Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure Review: Beautifully Arranged
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure might be a mouthful of a title, but every word earns its place. The first thing you’ll notice about this debut game from developer Furniture & Mattress is the method of movement. While most characters would simply walk around the map, the protagonist in Arranger moves the world around them, shifting up or down, left or right along rows and columns. As you might be able to imagine, this makes even just navigating around the starting village into a kind of puzzle. Plus, when she shifts the map it doesn’t just move her, it moves the other objects and people in that row or column as well, which can lead to mayhem.
Thankfully, this isn’t just a strange quirk of movement that goes unacknowledged within the game, it’s actually the main catalyst for the adventure. The protagonist, Jemma, feels like an outsider because her way of moving around the world causes problems for other people. She knocks the mayor off of their ladder, she can’t leave home without moving the refrigerator across the room, and no one else in the village moves in the same way that she does. Feeling the need to explore the world beyond her home village, the game begins with Jemma preparing to leave, which also happens to be another thing that no one has ever done. So already, right from the start, the puzzle and the adventure naturally intertwine.
Villagers are afraid to leave because of a phenomenon called “static” which forms into strange monsters that block paths with clumps of purple goo. The Hold, a device that is revered by people, is supposed to keep the static away, but it doesn’t seem to be doing all that great a job lately. Jemma fights the static monsters not by engaging directly in combat, but by shifting a sword into the monster’s space. This works well for most static monsters, but there are larger threats out in the world beyond the village.
The Puzzle
The last detail of the game’s movement that I neglected to share so far, is that when reaching the edge of a space, Jemma, and any objects in that space, simply shift to the opposite side. This is key to solving many puzzles, especially when an immovable object blocks the middle of a path. Arranger’s mechanics are so unique and original that it’s difficult to describe them in writing. It’s the kind of puzzle game that will slowly change the way you think about movement as you progress, and that is truly the best way to understand it. Thankfully, Furniture & Mattress also supplied me with some handy gifs to help showcase things:
Throughout Arranger the puzzle mechanics are explored in many different ways, from moving rafts across a lake to shooting grappling hooks across a desert. Static might be the main enemy Jemma encounters, but there are plenty of other roadblocks. Angry pointy creatures stick out of the ground, mechanical birds keep everyone inside, and a strange flock of sheep escapes their stable. These are not the kinds of roadblocks that can be dealt with by moving a sword around.
Jemma doesn’t pick up items like a normal video game character would. Sheep need to be moved back into their stable and cactus and other debris needs to be cleared for the grappling hook to reach the right area. Keys are not held in hand, but instead shifted into the locked door. Navigating yourself around an area is one thing, but figuring out how to move important items along with you adds another level of challenge and complexity. While I would not say that Arranger will completely stump you and frustrate you, there are moments of mind-bending difficulty later on in the game. Usually, it just takes looking at the problem from a different angle and a sudden moment of realization that you wish you had thought of fifteen minutes ago.
The Adventure
Most puzzle games lean towards a linear game structure. The player must solve each puzzle in turn before moving on to the next. But Arranger is more than a puzzle game. It’s also A Role-Puzzling Adventure. Once Jemma is outside the starting village, there is a varied and complex world to explore. There are the primary quests that push the story forward, but there are also optional side-missions with unique puzzles to solve. I highly recommend exploring these optional paths because some of them introduce engaging mechanics that won’t come up anywhere else. Most of them also involve memorable supporting characters that you won’t want to miss.
At the heart of the overall narrative is the protagonist, Jemma. In searching for answers about who she is and why she can do the things she can, it’s nearly impossible for her to avoid helping people out. Everywhere she goes, her method of shifting the world around her ends up helping more than it hurts. I won’t give too many specifics away, but Jemma has a simple yet well-executed character arc. She starts as the peculiar oddball from her small village and ends up a traveling hero who saves more than just a few other villages.
The world showcased in Arranger is so much more than a blank canvas to be filled with puzzles. Venturing from one biome to the next feels like a true adventure. Jemma has a moment to breathe as she shifts along, and the camera zooms out to show the scale of the world and the landscape around her. Then, it zooms back in as she arrives at the next location. The transitional journeys between these plot points may not have the same challenge, but they are just as enjoyable as the puzzles.
Bringing It All Together
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure does so much right. The puzzles are challenging, creative, and continually push the limits of the mechanics. The adventure is heartfelt, cleverly written, and meaningful. But something that maybe impresses me the most about this game, is how both puzzle and adventure come together so smoothly. This is not an adventure game accompanied by a few puzzles or a puzzle game with a loose adventure added on. Every moment of the experience brings both genres together.
Solving puzzles is an enjoyable mental challenge, but it is also satisfying the story and the characters. Jemma isn’t just a randomly smart character who can solve these issues, her abilities make her particularly able to find solutions. Solving these puzzles is rewarding because each one is a step towards Jemma understanding her significance and role in the world.
The world of Arranger is so strange and wonderful. It’s full of odd characters that are overflowing with personality. Between the game’s art style, clever dialogue, and ridiculously memorable NPCs, I could spend much longer than the six or seven hours it took me to complete this game exploring this beautifully arranged world.
Conclusion
I struggle to find complaints with Arranger: A Role Puzzling Adventure. This is an excellent game, and unless you have a distaste for puzzles or just don’t vibe with this game’s style, I have a hard time imagining you not loving this game. I played through Arranger on the Nintendo Switch, which I highly recommend for the mobility and larger screen, but this game is also available on mobile devices through Netflix. Simply download the app for free and then log in with your Netflix account when launching the game. Arranger joins another of my favorites, Terra Nil, as being part of this ever-growing (and impressive) Netflix game catalog.
Arranger is the debut title from developer Furniture & Mattress, which if you think is a strange name for a developer try finding them on Google to write about them. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be getting ads for mattresses on Instagram for the next month. But all of that aside, the team members at Furniture & Mattress have some great indie experience under their belts, working on great games like Carto, Celeste, Braid, ETHEREAL, and Guacamelee! 2. But even though they have been in the indie games scene for a while, I am still very impressed that Arranger is the debut title of their collaboration, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.
This combo puzzle and adventure game is one I wish I could replay again for the first time. It’s got a great sense of humor and the strangest cast of characters I’ll never be able to forget. Give me a sequel so I can have this experience again!
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure is out now and is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC via Steam, and Mobile via Netflix.