As far as titles are concerned, Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure pretty much hits the nail on the head. There is something undeniably nostalgic about this game. In many ways, it reminded me of the old sliding block puzzles that I’d sometimes play with as a kid. You know the ones. You’d often find them in a party goody bag or as a freebie in a magazine. I’d all but forgotten about them, if I’m being honest, but Arranger brought the memory back.
As you’ve probably guessed, Arranger is a role-playing puzzle adventure game that marks the debut of Furniture & Mattress LLC. It’s available for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and mobile if you have an active Netflix subscription.
Story
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure tells the story of a young girl named Jemma on her quest for self-discovery. After being left on a doorstep as a baby by a tearful woman, presumably her mother, Jemma is taken in and cared for by a woman named Susie. She grows up in a small, cosy town where everyone knows each other, but she doesn’t seem to fit in. She’s a bit of a misfit who accidentally brings trouble wherever she goes. Jemma doesn’t just move; she moves the world with her, much to the annoyance of some of the town’s other residents. I can’t say I exactly blame them, though. It must be pretty frustrating getting moved around or knocked off your ladder whenever she’s around.
Eventually, Jemma decides it’s time to set off in search of answers about who she is and what she can do. Her only clue is the scrap of cloth she was wrapped in as a baby and the symbol it displays. As she travels, Jemma makes new friends and comes up against a mysterious and immovable static force that tries to halt her progress.
Gameplay
In terms of gameplay, Arranger makes use of an integrated grid. When Jemma moves, the entire row or column moves with her, shifting her environment. The grid works on a loop. If Jemma walks off one end of the screen, she reappears on the other, assuming there’s nothing blocking her.
For the most part, objects in her path will simply be shifted as she moves, but certain static-infected objects won’t budge, so you’ll have to be more clever if you want to get around them. This is where the puzzle element of Arranger comes into play. Considering the basic principle of Arranger’s gameplay is simple enough and rather barebones in terms of mechanics – there’s no inventory, skills, or anything like that – there is a surprising amount of variation.
From shearing sheep and fighting static monsters to solving laser puzzles and pairing up animals, there’s enough variation to keep things both interesting and challenging. The lack of inventory means that rather than picking up important items, you’ll have to shift them around the screen to the correct place to use them. This applies to things like keys or the swords needed to vanquish the static monsters in the way. You just push them over to the chest or monster and let them do their job. It’s a good job there are so many swords lying around right where you need them. Probably a little dangerous though.
There weren’t many boss fights in Arranger, but each one requires a different approach. I won’t go into detail since I don’t want to spoil them, but this variation keeps things from getting repetitive.
The beauty of this game lies within its simplicity. The puzzles were well thought out, and there were a few sections that really stumped me for a while, only for me to facepalm at how simple the solution actually was once I’d solved it. None of the puzzles were particularly difficult because, as I’ve already said, they make use of the same gameplay mechanics. They do often require some out-of-the-box thinking though, which was something I really enjoyed.
Arranger is pleasantly accessible too. I was reluctant to use it for the purpose of this review, but there is an assist button that you can enable in the settings. This adds a white square to the grid that you can interact with if you’re struggling, essentially allowing you to bypass a particular puzzle and move on to the next. You can’t use it for all the puzzles or to skip important boss fights, but it’s a handy feature. Nothing is more frustrating than being stuck on one puzzle for hours at a time, after all. It can make you want to give up on a game completely.
Final Thoughts
If I were to sum up Arranger: Role-Puzzling Adventure in a couple of words, it would be short and sweet. It’s a cute game with a heartfelt message, charming presentation, and a uniquely challenging gameplay loop. It took me about seven hours to complete, and that was with me completing some of the optional temples. To experience everything the game has to offer, you’re probably looking at closer to eight or nine hours. I think that for this sort of game, that’s a pretty decent runtime. If it had been any shorter, I would have been disappointed. If it had been any longer, I would have probably gotten bored. It’s just unfortunate that there isn’t too much replay value.
Developer: Furniture & Mattress LLC
Publisher: Furniture & Mattress LLC
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 25th July 2024
