Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure Review (PS5)

Jemma is a self-proclaimed mess of a person. Thanks to her unique way of getting around, with all tiles on the same row or column moving in step with her, she's always found it hard to fit in with those around her. Feeling limited by her quiet life among people who don't really understand her, it's no wonder her main goal is to venture out into the wider world and figure out where she belongs. Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure sets out exactly what it is from the off — a puzzle game, first and foremost, but structured around a sweet, whimsical tale.

It's a combination that works wonderfully. We love how the main mechanic — Jemma's slide puzzle-like movement — is woven directly into the narrative, and that most of the head-scratchers you come up against also advance the story.

As mentioned, all tiles in the same row or column as Jemma will move with her, which also means anything on those tiles move too. It's something that may take a minute to fully get used to, especially the wrap-around feature in which you pop out the opposite side of a grid when you walk into an edge, but it soon becomes intuitive. It's not an entirely new gameplay hook, but Arranger constantly finds fresh ways to play with its own rules, changing up the puzzles at a perfect pace throughout its 10-hour runtime.

Static is a major aspect of the story, but also the gameplay. Anyone or anything afflicted with static cannot be shifted with Jemma's motions, and this is just the first wrinkle in the game's brilliant design. Often, puzzles require you to defeat monsters by moving a sword into them, which will clear a bunch of static and allow you to continue. Your limited movement and carefully laid-out grids make for some wonderfully cerebral puzzle-solving, though the difficulty is never pushed to an extreme. If you do find yourself truly stumped, an assist lets you skip almost all puzzles in the game — a nice feature for those who are more interested in the adventure than the brain teasers.

There are many variations on the slide puzzle mechanic throughout the adventure, even going so far as to include a handful of boss fights. You'll encounter rafts that allow you to move along water, switches that need to be depressed with foot statues, grapple hooks that let you cross gaps between grids, and much more. All these added layers feel novel and ensure the adventure never gets stale, but never step over the line of making things too complex. It's a game that doesn't sit still — a design ethos that neatly matches one of the main themes of Arranger's story.

A large structure called the Hold is meant to be holding back the static that's infecting the world, but it isn't doing a very good job, and so people are finding themselves literally and metaphorically stuck. Jemma's curiosity and determination to learn more about herself (not to mention her odd navigational quirk) means she's a step ahead of most other characters. The supporting cast are broadly happy with their lot, content to settle wherever they lie. It's clear Arranger is a game about making the most of life, asking questions, and finding the things and the people that bring you happiness.

While that all sounds rather sensible, we should say the writing is mostly quite silly. This is a game not taking itself too seriously, aware of how absurd some of its own world rules are. Jemma is a great character always trying to do good by everyone she meets, and always trying to deliver dumb jokes that rarely land with them. It's not just her, though — there are lots of memorable moments and unusual characters that give the game a real goofball charm. The humour works, bringing a breezy, lighthearted tone to the game that lifts you up after some potentially tough puzzles.

One of our only real nitpicks with Arranger is that, after rolling credits, we still had one or two lingering narrative questions. It's a very enjoyable story that builds to a fun conclusion, but some details fade into the background, and we'd have loved for those loose ends to be tied up.

As well as all the puzzles throughout the main quest, you can find a number of optional challenges. These actually house some of the game's most inventive conundrums, featuring mechanics you won't see elsewhere. We don't want to spoil these, as they're some of our favourite parts of the whole game, but they're definitely worth seeking out as you explore the world.

On top of the constant new ideas and pleasant narrative, the game also looks and sounds lovely. The art style is painterly and colourful; it elevates a game that is, mostly, countless squares on a grid with some really attractive backdrops and detailed environmental elements. Some of the cutscenes, which are just a series of still images, are particularly pretty. Similarly, the music and audio is perfectly pitched, helping further that feeling of a bright and cheery adventure with some lovely acoustic guitar tracks and satisfying effects.