A few decade in the past, Rooster Tooth launched a brand new anime net collection referred to as RWBY, which went on to spawn a fairly profitable media franchise. But—except for a moderately unlucky hack ‘n’ slash sport that bombed—RWBY’s solely illustration in video video games consisted of a handful of cell video games and cameo appearances. In an effort to alter this, a brand new venture referred to as RWBY: Arrowfell was introduced in 2020, led by WayForward and Arc System Works. Now, practically two years on, the sport has lastly seen a launch and, nicely… it’s alright. These ready for the RWBY collection to lastly get an incredible online game adaptation will simply must preserve ready, however RWBY: Arrowfell continues to be a good, if flawed, sport.
RWBY: Arrowfell is about someday within the seventh quantity of the anime, simply after Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang have turn into formally licensed huntresses. Whereas fulfilling quests whereas seeking to make a reputation for themselves, they quickly encounter a mysterious navy expertise that appears to draw Grimms and get caught up in a broader conspiracy as they examine its origins. It’s not a very riveting story, nevertheless it gives simply sufficient incentive to maintain you engaged, buoyed partly by absolutely voice-acted cutscenes at key story beats that mimic the animation model of the present. These of you with no background in RWBY could also be a bit misplaced generally as to how varied characters and organizations are associated to one another, however the narrative is stored easy sufficient that issues don’t get too complicated.
RWBY: Arrowfell is an action-platformer that reminded us fairly a little bit of the Shantae video games, however the gimmick right here is that you may swap between any of the 4 starring ladies at will. Every of them has their very own distinct weapon loadouts and particular expertise, the latter of that are additionally used to unravel simplistic environmental puzzles. Ruby, for instance, has a horizontal sprint that makes her quickly invincible in fight and may also be used to cross gaps the opposite ladies can’t. Blake, then again, can summon a shadow clone that assaults when she does and may also be used to overwhelm switches to open doorways.
Although we appreciated that every woman feels sufficiently differentiated from the subsequent, we additionally felt that there’s a lacking mechanic right here to incentivize utilizing the entire staff extra usually. When you’ve settled on a staff member with weapons that fit your playstyle, there’s actually no level in switching to the others apart from for the sake of selection. This then has the impact of decreasing the opposite three staff members to ‘keys’ that you just sometimes pull out to unlock an obstruction within the surroundings after which toss again within the drawer for later use. Having one thing like a combo system that favored switching mid-battle or sure enemies that sustained extra harm from particular members of the staff would’ve been extra helpful on this regard.
To offer a way of character progress, every woman may be improved by way of a collection of ability factors which can be discovered or purchased all through the world that may be invested in stats like melee assault harm and protection. We admired the try at depth discovered within the ability system, however discovered that it, too, incentivizes sticking to only one member of the staff. It doesn’t take all that lengthy to max out one staff member’s stats, and doing so then places you at a notable benefit over most enemies you encounter. Having a very good purpose to unfold your factors round and use the entire staff would’ve been welcome right here, as selecting to take action of your individual accord quantities to a self-imposed handicap.
The moment-to-moment gameplay follows a strong, if unremarkable tackle motion platforming, as you run by way of frozen caves and futuristic cities carving up dangerous guys and fulfilling extra fetch quests for NPCs. Fight is snappy, however a bit easy, and it feels oddly balanced. For instance, utilizing a ranged assault prices a piece of your vitality bar and this bar additionally depletes if you take harm. If it empties, you lose a coronary heart and in the event you lose all of your hearts, you die. Bringing your self to demise’s door simply to fireplace off a couple of photographs is rarely price it, so we discovered ourselves barely utilizing ranged assaults.
Moreover, each woman shares the identical vitality bar and coronary heart pool, which suggests switching is disincentivized provided that the woman you’ve invested probably the most ability factors in will be capable to recuperate vitality a lot sooner. No matter who you play as, it’s nonetheless satisfying to slice and bounce your method by way of phases, however there’s once more a lacking piece right here that feels sorely wanted.
Stage design in RWBY: Arrowfell follows a wide-linear format that’s paying homage to Metroidvanias, however a bit extra restricted in scope. Quite than one huge, interconnected map, self-contained ranges are unlocked and may be chosen from a world map in any order of your alternative. Every stage has a couple of pathways radiating out in both course and you may discover these to seek out chests containing ability factors or key objects wanted to progress the story. The extent design is okay, however there’s a essential lack of fascinating stage hazards and obstacles to distinguish every stage from the subsequent. The shortage of a map perform could make navigating some ranges extra tedious than it must be; not one of the ranges are massive sufficient so that you can get utterly misplaced, however there have been a couple of occasions once we discovered ourselves meandering round a bit a lot as a result of we couldn’t discover the one hallway wanted to make progress.
In case you haven’t gathered so far, RWBY: Arrowfell is the type of sport that has all the fitting items, but fails to place them collectively in addition to it might—it’s like a runner within the lead in a monitor occasion tripping a couple of yards earlier than the end line and dropping all their momentum. You’re given 4 characters with distinct playstyles and talents, however not a very good purpose to truly use all of them. You have got melee and ranged choices in fight, however are punished for utilizing certainly one of them an excessive amount of. Levels are well-stocked with goodies and are supposed to be explored, however you’re not given a map to navigate with.
RWBY: Arrowfell has loads of good traits, the issue is that just about all of these traits include some kind of qualifier or caveat. It’s definitely not a foul sport by any means, nevertheless it’s moderately irritating to see how a couple of easy tweaks and changes to some gameplay techniques might’ve led to a significantly extra pleasing expertise.
From a presentation standpoint, RWBY: Arrowfell does a very good job of adapting the visible model of the anime. The whole lot seems to be working on some model of the two.5D engine WayForward utilized in initiatives like Ducktales: Remastered and Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, which seems good in movement. Although it makes use of largely 3D fashions, the type of outlining demonstrated on this artwork model makes many characters and enemies look 2D. The one disadvantage right here is that we didn’t notice any situations of a body charge that rose above 30FPS, whereas some busier sequences received a bit uneven because it dipped under that. Additional, surroundings design generally will get a bit samey—you possibly can solely run by way of so many snow-covered caves and tundras earlier than they begin to mix collectively.
Conclusion
RWBY: Arrowfell is a effective sufficient sport, nevertheless it additionally feels just like the type of factor you would possibly’ve found on Newgrounds again when Flash video games had been common. Components just like the shallow fight and tacked-on ability level system don’t really feel correctly fleshed out, and repetitive environments and bland stage design are inclined to get tiresome because the marketing campaign wears on. We’d give this sport a light-weight advice in the event you’re a giant fan of Wayforward’s different work in 2D motion video games and are in search of one thing in that vein, however even then, you might need to watch for a sale right here. There are definitely a lot, a lot worse video games than RWBY: Arrowfell to be discovered on the Change eShop, however we predict your money and time are higher spent on, nicely, higher video games.
