Having long ago discovered the truth that visual simplicity doesn’t necessarily indicate a lack of effort in terms of visual design and overall game quality, Arco didn’t take me too much by surprise, but it may well sneak up on others. With its effective combination of a great look, solid storytelling, and a pretty unique strategic twist it is an excellent starting point for people who haven’t yet had the revelation that indie games can deliver quality in a humble package at a reasonable price.

At a quick glance, it may seem simple to dismiss its somewhat chunky and low-res look, but if you stop for a moment to take it in there’s still a great deal of detail in its isometric and often quite colorful views. Back that up with solid storytelling across 3 different narratives, and then throw in some relatively simple but still often challenging strategic play that generally feels fresh, and you’ve got quite a package on your hands. I think it does help being set in the west, making for some impressive and wide open backdrops, but without it firing well on all cylinders the visual splendor may well have gone to waste.

The real meat of the title is the mixture of themes and experiences across the game’s 3 storylines, which I appreciated leaving some room to make a few choices, though ultimately how much they truly changed I wouldn’t be able to say. Regardless, they helped me to feel invested in each character and the challenging situations they found themselves in. Similarly, I thought the mode of strategy you need to engage in for combat was interesting, with you needing to keep an eye on your enemies and what they’re going to do on their next move, and then either trying to keep your distance or carefully move in to do some attacking. In particular, when you find yourself trying to tackle multiple enemies at once who are all in different directions it can really pose a challenge, but overall you feel just capable enough to manage the majority of the time. A pretty simple upgrade tree bringing you some extra oomph absolutely helps as well.

Put it all together, and this is a wonderful surprise of a game, delivering a mostly-unexpected experience and very effectively keeping my interest up. Considering this was apparently put together by a pretty small team, it’s one of those cases where it feels like they deserve to be commended for doing things their own way and putting some obvious heart into the experience. If you don’t mind a bit of strategic play, it’s absolutely worth a look.