Just last week, when I was supposed to be reviewing, I happened upon The Truman Show and made time to watch it. When I was younger, it was just another comedy from Jim Carrey, where he would overact and play his goofy self. As I got older, that movie became more frightening. The idea that your entire life was fake and that all your friends/family/love interests were actors was heavy as it was dark. That movie provides me with more sadness than laughs nowadays. I couldn’t imagine being that type of character in an empty world. Playing that character in a video game might be a bit different, though, if not scarier.
Welcome to American Arcadia from developer Out of the Blue Games S.L.! This game takes the concept of The Truman Show, sprinkles in a mix of The Running Man, and then adds some 70s flair to the entire experience. Getting fooled and running for freedom is the point of the game. Featuring a compelling story, some fantastic characters that only the creators of Kentucky Route Zero could be proud of, American Arcadia brings a frightening future to life fed by technology, the promise of good things, and the horror of reality.
So, get out those television trays out, pop that dinner in the oven, and let’s get ready for some boob tube entertainment of a review.
Not all is what it seems on television.
Trevor Hills has a tough job. He works a desk job for a huge corporation and maintains a day-to-day routine that is as unchanging as it is boring. One day, when coming to work, Trevor notices his workmate has gone on ‘vacation’. When his workmate doesn’t come back, Trevor gets concerned. He is soon contacted by a mysterious person named Angela, who pulls the veil from the world he lives in and introduces Trevor to the idea that everything he assumes about his perfect city of Arcadia is quite the opposite. Once Trevor uncovers the truth, he soon finds himself on the run from the authorities.
This story gave me some strong Truman Show vibes. It runs along the same lines where an audience is watching people play out their day-to-day lives, while being completely unaware that they are on a television show. The drama this narrative drums up goes beyond that Jim Carrey classic and turns a terrifying corner when one of the characters is tipped off about what is happening. That creates some very real suspense with a hefty side of thrill, all baked within a dark backdrop where you’re rooting for the main character to escape his confines. The gameplay bridges perfectly with this story, as you will want to get Trevor out of danger and have him see what’s at the end of that rainbow he is dying to get to in American Arcadia.
In short, the story is engaging, it hooks your attention immediately, and won’t let it go until the end. This is a story-driven game with a side of interactivity. And it works well this way.
Yay, story!
Gripping gameplay that does enough
While the narrative of American Arcadia is thick and at the forefront of the experience, the gameplay does a good job of complementing it with many different gameplay styles. Let’s explore them.
Platforming
The beginning of American Arcadia starts with an on-rails platforming adventure. When you move Trevor to and from locations, his character is stuck on an X-axis. While the distractions of the background help to take the player out of that ‘stuck’ experience, where Trevor can go and what he can access is restricted. For example, when you’re moving Trevor through Arcadia, he will access rooms, jump up on platforms in a Flashback set of movements, and won’t go beyond that X-axis barrier.
While that might sound incredibly dull, the decision to keep Trevor mostly on that axis throughout his adventure bodes well for the story. Since the story is so well-made and important to the adventure, not allowing players to go off the beaten path is essential for this game to work. Again, it’s story first, everything else second. Also, it seems to stand by the K.I.S.S. design, where you really must keep it simple, stupid. And it does keep things simple.
Where the platformer gets complicated is when Trevor is being chased. Most of what Trevor does in the gameplay is run away from security teams chasing him. While the beginning of that game starts straightforwardly, when Trevor must simply avoid obstacles on a flat gameplay plane, the platforming becomes more complicated as the story rolls.
At some point, the game throws at you multi-tier levels packed with decisions you must make quickly. It also throws in access to a security camera, through the help of secondary main character Angela, that you can use to turn on/off machinery to keep you separated from your chasers. For example, there is a wonderful transportation building chase that has Trevor climbing up levels and eventually making it to a walkway escalator. Through the security cameras/Angela, you can control the direction of those people movers while on the lam, while also trying to keep distance between Trevor and his captors. This process gets complicated quickly, and seeing the juggling act in motion, running and switching things on/off, makes the platforming a bit trickier. It goes beyond what a typical, old-school platformer would ask from you.
While the platforming aspect of the game started with some concern, especially in the ‘is this going to be boring?’ department, the devs cleverly designed obstacles and how to keep the suspense of Trevor’s escape as thrilling as possible on an X-axis design. I’m very impressed by the decisions they made with this game and how they kept it exciting. More importantly, I’m doubly impressed with how they took that gameplay and connected it so well with the story. When Trevor is on the run, the story runs with him. It’s a perfect fit.
