Arcane Raise

About

Arcane Raise is a single player casual role playing game. It was developed by Arcane Raise and was released on May 2, 2017. It received neutral reviews from players.

Arcane Raise is a role-playing video game franchise, wherein a group of resurrected hunters known as Shades, fight alongside humans against monsters in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by an infestation. Do you have what it takes to survive this hostile land?

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

54%

Audience ScoreBased on 407 reviews

humor2 positive mentions

story18 negative mentions

Classic RPG style with a nostalgic turn-based combat system reminiscent of old Final Fantasy titles.
Smooth performance at 60 FPS and broad hardware compatibility; DRM-free.
Easy and fast to unlock achievements, with collectible trading cards and a unique black Steam profile background.

Gameplay is repetitive, grind-heavy, and lacks depth or meaningful strategy, with minimal narrative and character development.
Generic and low-quality visuals using default RPG Maker assets; small windowed resolution without options for fullscreen or volume control.
Questionable use of DLC and microtransactions for power boosting; overall low polish and minimal original content leading to a shallow experience.

story
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
41%
39%
The game's story is widely criticized for being sparse, inconsistent, and lacking depth or character development, with many reviewers describing it as nearly nonexistent or a weak, generic RPG filler. Significant narrative elements are either poorly executed or confined to external DLC, leaving the in-game experience disconnected and unengaging. Overall, the story fails to provide meaningful context or motivation, disappointing players who expect rich storytelling in an RPG.
- “The game blends story-driven RPG elements, strategy, and adventure, with achievements, Steam Cloud support, and a free demo available.”
- “Narratively, the game introduces an intriguing world filled with lore about the shades and their battle against monstrous foes, but it falls short in delivering a compelling story or memorable characters.”
- “Some intriguing story elements if you're willing to dig.”
- “The storytelling is sparse, and character development feels shallow, making it difficult to connect with the protagonist or the unfolding events.”
- “This painfully generic RPG Maker game has some plot angle about resurrected hunters or some plot, but it's so badly written it's impossible to get into. It seems to be a cash grab designed for card and points shop trading and manipulation.”
- “After your extreme tutorial experience, you are spammed by a thousand achievements, then you come back to the game with no plot explanation or context. You just move ahead and beat your enemies until you win, just to realize there was no story nor character development.”
gameplay
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
65%
24%
The gameplay is widely criticized for being repetitive, simplistic, and lacking depth or engaging mechanics, with frequent grinding and an unbalanced difficulty curve. Many reviewers note the absence of meaningful progression, bosses, or innovative features, leading to a dull and uninspired RPG experience. While the mechanics are easy to understand, the overall gameplay fails to deliver excitement or polish, making it suitable mainly for players seeking casual or minimalistic play rather than rich, skillful engagement.
- “Short, simple mechanics and constant movement.”
- “The progression feels smooth, the visuals have a strong minimalistic style, and the gameplay keeps you engaged without forcing you to be online all the time.”
- “The gameplay is simple and easy to understand.”
- “In terms of the gameplay, I would not recommend this to anyone, as the storyline is inconsistent, which makes you face high-leveled enemies without prior experience or items.”
- “The gameplay is extremely repetitive — most of your time is spent grinding stats with little variation, and the progress feels more like busywork than meaningful development.”
- “Rampant yet useless monetization options, incompatible DLC, gameplay focused solely on RPG Maker's built-in combat systems and endless grinding, and a tutorial that provides instructions on functions not even used in the game!”
graphics
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
57%
30%
The graphics are consistently described as minimalistic, rough, and largely composed of default RPG Maker assets, lacking originality and polish. Technical limitations such as poor fullscreen support and low resolution further detract from the visual experience, resulting in a generally outdated and unimpressive presentation. While some users appreciate the dark fantasy art style or certain icons, overall the graphics are seen as low quality and underdeveloped.
- “This indie MMORPG has a lot of heart and a cool, dark fantasy art style.”
- “Great argument, deep story, great graphics that make you remember another age ;) 16-bit, woaoh!”
- “The artwork and sound design were actually pretty good.”
- “As with all RPG Maker games, the poor quality engine displays badly in fullscreen and doesn't have full HD support or any graphics tweaking options, making this unacceptable for any dedicated modern PC gamer.”
- “All of it is part of the default RPG Maker assets, there are no original sounds or graphics, the mapping is horrendous.”
- “The pixel art is rough and lacks creativity, while the overall aesthetic looks like minimal effort was put into it.”
music
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
64%
18%
