Arca's Path strips away familiar virtual reality gimmicks and gives players a serene, occasionally challenging puzzle game that requires no controllers, just the simple motion of your head. Though it runs quite short, it's a peaceful space that offers another glimpse at what the platform offers.
Arca’s Path is not the kind of virtual reality game most would expect. The narrative of VR as a platform runs through a constant and nearly irreversible cycle. A dozen games come along that are on-rails, first-person experiences. In one instance there’s guns or swords, in the other there’s mechs or spacecraft. Among the deluge are one or two games that subvert expectations by either being engrossing pieces of entertainment or a selling point of VR. Recently, Moss and Astro Bot: Rescue Mission have proven the viability of gameplay and narrative in a virtual space that players can nearly submerge themselves in.
This is not to say that guided video game tours are not without worth. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, my first retail PSVR experience, was, in the simplest terms, a glorified version of Time Crisis. Yet its on-rails light gun approach at shooting targets immersed me in a terrifying world that sent adrenaline and its titular blood rushing through my veins. In that sense, Arca’s Path is nothing more than a glorified Marble Madness, or Super Monkey Ball if you’re not that old.
While it may be reductive to compare one game to another–i.e. “the Dark Souls of ___”–it helps lay a foundation of understanding. In both Marble Madness and Super Monkey Ball, players navigate a sphere around an obstacle course to reach an exit. Physics becomes the antagonist as these spheres roll up and over edges. Eventually, obstacles hinder the path forward even more and mental gymnastics become just as valuable as precise controller inputs.
Following the “if it ain’t broke” mentality, developer Dream Reality Interactive uses the foundation of ball-rolling for Arca’s Path. Instead of a metal ball or monkey or Critter from space, the source of locomotion is akin to a twenty-sided die. Now forgive me, maybe because I never learned the rationale behind a monkey in a ball finding itself sky-bound in a labyrinth of increasingly complex platforms (and I don’t care to start now) I won’t truly appreciate the lore of Super Monkey Ball. Similarly, the story of Arca’s Path is one that exists but is primarily left in the shadows.
A young girl living in a dystopian world of technological junk discovers a brightly colored mask. After putting it on she is transported to Arca, a simulated world that at first appears as a lush biome of vegetation and color. Players are given very little breathing room to engage with this girl’s story. Told through comic book-like panels that fill the PSVR’s screen, no words are spoken and very few sounds are made. It’s not aggressive. More so, it’s simply there.
The art style used to paint the girl’s world is inspired, yet remains a small piece of a larger package. Trailers and promotional material may hint at a grander scale of discovery and escape under the surface, but most players are going to only be interested in Arca’s Path‘s gameplay.
Hopefully enough of a picture has been painted as to what one can expect from a sheer gameplay perspective when strapping on a VR headset. The question is, what separates this from the pack? Truth be told, puzzle games of this nature are not common. They hearken back to arcade cabinets where the number of quarters in your pocket mattered almost as much as raw skill. With that in mind, Arca’s Path is a fairly unique game in this generation and for this platform.
Levels in Arca’s Path exist in a virtual space. The PSVR headset is meant to act as a physical representation of what the girl is seeing in Arca. Sweeping away those deeper narrative undertones, we look at each level of this game as a nearly palpable realm that can be touched. It’s a three-dimensional space that beings to materialize as players move through it.
PlayStation 4/PSVR hybrid Bound comes to mind when trying to capture how Arca’s Path reveals itself. Looking off in the distance, wisps of energy loop through a backdrop of solid colors evoking the current mood of the surroundings. These indicate the faint suggestion of an upcoming path. As the D20 (which represents the digital version of the girl) rolls forward, the polygonal shapes of a new branching path begin to form. The effect is striking and meant to convey the nature of this world as a digital construct.
Colorful only begins to describe the opening part of Arca’s Path. Neither jungle nor forest, it speaks to some dream-like world that the girl may wish to be lost in, considering the cold, monochromatic tones of her reality. Hmm, maybe there actually is more to the story than meets the eye? Again, that’s not why we are here. Though anyone who owns a PSVR can knock the quality of its screens and that ever-present screen door effect, Arca’s Path is not so graphically intensive that these problems ever bubbled to the surface. Rather than paint a world of subtle details, Dream Reality Interactive went for bold colors with little hue variation. The choice works because even when you aren’t supposed to, it’s hard to take your eyes off the surroundings or notice the impressive cohesion of paths.
Okay, so… a Monkeyball Madness like game with an under-the-surface story and unassuming yet effective visuals. Why make it a VR game? Ironically, Arca’s Path may be one of the most abnormal VR games available. The reason? It implements a hands-free system to navigate the girl the D20 around. To roll, players must direct their focus to somewhere on the path and they will move forward. Focus in close proximity to the current location and movement will be slower and more deliberate. Focus on a spot further away and movement will be faster and harder to slow. All the while, physics will take hold and a small triangle will act as a indication for speed, filling up the faster you go.
I’m not sure if Arca’s Path or any game like it could work in VR without this control scheme. In many ways, the player’s head acts as a mouse with no button for a click–which immediately has me thinking of how a similar system could be used in point-and-click adventures or an action RPG like Diablo. I won’t lie, it’s not always easy to move the human head delicately, especially with the precision this game often requires. Several times I shifted my neck too far and tumbled off an edge or couldn’t turn fast enough to make a jump.
Still, Arca’s Path is very forgiving. Checkpoints are frequent. Collectible crystals are scattered around levels and when all are gobbled up, it unlocks a time trial for that instance. “Dying” in an effort to nab one won’t result in a do-over as the game counts it as being picked up. New twists are introduced throughout as well. Platforms that raise up and down, bridges that need to be rolled into before toppling, breakable walls and floors all add a few layers of complexity.
Difficulty straddles a fine line here. Arca’s Path is mostly a breeze if players are patient. Paths without borders become more frequent but any level that would have been truly complex may have resulted in some sore necks. I never felt frustrated by any of the puzzles but did often find myself thinking that some went on a little too long between checkpoints or a truly interesting moment.
Ultimately, this is a game about concentration and tranquility. Though I felt awkward sitting back on my couch playing Arca’s Path, I never stood up. Most of the time I was hunched over because it felt more comfortable. But I always felt at ease. The game reaches a point where the music swells and diminishes to the flow of gameplay and you feel cemented in this world. It really isn’t asking that much of you, just a few well timed motions of the brain. Wow… that’s kind of like most puzzle games isn’t it?
Arca’s Path is definitely not without flaw. It shares a very common thread with its VR brethren in that the length can be painfully short. Many might forgive an action-oriented game for a short length but I think one focused so intently on standalone puzzles could have been so much more than a couple hours. Additionally, a lack of online leaderboards almost calls into question the purpose of time trials.
Yearning for more levels and more level variety is a knock and a praise for Arca’s Path. The hands-free approach is so intuitive and natural. No, it doesn’t scream virtual reality platform seller but it shows how it is a platform for genres and games just like a console from Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony. There’s something here to get lost in. And at the end of the day, that’s one of the best things about virtual reality.