Still some 3D
While most of the game is going to be that platforming viewpoint, the other important part of the story deals with his helper, Angela. The gameplay will occasionally switch from Trevor and get Angela’s point of view. To make this different, the devs made Angela’s portion of gameplay a first-person perspective. While the obvious art/gameplay decision of making Trevor’s old-school 70s world more platforming and Angela’s future of gaming a first-person view, the game feels like it has more variety than just being stuck in Trevor’s platforming point of view.
When you control Angela’s story, you get that full 3D, first-person immersiveness, as well as a different set of gameplay variations. For example, the first part of Angela’s story has her finding a way to take control of cameras in her tech office in hopes of fooling her boss into thinking she was not invading a server room in search of information. There is a small amount of espionage through this first mission, and figuring out tech, while also establishing the future world Angela lives and breathes. It also kickstarts and uncovers the conspiracy portion of the story by teasing the world that Angela lives in, which just makes everything so much thicker with narrative.
If that first part of Angela’s story wasn’t enough to convince you that her first-person view belongs, let me recount another moment of hers. There is another Angela scenario that carries more drama and adds complexity to the story experience. Angela gets a surprise home visit from her boss and must take down any evidence of helping Trevor out. There are several pieces of evidence lying across her two-story apartment, and she must race to take them down before her boss brute forces her locked front door. There is so much intensity involved with this mission, and it just adds to the story while upping the stakes. You have to discover the best pattern and way to hide evidence, which isn’t as simple as it sounds.
All these moments are done from a first-person perspective and share the stage with Trevor’s platforming, which creates a beautiful balance and identity between the characters. Changing up the gameplay to feature a first-person perspective also keeps the gameplay fresh and provides cognitive variety so that it doesn’t feel boring.
Simple puzzles that don’t get in the way
The in-between portions of gameplay with both characters are puzzles they run into. For the most part, puzzles are not difficult to circumvent, but they do come in a variety of flavors. And variety is always a good thing.
On Trevor’s side of the tracks, you will shift from suspense-thriller to straight-up ’90s Flashback. He will have to navigate multi-tier areas during the game that feature low lighting for level confusion, remedial puzzles like pushing a cart to access upper levels, or pushing a cart and trapping annoying robots in bathrooms. The game throws in simple puzzle actions that are mere obstacles rather than overly challenging moments. The devs seemed not to want players to get stuck anywhere, but they did want just a smidge of difficulty traversing areas. I can dig this, as someone who loves story more than gameplay. I get that the flow of the narrative is important, and disrupting that flow means you’re watering down the story experience and connection. By adding simple puzzles for Trevor’s portion of the game, you’re keeping him and the story moving.
On Angela’s side, her puzzles are a bit more complicated. For example, there is a puzzle where Angela must decode a VHS tape. You must discover a pattern on a screen filled with numbers and letters. Then you must implement that pattern to get what you need from the VHS tape. The game doesn’t give you many hints and doesn’t make the puzzle solution easy to figure out. I must have stared at this puzzle for at least 15 minutes before my ‘oh, yeah!’ moment with it. You’ll run into more modern and expected puzzle construction on her side, with a bit more seek-and-find aspect with her puzzle obstacles.
Essentially, you’re getting the best of both puzzle worlds from each character. They come equipped with different ways to solve problems, which means you’ll have a fresh variety of unexpected obstacles throughout the entire adventure without slowing the story down or sacrificing the pace.
Any downers?
Honestly, my only big downer with this game is the lack of a beefy act one. I wish the devs had set up a bit more time in Arcadia, giving a bit more to Trevor’s backstory. What you get seemed quick and felt like the devs were itching to dive right into the action. Given that this is a game and not a movie, that is somewhat forgivable. This isn’t a visual novel, so players must control situations and characters.
Now, having said that, if you’re going to put the story at the forefront of the experience, then maybe consider giving it a more balanced three-act narrative. That might have added, at most, 20 minutes to the gameplay, but it would have been well worth the time in my opinion. Good stories make great games. Fact.
Anyway, other than this complaint, I think the game mostly surprised me with how interesting and well-executed it turned out to be. I didn’t go into American Arcadia expecting a grand adventure that I would care so much about, nor did I think I would get so invested that I was sweating bullets for Trevor’s escape. The story was damn good. The characters were endearing, the rebellion they were creating was well-constructed, and everything about this game and experience seemed well-planned out. I’m thoroughly impressed with the overall result.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap up this review.
Conclusion
American Arcadia, from developer Out of the Blue Games S.L. and publisher Raw Fury, was a suspenseful and thrilling adventure. While the gameplay didn’t challenge the narrative for the limelight, there were still enough interactive elements to call this a solid gaming experience.
