Emerge: A simple story is a narrative game with a difference. It tells an emotional, human story, but unlike many “walking sims” in which I walk from one chapter to the next, it requires skill and perseverance.
The game turns out from the first scene as an action game. It almost begins as a tribute to the journey. A lonely figure on a hill. A radiant light on a mountain peak in the distance. The sound of a sad, clanking piano and sad strings. These have become known tropes in the genre of narrative exploded over the last decade.
The character we see is an old man from before agriculture, obviously a beloved tribal leader. He is dead. His body has just been cremated and he is in the snow-covered highlands of the afterlife. So begins a pilgrimage on which he travels the most important memories of his life.
Each level of the game is themed and dedicated to a part of his life, beginning with early childhood. He travels through a landscape of memories accompanied by a girl (and then a woman) who has been his partner all his life. Like many couples, they face their triumphs and tragedies. Their story is often touching and over time I can empathize with the old man who faces the inconvenience of life and life.
A pretty section about teenagers in ArisePiccolo Studio / Techland
I move through this 3D world, jumping mainly from one platform to the next, be it over icy mountain ledges, pond lilies or branches. Often platforms have to be revealed or placed by moving the time back and forth a few seconds. Each level plays with this basic idea.
During a level, our hero recalls how he has led his people to a new home. You enter a steep gorge when an earthquake occurs. He manipulates the resulting damage to create a safe path forward. When a tree falls, it freezes it in time and uses it as a bridge. We see that he was a man of action. He protected those in his care.
There is much to admire here
On another level, I constantly switch between late autumn and winter’s depths and control the old man as he crosses rivers and lakes. Ice floes can only be used as platforms in extreme cold. But if he does not jump back to the warmer time of year on every occasion, he’ll freeze to death. He is brave but vulnerable.
These time travel puzzles are consistently satisfying, neither too difficult nor too easy, with a lot of variety.
The physical platform mechanics of the game is less successful. This is one of those games that requires extreme precision in jumping. I’m a patient player so I do not mind taking the time to make a difficult jump or a series of jumps. Nevertheless, I found some sections of the game annoying. I knew what I wanted to do, but a mix of overly demanding placement precision and multi-button controls sometimes made the whole experience irritating and repetitive.
Emerge: In a simple story, a fixed camera is used, flying around while jumping, which adds to the frustration. At the beginning of the game, I kept pressing the right thumb pad automatically so as not to move the camera. With many combination jumps, my gaze shifted from the back to the side. It is disoriented and often difficult to estimate the distances required to jump.
The section of Arise on reproduction is amazing, Piccolo Studio / Techland
This means that successful progress depends heavily on trial and error. I learn a lot about how to progress through dying. This gives the game some play flow and joy, which is a pity, because there is a lot to admire here.
I particularly like how the different levels are imbued with a beauty reminiscent of the different stages of human life. The level of teenage romance is dizzy and happy, like a Disney production from the 1950s. The reproductive level is positive fallopian tubes and floats with reproductive symbolism. The later levels show age with admirable tenderness. Arise is a pretty game and is not afraid to load his pictures with weight and universal meaning.
When I arrive at the end of the story – it may have taken eight hours – I forgive his frustration. Mechanically Arise offers fascinating puzzles for time processing and a faulty platform system. In addition, it is a moving narrative that examines the course of human life and the meaning of camaraderie. It reminds me to value the loved ones in my life.
Emerge: A simple story is available on December 3 for PlayStation 4, Windows PC through the Epic Store and Xbox One.
Emerge: A simple story was reviewed on Xbox One with a retail download code provided by Techland. For more information about Polygon’s Ethics Policy, click here.