Arco Reviews
A compact and ingenious turn-based battler with an evocative world.
Arco tells a compelling story with minimal dialogue. Leveraging a few well-chosen mechanics, the game immerses players in a world where every interaction and item matters, and each battle decision carries weight. The turn-based tactical combat is challenging yet fair, encouraging strategic thinking without causing frustration. It's a gem worth experiencing.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Arco is an artistic achievement, blending the struggles of gameplay and narrative into each other seamlessly as it draws you into the depressing but important stories of Mesoamerican natives struggling to carve out a space for themselves, in a world that grows more and more hostile by the day.
Arco is the type of video game that fits the definition "hidden gem" perfectly. The story is interesting and expertly told, with numerous references to Native Mesoamerican culture. The tiny graphics are full of points of interest to discover along a rather large map that presents threats in every corner. The fights, the true fulcrum of the game, are managed with a hybrid turn-based mode that forces you to reason to overturn the situation initially always against us, and the presence of the ghosts of the past - real enemies to kill - require speed in making decisions. Those who love turn-based RPGs will have a lot of fun.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If you’re a fan of SRPGs and Arco flew under your radar, you owe it to yourself to correct that. It’s one of the better games I’ve played in that category in recent years, with a combat system that successfully tries something new, a setting that hasn’t been explored in any RPG I’m aware of, and a journey that leaves an impact in no small part thanks to the developers’ handling of its subject matter.
From its pixel perfect art to sharply deployed writing and unique, engaging combat systems, Arco is a masterclass in refined simplicity and self-confidence. Cinematic and thrilling, it is one of 2024's best surprises.
Arco has a unique look and world and a set of mechanics that are easy to understand but grow in complexity as characters unlock more options. I never got used to the ghosts that randomly join the fight but was eager to replay engagements to avoid losing even one pip of health.
2024 has seen many fantastic indie titles, and Arco is among them. If you like tactical games with deep world-building, or if you want a challenge, it will sate those taste buds. I like both, and although Arco pushed me to hell and back on the difficulty front, it deserves its Overwhelmingly Positive score on Steam with every juicy mouthful of berries, and it is a great Steam Deck performer.
Panic’s Arco brings plenty of fresh ideas and inspirations to the gaming sphere. Its tale of revenge is decently paced and doesn’t run too long, meaning that despite some unfortunate technical issues, it’s easy to overlook them in favour of what the game does well.
Arco is essentially a flawless strategy game that forces you to make difficult choices in and out of battle, then live with those consequences.
Arco is an engaging, challenging, and well-crafted game with dynamic combat and a captivating storyline, though it may require patience in finding the right strategy for battles.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
I’m not going to stop trying to progress in Arco, I am invested. But maybe I need to be less stingy and hire the mercenary I met several towns back for some assistance. Maybe I shouldn’t have spent all of my XP levelling up my attacks so that I could curve arrows and should’ve focused more on increasing my health. Maybe I shouldn’t have fought the possessed skeletal remains I found in a burnt out shack for a dark knife, resulting in having to devour the last of my healing items. Your past actions all lead into the strategy before the next fight even begins. Arco is not a game to be rushed, but absorbed and considered.