Platforms:
PC, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, PS5, Mac
Released:
July 25, 2024
Publishers:
Furniture & Mattress, Netflix
Developer:
Furniture & Mattress
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure is a role-playing puzzle adventure game developed and published by Furniture and Mattress. The game is the studio’s very first title, and the team includes members who have previously worked on well-known releases like Braid, Celeste, Per Aspera, and Carto.
In Arranger, you play as Jemma, a young girl who is struggling to find her place among the other residents in her town. Determined to find her place in the world, she sets off on a journey beyond the town’s borders, all the while at risk of being harmed by ‘the static’, a strange force that threatens to corrupt everything in its path and which produces monsters that Jemma will have to take on in combat. Without wanting to spoil anything, it’s safe to say that over the course of her journey, Jemma not only finds out more about what causes the static within the game’s world, but also discovers that she holds special powers that can influence things around her.
What immediately sets Arranger apart visually are the traversal mechanics within the Arranger world. The game takes place on a grid of rows that can move from left to right, or from top to bottom. To move Jemma (or any other characters) across the map, you’ll have to move rows accordingly. Moving a row will not only make Jemma jump forward, but it will also make anything on the same row move in tandem with her. Because of this, you’ll encounter both explicit puzzles at core moments of the story and incidental environmental puzzles in a range of different locations.
“…the game expands on Arranger’s core mechanics with ease and elegance.”
While gameplay on an interconnected grid may sound complicated, the developers have done a wonderful job at utilising Arranger’s visuals to create a sense of cohesion for the player, and it’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into the design processes of the puzzles. While the core puzzle mechanics may take players a moment to understand, both the story and the game’s beautiful hand-drawn art are engineered to make the player grasp the nuts and bolts of Arranger’s gameplay quickly and easily. For example, in the very early stages of the game, set in Jemma’s hometown, you’ll encounter a character standing on a ladder. As soon as you move the row that they’re on, the ladder will break and the character will tumble down, scolding Jemma in the process. This is just one of many similar story moments; it onboards players in an organic way, eliminating the need for laborious in-game tutorials.
Similarly, the difficulty of the puzzles scales gradually. At first, you’ll be getting used to Jemma moving through the world, then you’ll be moving objects, and before long you’ll be taking on monsters created by the static in complex combat puzzles and moving across water on rafts while catching fish. In this way, the game expands on its core mechanics with ease and elegance. Key to this is that characters, monsters, and objects affected by the static cannot be moved by shifting rows. When something is affected by static, it’ll be covered in a pinkish hue, indicating that it will function as an obstacle within a puzzle. In this sense, the puzzle design and the story work well in tandem; it’s clear that the development team have invested time in working out the story world alongside the game’s core puzzles. Added to this, chapters in the story are usually punctuated by a short scene consisting of several colourful images, all hand-drawn by the team’s artist David Hellman. Not only does this give the player some beautifully vibrant images to look at, it also deepens the story without needing any additional dialogue.
The game’s dialogue, however, could do with some polishing. At times, some of the conversations between Jemma and other characters – whether it’s people she meets in her town or during her journey – feel stilted, and characters sometimes come off as being a little too harsh. Especially in the beginning of the game, having characters like the village mayor not remember her name, even though she’s lived there her whole life, feels unrealistic. That said, though, it’s a minor gripe for an otherwise well-crafted and thought-provoking game.
In addition to this, for hardcore puzzle fans, Arranger may not offer an adequate level of challenge. This is a game that offers gentle, relaxing brainteasers, perfect for unwinding after a busy workday. Arranger will also be a good fit for younger players, and if things get too tricky, there is an assist mode that allows players to skip certain puzzles and turn on quest markers to provide additional hints and context.
8
Great
Positive:
- Original puzzle mechanics
- Beautiful hand-drawn graphics
- Easy to understand while still offering a challenge
- Good fit for younger players
Negative:
- Dialogue feels stilted in places
- Not necessarily a good match for hardcore puzzle fans
Players who enjoy casual puzzle titles are sure to find something to love in Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure. With its beautifully hand-drawn world and original puzzle mechanics, Arranger offers a compelling story world with engaging puzzles that are great for puzzle fans, both young and old. The world’s grid system creates a novel way to interact with engaging puzzles while also expanding on the story world. If you’re looking for a hardcore puzzle challenge, Arranger might not be for you, however, if you’re looking for a casual experience with colourful graphics to boot, Arranger will be a great fit for your library.
About the Author
Checkpoint Staff
