There are so many exciting thinky games due to come out in 2024, and heck, we’ve already been spoiled with the release of plant-puzzler Botany Manor and poker-like Balatro. But one that’s sitting high on my list is Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure, a debut game from indie studio Furniture & Mattress, co-founded by Braid artist David Hellman, Carto writer Nick Suttner, and Ethereal puzzle designer Nicolás Recabarren.
That’s a pretty talented team, and together with Arranger’s colourful world and grid-looping puzzle design, it instantly grabbed my attention when it was showcased during February’s Nintendo Direct. Since then, I’ve played a short preview build, and it’s safe to say I am now more excited than ever for this charming, puzzle adventure.
In Arranger you play as Jemma, a ragtag misfit who dreams of leaving the comfort of her small village and finding out what lies beyond her hometown's gates. Arranger's world is entirely grid-based, and Jemma can manoeuvre spaces around her, shifting entire rows and columns in the same direction she’s moving in. Not only that, but when she reaches the edge of a grid, she can loop around to the other side. The preview build begins with Jemma sorting out some final preparations before she leaves, which includes saying goodbye to friends, dumping old tat on unwilling villagers, and helping out with some dangerous dungeon delving.
Each puzzle tasks you with moving Jemma from point A to point B, picking up keys to unlock doors and using the game’s clever looping system to navigate around obstacles. There are monsters and other nasty creatures, but you don't directly fight them. You actually don't ‘wield’ items at all, but rather shift the tiles horizontally and vertically to use them. So, instead of moving Jemma to a tile next to a monster to slice them in half, she doesn’t need to be anywhere near. You instead need to move the sword on the grid so it moves into the same space as the monster, defeating it and clearing a previously blocked path.
There are other environmental elements you need to take into account too. Some objects have a purple-y sheen, meaning they cannot be moved, and some map layouts give you limited space to move around in, meaning one small step and everything shifts out of place. Those who love sliding tile puzzles will feel right at home here, but it doesn't take long for those less familiar to pick up certain techniques. Arranger makes for a great teacher in the art of sliding puzzles.
Arranger’s interconnected grid makes up the game’s entire world, meaning there are plenty of playful environmental interactions outside designated puzzle maps. Jemma is known in her village for being a bit of a chaotic clutz, and my clumsiness as I was getting the hang of the controls at the start of the preview echoed this sentiment. When leaving Jemma’s house I unintentionally brought the cooker and slice of buttered toast outside with me (oopsie), and as I was casually exploring the town I accidentally shifted a path that caused a character to fall off their wobbly ladder (totally my bad).
There’s a fun sense of chaos that follows Jemma, caused directly by you as a player. This dynamic feels incredibly playful and encourages you to poke around the world searching for other interactions. And wow, what a colourful world. Arranger's wonderful, painterly style is easy on the eyes and emphasises the game's whimsical nature. There’s character dialogue, but many story beats are instead told through expressive comic book-style panels or collages of images that surround the grid map as you play.
After playing the preview build, I’ve only scratched the surface of Arranger’s puzzle design. It’s worth checking out the trailer as it reveals more about what's to come, including more colourful lands, fearsome foes, and smart puzzle elements (there’s a grappling hook!). No exact release date yet, but Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure will be out sometime this year on Steam, the Epic Games Store, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation consoles.
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