As I write this, I find that this review perfectly captures how I feel about Arrest of a stone Buddha.
Recommended by MrPixelton, this is the eleventh game on my obscure games list. Thanks again for the recommendation.
I really wanted to fully like this game. Just like with Critters for Sale, the cover art for the game had me very curious. I thought for a while about what the game would be. Would it be a detective story? A puzzle game?
What I got was an interesting character study of a depressed French hitman wrapped within a very low quality and unpleasant to play 2D Sidescrolling Run & Gun.
From the moment the game starts, you find yourself in a Church. For a moment I wandered back and forth, not really knowing what to do, but taking in the beautiful background art and sprite work. It was a lengthy moment of thoughtful respite.
I then saw the priest praying on the ground, and that's when the game told me to fire my loaded gun on him. Once I did, the problem with this game became almost immediately evident: the combat fucking sucks.
Don't get me wrong, it's hectic as hell and the backing music for these sections are fucking great, but combat itself is nothing but an utterly miserable chore.
You have to aim with a separate button and fire with another. In my case, I made by Aim Button the Left Bumper and my shoot button the X Button. If you aren't pressing the Aim Button, you cannot fire your gun, however the Aim Button will (initially) stop you in place so you can fire.
You can fire while moving, you simply need to hold the direction you're going in while holding the button, but that initial pause will occur every single time you use the Aim Button.
Of course, who are you shooting? Why, none other than the never-ending police force, which leads to my second problem. Enemies do not stop spawning, at least not until you reach the final screen of the mission you're in. They frequently appear on both sides of you at rapid speeds, which requires you to Aim and shoot them before they shoot you, which means you are spending 99% of the combat sections of this game pausing, shooting, moving for 3 seconds, and then pausing and shooting again.
You have to be quick too, or else you'll get shot and die at what feels like random intervals. Why does it feel random, you may ask? BECAUSE THERE'S NO HEALTH BAR IN THIS GAME!! There's no indication of how much damage you're taking, which means you have to rely on the sound cues, and it's very, very inconsistent
This game was released in 2020, there is zero excuse for there to not even be a health bar in your Run & Gun video game. Even games in the 80s and 90s within this genre had at least that.
Now, I'm sure the oppressive and harsh nature of the combat is entirely intentional, as I'll get into in a minute, but for games that are relatively short, I look to the gameplay loop to give me a solid reason to come back to it someday. Arrest of a stone Buddha's combat is just not satisfying to me, and while I find the story interesting, it's not going to be enough to get me to slog through the misery of combat just to see a different ending.
Plus, combat is just too utterly simple. There's no dodge rolling, no jumping, you just shoot and occasionally kick/break enemies' arms to get ammo.
Unlike the last game I played, ICEY, this game does not have remotely interesting combinations or different ways to handle the mooks you face. It's all just the same dredging murderfest, and it doesn't even make it fun like Gungrave.
Now of course, with all of this complaining, you'd probably be wondering why this isn't rated 1 star or lower, and that is where the narrative comes in to save this game.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I say narrative, but I moreso mean the subtext the game feeds you from almost the very beginning. The opening of the game makes it very clear that you, the unnamed protagonist of our tale, are a hitman.
You receive missions from someone who appears to be a childhood friend of yours, who is unhappy with this career choice that you both have chosen, and you meet at a park bench near your apartment after every successful mission (though the friend tries to get you to go to the museum twice, and only one time do you go).
You and him spend a lot of time talking about the good old days, how things went wrong. Before you part ways before your next mission.
Before every mission there is a gap period, much like how the game starts with that thoughtful moment of respite that I mentioned earlier. You'll spend time just... wasting time. There are no side quests, there are no other stories to find in this small town. There is just you, a lone hitman, wandering around trying to pass time.
It became immediately evident that the protagonist suffers from some form of chronic depression, and much like the last game I played that MrPixelton recommended, Flesh, Blood, & Concrete, I empathized with that struggle. However, unlike that game, Arrest of a stone Buddha does not have a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
For example, you can spend the game doing various menial things. You can smoke so many cigarettes that your lungs will turn to pitch, or watch a bunch of movies in the movie theatre and nothing else. Spend your entire day drinking hard liquor, or go out and have sex with your lover. These things are all treated by the game with the same mundanity of sitting in your apartment and doing nothing.
The only time the protagonist ever seems to feel alive is when he is actively putting himself in harms way. This is why I feel the combat's suckiness is intentional. He isn't trying to actually succeed in his mission, he doesn't even run to attack or defend himself, he just takes his enemies head on with no hesitation, as if hoping that they'd kill him.
At the end of the game, when you have finished all of the missions, and your friend stops meeting with you, the day you marked down at the beginning of the game comes to pass...
And you kill yourself.
Arrest of a stone Buddha ends with you, the protagonist who was devoid of a life or a purpose besides committing mass homicide, taking your own life because of the pointlessness of it all. And you, the player, have to pull the trigger.
It's a sad, yet poignant end. And while I'm aware there is an alternate ending, this is the canon ending of the game.
The truth is, the game isn't wrong that life is a pointless thing. Our lives as individuals does not serve any grand purpose. In the big picture, we are merely specks of paint that have been splattered onto the canvas.
However, that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the lives that we have. The problem with our protagonist is that he simply couldn't anymore. If he had just gotten the help he really needed, maybe things could have been different.
Arrest of a stone Buddha is a painful game, and not one I can actively give a recommendation for because both gameplay wise and narrative wise, it isn't going to be an experience that everyone can appreciate or truly understand. It's 15 dollars on Steam if you find yourself interested, just don't expect to come out of it fulfilled.
