Arietta of Spirits is a game I stumbled upon on itch.io, and the game immediately caught my eye, so I installed it and played it. Now I must note that I only played a demo version of the game, as the full version has not yet been completed, and it's strongly hinted that if the full version is done it will be available on Steam.

"Arietta of Spirits" is a cute action adventure game. The story line is set in what some people (read: idiots) may consider "childish", as the game does appear to be set up in a child-friendly nature, although the game, does have some violence, since as an action adventure it does feature fighting, but no blood gore stuff. Parents should make their own decision if this game is suitable for their child since (as the title already suggests) is also has a bit of a spooky theme, although nowhere close to "horror", in my opinion.

You assume the role of a young (I think teenage) girl named (duh!) Arietta, although she likes people she considers as friends to call her "Arrie". The story begins when Arietta is about to spend the summer holidays with her parents in her grandmother's wooden forest cabin. Although living up to it and hoping to have fun, the fact that this is the first time without Arietta's grandmother, who recently passed away, overshadows these holidays with grief. Soon however Arietta will become what the game calls a "Bound" which means that Arietta becomes one of the few mortal living beings who is able to enter the realms of the spirits, and yeah, I don't wanna spoil this, but I'm sure you already see where this is going. Arietta will meet her grandmom's spirit and will have to perform a task for her, however as Arietta discovers to be quite talented as a warrior, this will only be the beginning of the story.

The demo features two missions Arietta has to fight her way through, complete with boss enemies, and due to that the demo gives a very good feeling what to expect in the full version. The setup is not that original. Arietta can use a sword to strike her enemies and hearts on top of the screen show you if she's still in good health or not. Due to this, the game is very easy to understand, and you should pick it up very easily. Enemies can drop hearts you can pick up to heal Arietta, these hearts can also be retrieved from cutting bushes. The game features an auto-save, and it appears to be triggered whenever you enter a new location or when really vital passages in the story's plotline are just revealed, and thanks to that you can continue the game from the last point the game saved itself very quickly whenever you die, which is a great pro. Having to start everything all over is not hard, it's only frustrating. Immediately being able to try again (and mess it up, nevertheless if you are not good), will enable you to really plot out what you did wrong, so you can improve yourself, and especially on boss-fights which can easily be reset of bosses defeat you, this is an even bigger pro, as the bosses are not impossible, but the two bosses in this demo are not just hack-and-slash kind of bosses, but really need you to think about how they try to kill you, and how you can set up a good defense against that, and of course how to attack them. This makes that boss fights are challenging, and that you really can make a good analysis of how bosses should be done, without having to be frustrated by being sent back too far in game. For action adventures this should actually be a standard, but as not all action adventures follow it, I will always compliment it when they do it. A challenging game and yet still player-friendly.
The controls are also very smooth, and Arietta responded very well to the movements I made with my GamePad (Logitec).

The graphic style is pretty retro. This is what he had back in the VGA time in MS-DOS, and it may look far from realistic, but then again, realism always did the world of gaming more harm than good, and I still hate it when people idolize it, as I remember that from the 1990s. I love the graphics. They do what they were set out to do. They really suit a child-friendly game, and yet they do manage to bring over the characters emotions well, and due to the game's story revolving about death and bitter farewells (at least the demo does) these emotions were of vital importance. Not only the character portraits which appear on screen when people speak do this, but also the ways the maps have been designed really bring over the mood the game was supposed to have. This does allow you to take a liking to the characters, and Arietta of course most of all, due to her being the protagonist. The audio is a bit of higher quality than in the days gone by, but still of the same simplistic nature. Characters are not really voice acted in that you hear them say scenario lines, although we can hear Arietta herself exclaim a few things like "hey" on certain moments, so your attention gets fixed a bit more on the game again, and I think that works out. The music is also written to carry over the gloomy mood of the game well.

It was really a pity for me that the game ended itself the moment it then, as I reached the end of the second mission, which is as far as the demo takes you. I would surely like this game to get completed, and I really hope I could get the chance to see the full game. If you can enjoy games set for a younger audience, and you like a challenging retro-style action adventure, then you should really give this game a chance.