Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure - Move the world under your feet to solve puzzles in this review
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure is an addicting first indie game from gaming studio Furniture & Mattress.
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This year’s Steam Next Fest showcased some of the best demos I’ve played in recent memory, including SCHiM, Flock, and Thank Goodness You’re Here. Today, we are focusing on one of these amazing games: Arranger: A Puzzle-Solving Adventure.
The new studio Furniture & Mattress's first title is a great start to what I hope will be a lengthy and successful journey. While nothing is guaranteed, it's hard not to be excited about their future when you look at the studio's co-founders: Nico Recabarren, creator of Ethereal; lead writer Nick Suttner, Director of Publishing at Panic; David Hellman, artist of Braid; and Tomás Batista, handling audio and soundtrack of Ethereal.
Speaking of David Hellman, the visual style of Arranger reminded me of another game, but I couldn't figure it out until I realized it was Braid. The resemblance is clear when comparing the protagonists' artwork from both games. I added the phone above for reference.
Paths Ahead
Arranger begins as Jemma wakes up to a big day. She is leaving her quaint little town for a grand adventure, as most RPGs start. However, the game is described as an RPG, but not in the traditional sense. The protagonist never upgrades a weapon or even wields one. There is no mana to spend, nor energy or stamina to use up. Instead, she uses her wit and charm to get around and meet new people along the way.
Jemma’s Path
Typically in puzzle games, you move blocks around, but in Arranger, you move the tiles you stand on as rows or columns, up and down, right and left, even moving from one side to the opposite. This provides more options for solving puzzles, and even when I felt completely stumped, the solution was often just one movement away.
You might ask how a roughly six-hour gameplay can avoid becoming a chore. This is where one of the game's best qualities shines: the dialogue with each new character is humorous and uplifting, keeping the game moving at a steady pace.
Sights and Sounds
Arranger features a 2-D hand-drawn style. The cinematics transition into dramatic painted stills that progress the events, unveiled image by image like a comic book. One of the boss battles culminates in a painted vision of the boss, almost like a poster ready for your wall or a perfect t-shirt wink wink—please make that.
Batista, being the audio and soundtrack lead, had full control over the game's soundscape. Each action, from movement to interacting with obstacles, was complemented by a well-crafted soundtrack. The songs flowed in and out of each area, doing a sort of dance with the game and player. Even the most difficult puzzles kept my nerves calm, thanks to the soothing music.
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure (Original Videogame Soundtrack) by Tomás Batista
My review of the soundtrack:
The whole soundtrack is a carefully woven soundscape pulling you in and out of the world of Arranger. The Merritton Beat is a personal fave that has many shifts in styles even reminiscent of Radiohead's album Amnesiac. A pure delight from start to finish. Favorite track: The Merritton Beat.
Right now Tomás Batista has an insane 90% off sale where you can get his whole discography for as low as $2.90 USD. This includes the newly released soundtrack for Arranger. It’s an brilliant collection of work. Do not miss this deal.
Tomas Batista - Arranger A Role-Puzzling Adventure (Original Videogame Sountrack)
Mr. Help
Jemma meets many characters who guide and assist her when she cannot continue. From an inventor whose delivery robot birds have made a community lazy and uninspired, to a nightclub filled with vain attendees, it’s Jemma who truly stands out. My personal favorite was Mr. Help, who ultimately does nothing of the sort but provides some of the biggest laughs in the game.
Missing Tiles
From personal experience, I’m not the best at puzzle games. I easily get frustrated and need to walk away, but thanks to accessibility options, you can skip a puzzle if it’s too difficult. Out of the many puzzles, I only used this option twice.
The only downside is that I want to replay those puzzles now that I have beaten the main game, but to do so, I would have to replay the entire game. I hope they update the game to allow selecting individual puzzles, but for now, I don’t mind giving the game a second playthrough.
Arranged
It took me roughly six hours to complete the game, which is a sweet spot I enjoy. Being a dad and having a six-year-old can make gaming tough, so indie titles between 1-10 hours are perfect.
I don’t have many puzzle games to compare it to, but I can say it has piqued my interest, and I now feel more confident when browsing games in the puzzle category. In bigger AAA titles, I often find puzzles frustrating when all I want to do is explore new areas and fight bosses.
Arranger is another example of an indie title not afraid to be uniquely itself. In the four years of development, Furniture & Mattress have presented a fresh new IP with beautiful art direction, a charming soundtrack, and a new type of puzzle-solving game mechanic.
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure is now available on PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC, and iOS/Android through Netflix. The game was reviewed on a Rog Ally which it plays on beautifully with a download code supplied by Popagenda through Furniture & Mattress.
So, what you think? Will you pick up the game or if you have already let me know what you think in the comments. As always, GG!
🔗Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure | Steam | PS5 | Nintendo | Netflix | Soundtrack
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