Arranger

By my estimation, I’m in the third act of Arranger at the moment and absolutely loving it. It’s been a great year for Zelda-like games, and this is pretty high up there. Developed by Furniture & Mattress, Arranger follows Jemma who leaves behind the only life she’s known to explore the world outside their village’s walls. Only, Jemma’s excuse for living is that she’s never quite fit in, and for good reason: whenever she moves, the entire axis that she ambles along shifts with her. She quite literally exercises control over the world around her with every step she takes, much to the detriment of everyone around her. However, Arranger tracks her journey and how she comes to accept this confounding ability as a boon to be shared with others rather than the curse she believes it to be. It’s a sweet and short puzzler that adds a charming wrinkle to the tried-and-true formula of isometric action-adventure games like it, and it goes a long way to making Arranger stand apart in an otherwise crowded genre. Arranger can be all yours for $15, and I can’t recommend it enough.