There is an art philosophy around negative and positive space. Positive space is the area that represents the main focus of attention. Negative space is empty space that supports to construct the meaning and draw focus on the foreground image. It is incredibly valuable to find the right combination of both. We aren’t designed to look at or interact with things that are nothing but ‘positive’ space.
ArcRunner, made by Trickjumpgames, is a game that struggles with the core positive/negative space tenet. But before I get to that, more about the game.
In the story, an AI has gone rogue inside a space station called ‘Arc,’ as a clone you have been tasked with stopping the AI. Every time you die you are brought back to life and then you have to take another run at it. A run through the Arc if you will. You can be a solo runner or be accompanied by 2 buddies.
At the beginning the player chooses from 1 of 2 classes (a third is unlocked later) – a soldier with a shield and an assassin with a stealth device. Each comes with a starter pistol and a melee weapon. Then it is off to stop the AI.
This is done by fighting through each biome (City, Ports etc) in a third-person perspective. Each biome is divided up into procedurally generated levels with supply crates and extra challenges littered through out. There are a number of guns to unlock, as well as gadgets. There are all your usual shotguns and assault rifles but there are also some neat additions like an electric canon and a drone that can generate a small protective field.
At the end of each level the player gets to pick an upgrade that helps even the odds for that run. There are ones that do simple things like increase ranged or extra protection, to more class specific boosts like increasing the chance of deflecting shots when the soldier’s shield is up.
Beating areas, and bosses provide nanites; these nanites purchase permanent upgrades to improve survivability on subsequent attempts. Another permanent upgrade is the weapons, meeting certain thresholds with each weapon (e.g.: killing a number of enemies) will then unlock it to be used from the beginning.
The shooting and movement feel good too, the range of each weapon matters in terms of its effectiveness and learning when to use melee and gadgets is satisfying when you get the hang of it.
All of this is a solid setup, but there a number of major complaints I have.
The first is the game’s visual style – a neon drenched world. At first, I was very taken by it, but the colours of the surroundings make for far too busy a backdrop. When everything is a ‘positive’ space it is hard to tell what I am supposed to be looking for. The game tries to put up a HUD to help identify enemy locations (enemies that are also caked in neon) but the indicators are neon red and often blend into everything else. It gets a bit better as the colour palette changes in subsequent biomes, but that uphill struggle will turn some off.
This is especially true in single player where the game does not feel balanced well for that experience. Progress feels halting with even the first boss being pretty challenging and having to repeat the biomes multiple times doesn’t feel rewarding, with it taking too long to unlock some of the essential unlocks like health recharges and class-specific ultimates.
This changes in multiplayer. Here it is possible to revive other players and make a good amount of progress. This means better nanite games and a better feeling of forward momentum. Even better, there is the ability to save multiplayer progress and have others drop in and out, meaning that a session can be broken up over a few sittings if necessary.
All of that makes for an experience that both entertains and irritates. In single player the friction is just a little too much to overcome, whereas the multiplayer overcomes ArcRunner’s shortcomings. So, consider this a tentative recommendation if you have 2 friends to play it with.
Conclusion
A visually busy game, ArcRunner is a good multiplayer Roguelite/3rd person shooter. However in singleplayer the grind can be too much to bear, with unlocks and progress a chore to get to.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