Recommended by MrPixelton, this is the eleventh game on my obscure games list. Thanks again for the recommendation.
I really wanted to fully like this game. Just like with Critters for Sale, the cover art for the game had me very curious. I thought for a while about what the game would be. Would it be a detective story? A puzzle game?
What I got was an interesting character study of a depressed French hitman wrapped within a very low quality and unpleasant to play 2D Sidescrolling Run & Gun.
From the moment the game starts, you find yourself in a Church. For a moment I wandered back and forth, not really knowing what to do, but taking in the beautiful background art and sprite work. It was a lengthy moment of thoughtful respite.
I then saw the priest praying on the ground, and that's when the game told me to fire my loaded gun on him. Once I did, the problem with this game became almost immediately evident: the combat fucking sucks.
Don't get me wrong, it's hectic as hell and the backing music for these sections are fucking great, but combat itself is nothing but an utterly miserable chore.
You have to aim with a separate button and fire with another. In my case, I made by Aim Button the Left Bumper and my shoot button the X Button. If you aren't pressing the Aim Button, you cannot fire your gun, however the Aim Button will (initially) stop you in place so you can fire.
You can fire while moving, you simply need to hold the direction you're going in while holding the button, but that initial pause will occur every single time you use the Aim Button.
Of course, who are you shooting? Why, none other than the never-ending police force, which leads to my second problem. Enemies do not stop spawning, at least not until you reach the final screen of the mission you're in. They frequently appear on both sides of you at rapid speeds, which requires you to Aim and shoot them before they shoot you, which means you are spending 99% of the combat sections of this game pausing, shooting, moving for 3 seconds, and then pausing and shooting again.
You have to be quick too, or else you'll get shot and die at what feels like random intervals. Why does it feel random, you may ask? BECAUSE THERE'S NO HEALTH BAR IN THIS GAME!! There's no indication of how much damage you're taking, which means you have to rely on the sound cues, and it's very, very inconsistent
This game was released in 2020, there is zero excuse for there to not even be a health bar in your Run & Gun video game. Even games in the 80s and 90s within this genre had at least that.
Now, I'm sure the oppressive and harsh nature of the combat is entirely intentional, as I'll get into in a minute, but for games that are relatively short, I look to the gameplay loop to give me a solid reason to come back to it someday. Arrest of a stone Buddha's combat is just not satisfying to me, and while I find the story interesting, it's not going to be enough to get me to slog through the misery of combat just to see a different ending.
Plus, combat is just too utterly simple. There's no dodge rolling, no jumping, you just shoot and occasionally kick/break enemies' arms to get ammo.
Unlike the last game I played, ICEY, this game does not have remotely interesting combinations or different ways to handle the mooks you face. It's all just the same dredging murderfest, and it doesn't even make it fun like Gungrave.
Now of course, with all of this complaining, you'd probably be wondering why this isn't rated 1 star or lower, and that is where the narrative comes in to save this game.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I say narrative, but I moreso mean the subtext the game feeds you from almost the very beginning. The opening of the game makes it very clear that you, the unnamed protagonist of our tale, are a hitman.
You receive missions from someone who appears to be a childhood friend of yours, who is unhappy with this career choice that you both have chosen, and you meet at a park bench near your apartment after every successful mission (though the friend tries to get you to go to the museum twice, and only one time do you go).
You and him spend a lot of time talking about the good old days, how things went wrong. Before you part ways before your next mission.
Before every mission there is a gap period, much like how the game starts with that thoughtful moment of respite that I mentioned earlier. You'll spend time just... wasting time. There are no side quests, there are no other stories to find in this small town. There is just you, a lone hitman, wandering around trying to pass time.
It became immediately evident that the protagonist suffers from some form of chronic depression, and much like the last game I played that MrPixelton recommended, Flesh, Blood, & Concrete, I empathized with that struggle. However, unlike that game, Arrest of a stone Buddha does not have a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
For example, you can spend the game doing various menial things. You can smoke so many cigarettes that your lungs will turn to pitch, or watch a bunch of movies in the movie theatre and nothing else. Spend your entire day drinking hard liquor, or go out and have sex with your lover. These things are all treated by the game with the same mundanity of sitting in your apartment and doing nothing.
The only time the protagonist ever seems to feel alive is when he is actively putting himself in harms way. This is why I feel the combat's suckiness is intentional. He isn't trying to actually succeed in his mission, he doesn't even run to attack or defend himself, he just takes his enemies head on with no hesitation, as if hoping that they'd kill him.
At the end of the game, when you have finished all of the missions, and your friend stops meeting with you, the day you marked down at the beginning of the game comes to pass...
And you kill yourself.
Arrest of a stone Buddha ends with you, the protagonist who was devoid of a life or a purpose besides committing mass homicide, taking your own life because of the pointlessness of it all. And you, the player, have to pull the trigger.
It's a sad, yet poignant end. And while I'm aware there is an alternate ending, this is the canon ending of the game.
The truth is, the game isn't wrong that life is a pointless thing. Our lives as individuals does not serve any grand purpose. In the big picture, we are merely specks of paint that have been splattered onto the canvas.
However, that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the lives that we have. The problem with our protagonist is that he simply couldn't anymore. If he had just gotten the help he really needed, maybe things could have been different.
Arrest of a stone Buddha is a painful game, and not one I can actively give a recommendation for because both gameplay wise and narrative wise, it isn't going to be an experience that everyone can appreciate or truly understand. It's 15 dollars on Steam if you find yourself interested, just don't expect to come out of it fulfilled.