Arcadia Fallen Review
Release Date: November 17th, 2021
Developer: Galdra Studios
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch (TBA)
Price: $24.99
When it comes to excellent storytelling, you need to have the right formula put together that complements, heightens, and accentuates all the moving cogs of a machine that can most comfortably get you from the first page to the last in a captivating and immersive fashion, whether it's part of a book, script, lyrics for a song, or anything else that contains writing in any medium. Visual novels have always beautifully blended the interactive arts with the core focus of storytelling by providing an almost entirely illustrated sequence that typically but not always progresses line by line by the press of a button. A visual novel's biggest advantage to storytelling in a book-like format, however, is that it can be programmed any number of ways to include minigames, multiple routes, soundtracks, and more that create an all-encompassing recipe for one of the most elaborate and creative forms of conveying a narrative, and Arcadia Fallen certainly takes advantage of all aspects of the core visual novel design and philosophy with pride by having a little bit of everything to keep it engaging throughout. Most importantly, however, is that Arcadia Fallen has one of the most unique art directions I've seen in quite some time, while keeping me immersed throughout in what is undoubtedly an all-inclusive game that marks a fantastic debut title for the newly formed Galdra Studios that shows a bright future helmed by talent across the board. Arcadia Fallen has that sense of adventure and fantasy from its first line of dialogue to its last, and you can't help but get engrossed in its story as your journey with a great cast of characters that are deep and thoughtful, all of which play an important part to your story and how you weave it with the choices you make.
Arcadia Fallen sees players set foot in an immersive fashion right away by creating a character with a humble yet diverse set of choices to best represent themselves in the game, which already sets a tone that Arcadia Fallen is doing something different compared to other visual novels as characters are normally preset and customization, when available, is typically left to giving a name to the protagonist at most. Once they've settled on a look, the story sets the protagonist in a shop where potions and alchemical concoctions are created and sold, but not long after preparing your first remedy for a customer in need of medicine as a student to the owner of the shop, you'll find yourself on the verge of death once an altercation occurs as you attempt to save a spirit, binding you to them unintentionally. As this is not ideal for either party, you set out to find a way to detach from one another amidst a brooding war amidst humans and those that wield magic. Along your travels you'll meet others either fighting to live or for a cause that join you, creating an ensemble of cleverly and beautifully portrayed characters that come to life even further by the stellar acting presented by a cast that most will be familiar with from the critically acclaimed Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
The story does a good job at feeling coherent while simultaneously creating that sense of trepidation from everything that is happening from all sides, including human and supernatural, in a nice and tight five-to-six-hour experience that incentivizes multiple playthroughs thanks the myriad choices and responses you can make throughout. A really great thing Arcadia Fallen also does that's refreshing compared to other VNs is the fact that each response indicates the emotion and intent behind what's being said, so you can add a bit more personality to your character and act the way you actually want to act without selecting a choice that you *feel* is right, only to get an unwanted response or route to occur instead. Labels like Joking, Shy, Curious, Scared, and so on give better context to what's being said and how you want to say it, which makes progressing through Arcadia Fallen feel a lot more controlled and comfortable. It gives a sense of direction that the player can have and foresee to a degree, but also gives those extra playthroughs a bit more structure as you play around with the emotions and routes available to you and seeing how every character you meet along the way responds to certain personalities and responses.
One of the best parts of Arcadia Fallen outside of its narrative structure and gameplay is that virtually anyone can play it, as optimization is extremely well done and runs fluidly on every PC I've tried with various builds, including laptops unplugged (this method doesn't run games well as resources and power usage are brought to a minimum to increase battery life). The colors of its illustrations pop, text is displayed in a stylish box, and the overall presentation of the game - including its actual gameplay portion - is polished and strong, leaving an even bigger sense of satisfaction after playing and finishing Arcadia Fallen, whether you're on your first playthrough or your third. Its alchemical minigames, however, is the star of the show as this is what will really get you in the shoes of alchemist.
Utilizing the various ingredients you have at your disposal, during certain intervals of the game you'll be tasked to create a remedy, potions, bombs, and all other sorts of concoctions to help you on your travels, and doing so is a fairly easy task so long as you're paying attention to the accompanying symbols, all of which are applied across Venn diagram-like symbols that need to be mixed and matched a certain way to successfully. While trying to figure out what is essentially a small puzzle, ingredients - which are usually presented as multiple types of flowers - come together by selecting them, proceeded by turning the symbols in a certain order either left or right so that the center has all the necessary symbols in place to combine ingredients successfully. This isn't without risk, however, as much later with more volatile recipes and formulas can cause whatever you're working on to become ruined and have less than favorable effects, so it's good to be attentive at all times when doing them even well after you've upgraded your equipment for alchemy. I personally had a great time with these portions of the game, and though I wish there were more moments in which you did so, it made each one at least feel special, and you also felt accomplished by the end of each concoction as well.
From the get-go Arcadia Fallen feels like an all-inclusive experience that gives its eclectic cast of characters a chance to shine alongside the player's personally created avatar through excellently written dialogue and performances. There's no denying, however, that even with Arcadia Fallen's multiple endings that incentivize many playthroughs of its modest five-to-six-hour story, it's very much about the journey rather than the destination as the endings can feel rather abrupt, forced, or rushed, but with how grandiose its epic adventure is with its number of dialogue responses and actions that can occur, it's a fantastic time that you never really want to see come to a close. It's a fantastic new game in an ever evolving and surprising genre of visual novels that certainly sticks out within it, and it pleases me more that with a Nintendo Switch version on the way, an even wider audience will be able to enjoy it in the palm of their hands. Arcadia Fallen's blend of alchemic and magical fantasy weaved in with the politics of war make it a thrilling adventure and remains captivating throughout thanks to the strength of its dialogue and characters, and it further goes to show that a good story or game can be presented in any fashion so long as one enjoying the art has a bit of imagination.
PROS:
Wonderful art style
The actual interactive portions of the game are easy to pick up and well done
Its cast of characters make you feel part of the adventure with excellent voice acting and characterizations
Extremely easy to get invested in
CONS:
The music could be a little livelier, as it's rather forgettable (though this doesn't mean it's bad, just uninspired)
A big thank you to Galdra Studios for providing us a copy of Arcadia Fallen for the purposes of this review