While my fondest memories of great Switch titles tend to focus on games that are more on the more gameplay-focused side there’s something to be said for the ones that instead leave a contemplative mark. What’s terrific are those titles that manage to do a little bit of both, keeping you engaged with smart and well-executed gameplay while pulling at your heart and Arise most certainly accomplishes that. Mixing smart and typically quite creative puzzle platforming that often rewards you for straying from the obvious path to find hidden memories with a touching implied story, the blend between the two manages to effectively ping pong back and forth at a satisfying pace that keeps you sucked in and consistently deciding to give it just a few more minutes. While some could argue it doesn’t linger quite as long as they’d like I’d say it’s still a very satisfying and well-executed bite of excellence that knows how to tell its story effectively without overstaying its welcome.