5/10 - (Read Review)

Paul Tamayo (Kotaku)

Recommended - (Read Review)

Arise is worth checking out if you’re in the mood for a game like Journey or Gris, or if you just want to explore a magical world while listening to an emotional soundtrack.

Chris Hyde (God is a Geek)

9/10 - (Read Review)

Arise: A Simple Story is a delightful mix of stunning visuals, sounds, and engaging story. But there’s also a satisfying game underneath to enjoy too.

**Read all 42 critic reviews on the desktop version of VSG.

Read the Reviews (42 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
BaziCenter	Hashem Habibian	8.5 / 10	12-29-2019	Arise: A simple Story is a wonderful and colorful journey that shows us that video games can be more than plain entertainment, and they can actually give us some lessons for life.	Read review
Bazimag	Mahdi Eftekhari	8 / 10	12-19-2019	Arise : A Simple Story is a simple game from both story and gameplay perspectives but it is this simplicity that makes all the different parts of it come together and make it a unique experience.	Read review
COGconnected	Stephanie Sung	85 / 100	12-02-2019	Even without much dialogue or long, extensive cutscenes, Arise is able to tell us a simple story that is vibrant and rich, bringing us an unforgettable and emotional experience.	Read review
Destructoid	Chris Carter	8.5 / 10	12-02-2019	Arise: A Simple Story is true to its name and offers both function and form, which is why I’m so anxious to see what Piccolo Studio has next in the pipeline. It’s a pleasant surprise to help cap off a great year.	Read review
Digital Chumps	Nathaniel Stevens	8.2 / 10	07-02-2018	Arise: A Simple Story is worth a go and worth your time and attention. It carries a heavy-hearted story that is backed by stunning visuals and few flaws.	Read review
DualShockers	Michael Ruiz	7.5 / 10	12-02-2019	Piccolo Studio’s Arise: A Simple Story tells its tale with beautiful dreamscapes and time-altering gameplay, but fails to engage players.	Read review
Everyeye.it	Francesco Delrio	8.5 / 10	12-02-2019	Quote not available.	Read review
Explosion Network	Dylan Blight	7 / 10	12-07-2019	Playing Arise is often frustrating so I’d suggest being aware of that before playing it, but when the music, visuals and moments in the gameplay just mix perfectly it’s this colourful cocktail to pull on your feelings out of nowhere, because although it’s a simple tale, it’s one we can all relate to.	Read review
Flickering Myth	Shaun Munro	8.5 / 10	12-02-2019	A beautiful, creative indie platformer that’s held back from classic status by its infuriatingly imprecise controls. The sumptuous journey is still very much worth it, though.	Read review
Game Informer	Matt Miller	8.8 / 10	12-10-2019	Even with occasionally questionable jumping sequences, this emotionally fraught journey is a potent statement on the nature of love, memory, and loss	Read review
Game Rant	Dalton Cooper	4 / 5 stars	12-12-2019	Arise: A Simple Story tells an emotional tale with some clever co-op gameplay ideas, but it may not always be engaging for the second player.	Read review
Gameblog	Gianni Molinaro	8 / 10	12-06-2019	In Arise : A Simple Story, everything seems simple. It’s quite easy to play	Read review
GameCrate	Aaron Mickunas	7.8 / 10	12-04-2019	Arise: A Simple Story is well worth the $20 and six hours you’ll spend playing it. Even though it can’t seem to avoid problems that plague your typical indie game, the artwork and level design are beyond worth the small investment.	Read review
GamePitt	Shaun Sannerude	8.8 / 10	12-12-2019	Arise: A Simple Story has done something no other media has done to me in quite some time, send me on a rollercoaster of emotions. The game’s environments are visually very pretty and often quite quirky, while the musical score is truly moving and compliments the game perfectly. While the time manipulation concept is nothing new, it is done very cleverly and makes for some interesting platforming sequences. Platforming precision may be a minor irritation but it doesn’t impede the overall experience in the slightest.	Read review
GameSkinny	Mark Delaney	7 / 10	11-30-2019	Arise: A Simple Story is a gorgeous and touching tale of love and loss that nearly overcomes its constant platforming problems.	Read review
GameSpew	Kim Snaith	6 / 10	12-02-2019	Ultimately, while Arise: A Simple Story has some wonderful ideas, it’s let down by unenjoyable gameplay.	Read review
GamingBolt	Matt Bianucci	9 / 10	12-06-2019	Arise: A Simple Story creates an entire package whose diverse gameplay, beautiful environments, and touching story make for a fully immersive and unmissable experience.	Read review
GamingTrend	T.K. Hale	80 / 100	03-09-2020	Likening this game to the movie Up, Arise: A Simple Story is much more than what its title lets on. It forces us to take a step back and analyze life. With its time control mechanics that manipulate the world in so many ways, platforming style of play, and its ability to tell a narrative story without dialogue, Arise is one of those games that makes you question whether small titles like this are becoming the status quo.	Read review
God is a Geek	Chris Hyde	9 / 10	12-02-2019	Arise: A Simple Story is a delightful mix of stunning visuals, sounds, and engaging story. But there’s also a satisfying game underneath to enjoy too.	Read review
