Arco

We've seen countless times games with relatively simple graphical profiles still manage to create emotional, resonant narratives. Celeste, Axiom Verge, and more recently Animal Well not only do a lot with very little, but beyond that, the sparse aesthetic detail becomes almost a strength.

Arco, like the aforementioned examples, doesn't have much real graphical detail to boast about. This is barely 8-bit (although the specific terminology escapes me), and although the contrasting colours are heightened and the slightly isometric perspective frames beautiful, breath-taking surroundings, it's again about saying a lot with very little.

Arco is divided into a number of distinct gameplay forms that together form a rather ambitious western tale of revenge, faith and man's infallible ability to destroy. The game consists of three distinct narratives, each set in a fictional western world heavily inspired by South America. Thick moustaches, ponchos, invasive people slaughtering fauna and harvesting flora, and gruesome tales of burning villages peppered with supernatural longings. It's a typical western vibe, but with the unpredictability of the fictional, and although the dialogue is delivered in writing via text bubbles, in true RPG style you shape your own path through the conversations, and partly through that create your own narrative touch.

More practically, you move in point-and-click-based open world (where each point is its own little slide) via a 2D perspective from a raised, slightly isometric angle. Here you talk to others, buy supplies and take on side missions, often leading to some form of confrontation. Here, Arco switches gears and presents its battles via a fairly free turn-based format. You can see what each enemy is going to do next turn, and you can choose to move or use an ability. The whole dance is then finding a balance between avoiding enemy fire and embarking on a more aggressive strategy. There is a relatively rudimentary skill tree that gradually gives access to new abilities, and there is even the possibility of fairly easy buildcrafting, as your talent points can be distributed in several different places.

The combat system is somewhat rigid, sure, there's a battle state and then there's everything else, and while these exchanges of fire can be frantic, exciting and intense, this rather linear relationship between the game's components is a bit inhibiting, especially considering that Arco is not a short game as such.

No, what really sets Arco apart from the indie clutter is the resonant narrative, that the game manages to get the player invested in these ephemeral characters living in a world of infinite natural beauty that is then repeatedly ruined by greed, by revenge, and even though the dialogue exchanges are relatively short, it is believable throughout. As with Celeste, it's still impressive how little it takes beyond this blurred outline of the character and what they're telling you as a player to get you immensely invested, and this happens from the first moment and lasts all the way to the credits.

Neither the simplistic graphics nor the classic (or clichéd, depending on how tolerant you are) are a hindrance to Arco - quite the opposite. This game is beautiful to look at, runs like a dream and oozes unique personality whether you're looking out over the digital prairie or gunning down three enemies in the most western of ways. That's not to say that the game doesn't stumble here and there. Through the ambition to present a kind of odyssey, a journey for each of the three characters that make up the anthology, there are little distractions to reinforce the idea of freedom, of the player's possibilities, but it almost always rings hollow. There's a fishing minigame, side missions that are almost always forgettable and shops that almost always "just" sell food and drinks that give health points or the game equivalent of mana or action points. These half-baked systems are not inherently flawed, but appear as unnecessary fat around a far more entertaining core.

Make no mistake though; Arco is well worth your time, and along with Thank Goodness You're Here just a few weeks ago, it proves that publisher Panic really has an eye for unique indie experiences. Not only that, but this game is apparently developed by only a few individuals, proving that great games can be made within a much narrower framework. Give it a shot. Pun intended.