Reviews: Arietta of Spirits

Spoiler free review of the Arietta of Spirits played on the steam deck Oled.

About the game

Arietta of Spirits is a story-driven action-adventure game, with easy to approach game mechanics. Follow Arietta on her journey to unveil the mysteries of the Spirit Realm and immerse yourself in a story filled with emotion and surprising turns.

Steam page

Margot’s stats

• Device: Steam Deck Oled

• Difficulty: One setting

• Completed: yes - main story

• Time: ~3.5 hours

• Summary: Once again I played a pixel art game. :) It has an initially melancholic feel and then becomes a magical journey, about spirits and grief. This doesn’t mean it is just a sad game though, it is a charming, cute game with a simple game mechanic and some fun characters who you help along the way.

• Score: 7/10

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Narrative and Gameplay

The game tells the story of Arietta and her family, visiting their Grandmother's cabin for the first time after her passing away a year prior.
However, the family trip takes an unexpected turn when Arietta meets a mysterious new friend and gains the ability to see strange spirits that inhabit the island.

The pixel art style is akin to like a Stardew Valley, but the setting is more mysterious and magical. While there is some fighting, this is never too difficult. Any puzzles are very do-able and maybe too easy, but it adds to the charm rather than take away from it.

This game has a nice short story, that is easy to finish and quite a bit of action adventure. Each quest helps build the story and world.

Gameplay screenshots from the steam page

I’d say that if you want a short charming game with a nice, easy to follow story, then this is a great game for a rainy weekend. I enjoyed my time with it, but it is by no means ground breaking. If you try to do all the things HLTB reckons to will take around 8 hours. I think 5-6 hours is a good time to estimate with the game although I played the main story in less than 4.

For me the subject was close to my heart as I had just lost a family member. During the game you encounter spirits and help them remember / move on. This was quite a touching premise for me and helped draw me in. It was no SpiIritfarer type game but a nice story nevertheless.

Verdict 7/10

A charming pixel art adventure game. Some action, cute story, nothing ground breaking but a fun time to be had for sure, while covering the topic of spirits, grief, loss and moving on after loss. The pixel art will light up any retro lover’s heart.