Arrest of a stone Buddha

About

Arrest of a stone Buddha is a single player role playing game. It was developed by yeo and was released on February 27, 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

"Arrest of a Stone Buddha" is a first-person shooter game set in 1976, where you play as a professional killer balancing action-packed missions with mundane daily activities. With quick reflexes and precision, you can disarm enemies and use any weapon, making escape straightforward. Your character also has an apartment, engages in various leisure activities, and has a lover, adding depth to the story. The game poses a lingering question that seeks an answer.

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Play Modes

Single-Player

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74%

Audience ScoreBased on 129 reviews

story11 positive mentions

stability4 negative mentions

The game features stunning visuals and a beautiful art style that captures the melancholic atmosphere of 1970s France.
The gunplay is engaging and satisfying, with a unique mechanic of disarming enemies to acquire new weapons.
The soundtrack complements the game's tone perfectly, enhancing the overall experience and immersing players in its world.

The gameplay can be frustrating due to a lack of clear direction, confusing mechanics, and the character's slow movement speed.
The game suffers from repetitive missions and a lack of variety in enemy types, leading to a monotonous experience.
The tutorial is poorly designed, leaving players feeling lost and wasting time trying to figure out how to progress.

story
66 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
78%
5%
The game's story is characterized as minimalist and often confusing, dropping players into the action without sufficient context or character development, which leads to a sense of aimlessness. While some appreciate the dark, introspective themes of a hitman's mundane life and the emotional weight it carries, many find the narrative lacking depth and engagement, with limited interactions and a focus on repetitive missions. Overall, the storytelling is seen as a unique blend of noir elements and artistic expression, but it may not resonate with all players due to its sparse dialogue and slow pacing between action sequences.
- “The beauty of the game is the intricate story and details, and I think that is really special.”
- “One of the standout features of 'Arrest of a Stone Buddha' is its compelling storyline.”
- “The game switches between fast-paced action and the melancholic mundane with an ending that ties the thematic and story together like poetry.”
- “The game tries to be edgy by dropping the player right in the middle of a story but without telling him anything about the backstory, the context, or the characters.”
- “You're expected to shoot down random enemies with no idea where to go, the story, or anything.”
- “The story and pace are a big pile of shit.”
gameplay
47 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
70%
11%
The gameplay has been described as repetitive and simplistic, often leading to a sense of ennui due to long waiting periods and minimal variation in mechanics. While some players appreciate the satisfying gunplay and artistic presentation, others find the overall experience frustrating and lacking depth, with a disconnect between the narrative and gameplay elements. The game features distinct segments of action and downtime, but many reviewers note that the mechanics can feel flawed and unengaging, making it a mixed experience overall.
- “The gun sounds from the pistol and shotgun are impactful and sound phenomenal, straight out of an action movie, almost with how powerful it is, while the rifle sounds irritating, which really formulates how both afraid I was and how frustrating it gets during gameplay as well.”
- “The gameplay mechanics in 'Arrest of a Stone Buddha' are simple yet satisfying.”
- “The gameplay feels great and the atmosphere and overall aesthetics make it a very enjoyable experience.”
- “Gameplay is repetitive.”
- “The moment-to-moment gameplay is uneventful as you spend literal minutes waiting for the evening before swallowing some sleeping pills.”
- “Coupled with the fact that the gameplay gets pretty repetitive as there isn't much enemy variety and it basically ends up just being you mashing the shoot key until all the hordes of enemies are dead.”
music
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
46%
9%
The music in the game is widely praised for its atmospheric and melancholic qualities, enhancing the overall experience with a mix of chill background tracks and engaging action music. Reviewers highlight the soundtrack's ability to evoke strong emotions and complement the game's stylish, cinematic ambiance, with particular mention of the contributions from "danny spider solitaire." While the music is celebrated for its depth and mood-setting capabilities, some players noted that it could not fully compensate for gameplay frustrations.
- “Thematically strong and musically melancholic, this game proves that even just a few hours of play can leave a lasting impression.”
- “From melancholic melodies to adrenaline-fueled tracks during action sequences, the music elevates the overall experience and immerses you deeper into the game's world.”
- “The moody and atmospheric music enhances the tension and sets the tone for each scene.”
- “While I really appreciated the lonely atmosphere, the melancholic music and the visual style references to sixties/seventies French noir movies (Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Delon...), especially during the dusk-to-dawn sequences, the gun shooting parts - which should be the core of the game - are too buggy and unpredictable to grant it a full recommendation.”
- “The one good thing it kept from Ringo was the sprite work, but even the soundtrack, which was another of Ringo's only strengths, is also a massive step back here.”
- “Great atmosphere, soundtrack, and mood but also repetitive and frustrating; I can't really recommend it, which is a shame because I am a huge fan of The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa, but Stone Buddha does not have even a small percentage of the same depth.”
graphics
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
36%
12%
The game's graphics are widely praised for their stunning pixel art and evocative aesthetics, creating a captivating atmosphere that enhances the overall experience. While some reviews note a nostalgic retro feel, others highlight the sharp visuals and masterful art style that contribute to the game's unique blend of action and storytelling. However, a few critiques mention that despite the appealing graphics, the gameplay can be frustrating and occasionally broken.