The music in the game is generally criticized for being annoyingly loud and repetitive, with no option to turn it off or adjust volume, which frustrates many players. It is described as generic RPG Maker stock music, lacking originality or appeal, contributing negatively to the overall experience.
- “Tbf, the music is good.”
- “The soundtrack is okay, but it's nothing I wouldn't listen to outside of the game.”
- “- The soundtrack sounds like standard music to an RPG Maker.”
- “Horrible game, nothing fun about it. Music is also really annoying and couldn't be turned down.”
- “Really annoyingly loud music and there's not even 2 hours of gameplay in this, but whatever, I'll play it anyway.”
- “This game is worth only for the wallpaper; it's impossible to play with sound on as the music is the loudest I've ever heard and you can't turn it off.”
grinding
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
6%
94%
Grinding in this game is excessive and repetitive, often feeling like tedious busywork with little variation or rewarding progression. The gameplay heavily relies on grinding low-level enemies to advance, with few engaging battle mechanics or bosses, making the experience frustrating and monotonous. DLC content reduces grinding but also shortens gameplay, reflecting that the core design is centered around grinding rather than meaningful development.
- “The initial hours are pure stat-grinding boilerplate, asking you to repeatedly bash the same low-level enemies until your base numbers are high enough to move three tiles further on the map without immediately dying.”
- “The gameplay is extremely repetitive — most of your time is spent grinding stats with little variation, and the progress feels more like busywork than meaningful development.”
- “Essentially, Arcane Raise is nothing more than a huge grind with no payoff except a boss that is way too hard for you to actually beat, meaning there isn't even a payoff for your incessant grinding.”
character development
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
Character development is notably absent, with critics highlighting a lack of plot and storytelling, resulting in a shallow experience that prevents players from forming connections with the protagonist or the game world.
- “The storytelling is sparse, and character development feels shallow, making it difficult to connect with the protagonist or the unfolding events.”
- “After your extreme tutorial experience you are spammed by a thousand achievements, then you come back to the game, again with no plot explanation or context, you just move ahead and beat your enemies until you win the game just to realize there was no story nor character development.”
- “There is no character development at all.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The humor is characterized by playful banter and witty exchanges, creating a lighthearted and amusing atmosphere.
- “Barry, you are so funny sometimes.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game’s monetization is heavily criticized as a blatant cash grab, featuring excessive and ineffective microtransactions like DLC characters, cheat item packs, and tradeable marketplace items that add no value. The focus on monetization overshadows the gameplay, which is minimal, poorly designed, and lacks originality, making the game feel exploitative rather than enjoyable.
- “Much more effort went into devising obscure forms of monetization for this game (DLC characters, a Compile Heart-style cheat item pack, tradeable Steam marketplace items made from stock art that do absolutely nothing) than the game itself, which has no original assets, almost no story, minimal mechanics (3 characters in fixed classes, all items available from the shop at the start), and is less than an hour long even with the 'booster pack.'”
- “This painfully generic RPG Maker game features a poorly written plot about resurrected hunters and is clearly not meant to be taken seriously; it is just a cash grab focused on card and points shop trading and manipulation. This is exactly the kind of garbage Valve aimed to prevent by implementing 'profile features limited' status for new games in the store.”
- “Rampant yet useless monetization options, incompatible DLC, gameplay focused solely on RPG Maker's built-in combat systems with endless grinding, and a tutorial that explains functions not even used in the game!”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game demonstrates strong stability with almost no significant bugs or glitches encountered during play, ensuring a smooth experience throughout.
- “I haven't run into any game-ending glitches, which would have seen me putting this game down well before the 90 minutes I put into it.”
- “Almost no story, no original assets, minor glitches, no original music, and game straight ends when it does with no replay value.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game is well optimized, running smoothly at 60 frames per second across a wide range of hardware, though some users suggest improvements in performance and keybind customization.
- “The game runs smoothly at 60 frames per second and is optimized to work on a wide range of hardware, making it accessible to many players.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere in the game is present but feels shallow and underdeveloped, lacking a polished and immersive quality.
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers minimal context and limited meaningful interactions, resulting in a lack of emotional engagement for players.
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers very low replayability due to its lack of original content, minimal story, and absence of unique music. Additionally, minor glitches and a definitive ending further diminish the incentive to play again.
- “Almost no story, no original assets, minor glitches, no original music, and the game straight ends when it does with no replay value.”