Game Review: The Arcana

Think renaissance Italy, with a magical twist.

The story takes place in a city called Vesuvia, filled with all kinds of wonderful people and their establishments, ruled by Countess Nadia Satrinava.

The six main characters in this game are as follows:

Asra Alnazar- a magician who you apprentice for, they have a hidden past and refrain from telling you secrets.

Nadia Satrinava- the city's Countess, a person of elegance and luxury who is searching for her late husband's murderer.

Julian Devorak- The rowdy plague doctor who tends to self-sabotage. He likes to get into trouble.

Portia Devorak- The head servant who works at the Palace, who loves to go on adventures and uncover secrets.

Muriel- surname unknown, past unknown. Muriel likes to keep to himself, and seems to dislike the main character you play at the start, for an unknown reason.

Lucio Morgasson- The former Count, now deceased. In life, loved to lavish himself in riches and host eccentric parties.

The game splits into 6 different routes, each one following a different character mentioned above, the storyline leads you to figure out what happened to the late Count Lucio. While playing through each route, you start to piece together each piece of information in order to regain your missing memories, and to find the real murderer of the late Count.

Working as the magician's apprentice, you enhance your own skills as a magician and work with the Tarot cards your tutor gives you earlier on in the game, you also get to romance one of the 6 characters above. However, romance isn't the main focus of this review.

As the character's back stories unfold, you learn more about each character and their pasts. Although touched on lightly, some aspects of mental health issues are shown within the game; Muriel shows signs of PTSD in his route, and other characters show some symptoms of depression and anxieties. While this is a pretty unpleasant topic, it's nice to see it being explored within cultures such as games. Additionally, the Count is an amputee, after losing his arm in a battle as a young mercenary, the Count commissioned a pair of powerful magicians to craft him an alchemical arm.

Having this kind of representation in games is important for those who have these conditions in real life, in this game, none of the characters are ridiculed or shunned for any mental or physical differences they may have. This game has influenced a lot of characters I have created in which they have different physical and mental ailments. It has been almost like an outlet with my own personal issues, which I believe has helped other people who have also played this game. The diversity of people and cultures in this game is celebrated, which is something I plan to do for my future projects.

From left to right: Julian Devorak, Muriel, Lucio Morgasson, Asra Alnazar (front), Portia Devorak, Nadia Satrinava.