RWBY: Arrowfell Clumsy Gameplay Makes It For Completionists Only

RWBY will forever be known as the magnum opus of Monty Oum.

Monty Oum made a name for himself as a CG artist animating short videos online that were for the time groundbreaking.

He discovered some reverse engineering techniques that allowed him to extract models from Halo 2 and, utilizing assets from Super Smash Bros. Melee, created the “ultimate showdown” video between a SPARTAN (Halo) and Samus Aran (Metroid) in Haloid. The videos garnered a significant number of views online. Oum later produced a series called Dead Fantasy, in which characters from Final Fantasy and Dead or Alive fight. He went on to work for Rooster Teeth as an animator on the popular series Red vs. Blue. 

Sadly, on January 22, 2015, Oum passed away due to an unspecified severe allergic reaction during a medical procedure.

As previously stated, RWBY, the animated action web series he created at Rooster Teeth, will forever be known as his greatest work. Aside from the anime-inspired series proper, this franchise has spawned a manga, an actual anime adaptation, and now two full-fledged video games.

The first is a 3D platformer called Grim Eclipse, and the second is the topic of this article, RWBY: Arrowfell.

In Arrowfell, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long, the titular team of RWBY, are four former students from the fallen school of Beacon that have found accommodation at Atlas Academy in the northernmost continent, Solitas. With honor to their achievements, it is at Atlas Academy that Team RWBY is formally inducted as licensed Huntresses. Meanwhile, on a summit north of the city Mantle, soulless creatures of destruction, Grimm, have been detected — a threat to both critical military initiatives and life itself. As newly appointed Huntresses, Team RWBY is given their first directive by the academy Headmaster General James Ironwood: investigate the summit, defeat all Grimm encountered, and discover the cause of their sudden presence.

Arrowfell takes place during the events of Volume 7 of the series, after the episode “Pomp and Circumstance,” and was written by show writers Kerry Shawcross, Miles Luna, and Eddy Rivas.

To start out, the game’s strongest point is its writing; the narrative is solid and moderately engaging. There’s a lot to love if you’re either a die-hard fan or just curious about the IP, so there’s that.

I can also say that the sound direction is up to the pedigree that developer co-developer WayForward (with Arc System Works) is known for. They put great care into the game’s soundtrack, with some action-packed bops for levels and boss encounters. And the voice acting, while limited, is fantastic, using the show’s cast.

The actual gameplay is where I have some issues. The combat can go between clunky and smooth at various points. I found myself constantly confused by the game’s life and stamina meter, and I was not a fan of the random difficulty spikes. And don’t get me started with navigation — for a Metroidvania inspired game, the map is of very little help.

I don’t believe it is the worst thing to come out of the legacy of Monty Oum, but it is definitely unpolished, and the issues mentioned are extremely glaring. But if you’re a fan, I say check it out, when it’s on sale. 

I give RWBY: Arrowfell a 3 out of 5.