- “The game is absolutely stunning, the art style is amazing, and the combat makes you feel like you are an action movie hero.”
- “The game's aesthetics are absolutely top notch, so if you can pass the insane opening battle you won't regret purchasing it.”
- “Short but challenging game with stunning pixel art visuals.”
- “Tldr: bottom of the barrel visuals.”
- “Lots of games go for that old school pixel graphics nostalgia and gameplay, and the majority of them are unremarkable at best and garbage at worst.”
- “Graphically it’s an 8-bit sidescroller, but the atmosphere surrounding it is astounding.”
atmosphere
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
68%
18%
14%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its melancholic and immersive qualities, enhanced by a fitting soundtrack and detailed visuals reminiscent of classic French noir films. Players appreciate the somber and lonely environment, though some feel that the lack of agency and repetitive gameplay detracts from fully enjoying the experience. Overall, while the atmosphere is compelling and beautifully crafted, it may not resonate with everyone due to its challenging nature and gameplay issues.
- “It's a pretty unusual game in its structure, a fresh and very atmospheric experience, not for everyone's tastes.”
- “The developer keeps a somber atmosphere outside of the moments of action while also giving a well-detailed city environment and excellent, mood-fitting music.”
- “The moody and atmospheric music enhances the tension and sets the tone for each scene.”
- “In between jobs, you spend your time wandering through a lonely city with the only abilities being to take out and light a cigarette, put on sunglasses, wander the town, visit a lover who is never shown, spoken to, or doing anything to change the music or atmosphere presented, or to buy a drink, cigarettes, a new coat, and sleeping pills.”
- “It is about feelings, about emotions, about the depressing atmosphere of one fading fall, about existential crisis.”
- “While I really appreciated the lonely atmosphere, the melancholic music, and the visual style references to sixties/seventies French noir movies (Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Delon...), especially during the dusk-to-dawn sequences, the gun shooting parts - which should be the core of the game - are too buggy and unpredictable to grant it a full recommendation.”
emotional
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its potential for deeper storytelling and character connection, with some reviewers expressing disappointment over missed opportunities for emotional depth. While one title, "The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa," is praised for its poignant exploration of adolescence and the struggles of growing up, its successor, "Arrest of a Stone Buddha," is noted for its more existential and monotonous portrayal of daily life, which may resonate with players but lacks the same emotional weight. Overall, the emotional engagement varies, with some players feeling a strong connection to the protagonist's experiences while others find the narrative lacking in depth.
- “A story that emotionally connects us to the protagonist would have been really great and could have made the game a hidden gem.”
- “You really feel like you live his life and you emotionally get into it.”
- “Where Ringo Ishikawa was a melancholic treatise on growing up, Arrest of a Stone Buddha is the next logical step in that emotional journey - the existential and monotonous routine of day-to-day life, where sometimes those days seem to run together, and you find yourself just passing time until the next thing you have to do, never really engaging with anything in the present moment - just drifting, the world whirling by with your feet barely on the ground.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is marred by various bugs and glitches, including unresponsive inputs and issues with enemy spawning, which detract from the overall experience. While the atmospheric elements are praised, the inconsistent performance and occasional frame rate drops hinder the gameplay, preventing a full recommendation.
- “Some things are slightly flawed: sometimes the inputs don't work as they should, the top staircase in the museum is buggy, and sometimes you can feel the FPS sagging even on a good PC.”
- “The game also has some glitches and/or hang-ups that I didn’t appreciate in the slightest: when I was on the last level of the yacht job, I had enemies who wouldn’t spawn into the map and would just hang out behind the invisible wall at the very beginning or very end of the level.”
- “While I really appreciated the lonely atmosphere, the melancholic music, and the visual style references to sixties/seventies French noir movies (Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Delon...), especially during the dusk-to-dawn sequences, the gun shooting parts - which should be the core of the game - are too buggy and unpredictable to grant it a full recommendation.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, particularly due to slow character movement and similar enemy types. However, the satisfaction derived from combat helps mitigate some of the monotony.
- “The slow parts feel tedious, and the shooting segments become repetitive. The randomness of encounters and the similarity of enemies contribute to the monotony.”
- “It can feel tedious due to the slow walking speed of your character, but the act of killing does provide some satisfaction.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development in the game is criticized for being minimal and lacking depth, with players noting that interactions are limited to repetitive conversations that fail to provide meaningful insights into the characters. Overall, the development is seen as inadequate, drawing unfavorable comparisons to other forms of media.
- “Between missions, there is a single conversation with the same person that offers little insight or character development.”
- “Believe me, the porn you just watched may have better character development than this.”

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63%Critics’ scoreBased on 5 critic reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions

Arrest of a stone Buddha is a role playing game.

Arrest of a stone Buddha is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, Windows and others.

Arrest of a stone Buddha was released on February 27, 2020.

Arrest of a stone Buddha was developed by yeo.

Arrest of a stone Buddha has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its stability.

Arrest of a stone Buddha is a single player game.

Similar games include The Final Station, 12 is Better Than 6, Dex, John Wick Hex, Eastward and others.

Arrest of a stone Buddha

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