Hobby Consolas	Alberto Lloret	85 / 100	12-06-2019	Piccolo Studio’s debut leaves a game that will linger in your mind for long, a simple adventure in its form, but with a message as beautiful as painful. One more example that videogames are a great medium to transmit a message and, as Journey and similar games, they are playable poetry. If you like this kind of offerings, go get it without doubt.	Read review
IGN Spain	Unknown	7.8 / 10	12-02-2019	A title that is much better for its narrative than for its platforms. Luckily, everything works thanks to music and its graphic section.	Read review
JVL	Haltay	8 / 10	12-03-2019	Arise: A Simple Story is an invitation to travel that it would be a shame not to accept because too few stories are so emotional.	Read review
Kotaku	Paul Tamayo	Recommended	12-03-2019	Arise is worth checking out if you’re in the mood for a game like Journey or Gris, or if you just want to explore a magical world while listening to an emotional soundtrack.	Read review
MonsterVine	Nick Mangiaracina	4.5 / 5 stars	12-02-2019	Arise offers a beautifully crafted narrative in the skin of a 3D puzzle platformer. Though it’s not a game-changer, Arise manages to excel in everything it offers to the player providing a well-refined experience.	Read review
New Game Network	Josh Hinke	55 / 100	12-06-2019	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.	Read review
NoesPaisparaFrikis	Agustín Raluy	8.1 / 10	01-15-2020	Arise: A Simple Story is another example of the excellent health enjoyed by the independent Spanish scene, capable of developing products (such as the aforementioned Rime, GRAY, Etherborn …) that work in the playable, but also in the narrative, in the technical and artistic. If you are one of those who, like me, believe that the greatest emotions grow from the simplest stories, do not hesitate and embark on the adventure of love and death that this game poses.	Read review
Noisy Pixel	Victor Aparicio	8 / 10	12-02-2019	…If you’re a big as of a sap as I am but not as fussy about controls, Arise: A Simple Story is well worth the time. It’s a story that stayed on my mind well after the closing credits.	Read review
PC Invasion	Steven Wong	8 / 10	12-02-2019	Arise tells a simple, yet moving story with beautiful graphics and incredible musical score. However, its gameplay sometimes tends to work against itself, despite its intuitive controls.	Read review
Player.it	Simone Alvaro Segatori	9.7 / 10	12-02-2019	A little and warm pat to heart of platforms games.	Read review
PlayStation LifeStyle	Ken Wynne	8 / 10	12-11-2019	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.	Read review
PlayStation Universe	Garri Bagdasarov	10 / 10	12-02-2019	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.	Read review
Polygon	Colin Campbell	Recommended	12-02-2019	In another level, I continuously switch between late fall and the depths of midwinter, controlling the old man as he crosses rivers and lakes. Ice floes can only be used as platforms in the extreme cold, but if he fails to jump back to the warmer season at every opportunity, he freezes to death. He is brave, but vulnerable.	Read review
Push Square	Liam Croft	8 / 10	12-02-2019	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.	Read review
SECTOR.sk	Ján Kordoš	9 / 10	01-07-2020	This is simple story about life, but with great narrative style.	Read review
SpazioGames	Domenico Musicò	8.3 / 10	12-02-2019	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.	Read review
TechRaptor	Jeffrey Lerman	9.5 / 10	12-02-2019	Arise: A Simple Story tells a charming narrative with a beautiful atmosphere in both its design and soundtrack. Controlling the progression of time forward and backward is frequently used in unique ways to keep gameplay delightful.	Read review
The Digital Fix	Seb Hawden	8 / 10	12-03-2019	Arise: A Simple Story, while being a simple game, has an immense amount of things going for it. Its time manipulation mechanic is well implemented and makes you want to explore each stage thoroughly. Its beautiful, soothing and very well made. I am sure most players will find something they like about this quirky little title, I for one, found a lot to like about it.	Read review
The Games Machine	Mario Baccigalupi	8.4 / 10	12-02-2019	Arise: A Simple Story is a puzzle platform game with a soul. It’s a beautiful and touching trip through the emotions of the protagonist and the player. Even if short and without words, Arise can say a lot to the heart.	Read review
TrueGaming	Unknown	8.5 / 10	12-03-2019	Arise: A Simple Story is a success, it is a great experience with heartwarming story and beautiful melodies. recommended.	Read review
Video Chums	A.J. Maciejewski	8 / 10	12-04-2019	Those who enjoy 3D platformers with a twist will love their time with Arise: A Simple Story and its gorgeous world.	Read review
Wccftech	Nathan Birch	6.5 / 10	12-02-2019	Arise: A Simple Story is a beautiful, moving experience I couldn’t stop swearing at. The game delivers a lovely yarn and some clever level design, but clunky controls and an infuriating camera leave this platformer stranded in purgatory. Arise’s story may be worth your time, but only if you’re the patient type. Simple as that.	Read review

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Game Info

Game Description / Storyline:

Set out on an emotional journey through the bittersweet lives of two people where memories come alive and time bends to your will. Lose yourself in moments of happiness and overcome every hardship as you relive your life’s story. A story of joy and sorrow. A simple story.

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