Arco Review – An astounding artistic achievement
thesixthaxis.comArco is about consequences. In it’s unique setting of the Mesoamerican frontier at the turn of the century, small choices can cause huge aftershocks. Some of that manifests in the story-telling, as you follow a dour journey of revenge, regret, and colonisation’s cruel effects on a native population. In other ways, those consequences manifest through combat, exploration, and seemingly simple conversations with other NPCs. All those elements come together to create not only a mechanically sound and well designed game experience, but an evocative one that challenged not only my tactics prowess, but my moral compass too.
Arco is a western revenge story, but told from the perspective of the native peoples who so rarely get the spotlight in traditional spaghetti westerns and cowboy fantasies. Over five acts, you play as different characters with roots in various native tribes spread across the the land. You initially control a young Iyo boy named Tecolotl, who’s part of a family making their pilgrimage to The Sacred Tree to leave offerings. As the family makes their journey and goes about their usual habits of running errands and dealing with wildlife, though, mysterious people with ill intentions begin to appear near The Sacred Tree. As the tension these Newcomers bring simmers and boils before coming to a head, the story changes focus to a new character, but that undercurrent of a growing invasive threat remains throughout the duration of the game.
As act two opens, your perspective shifts to that of Tizo, a grizzled wanderer seeking out an old friend for some work. That one innocent job quickly escalates into a blood-soaked investigation into Newcomers who have been razing and looting native tribes all over – and Tizo takes up the task to deal with them permanently. Other protagonists follow in the next couple of acts, each with their own origins and goals. Each story that Arco tells is equally poetic and well-written, but each one establishes very different kinds of
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