Arcaea

Arcaea is a rhythm video game developed and published by the British company Lowiro (stylized in all lowercase), first released for iOS and Android devices in 2017, and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2021.

The game functions as a vertical scrolling rhythm game with an accompanying story displayed in visual novel format. The visual novel features illustrations covering the two main female heroines, Tairitsu and Hikari . It is also considered a three-dimensional music video game, whose mechanics allow for uniquely challenging gameplay.

Gameplay

The main gameplay of Arcaea uses three-dimensional chart lanes that are split into two parts: the top lane and the bottom lane. The bottom lane is divided into four and consists of two note types: floor notes and long notes. Floor notes are basic single-tap notes, and long notes require the player to hold them throughout their duration. The top lane has two different note types: arc notes that require the player to hold the note throughout its duration (arcs can vary in direction, including left, right, up, and down), and sky notes, which are floating single-tap notes. The Nintendo Switch version has an alternative mode with Joy-Con controls. The note types used differ with the selected difficulty: Past, Present, Future, Eternal, or Beyond. The game also presents a difficulty scale from 1 to 12, including "+" variants. Each player has a Potential score that increases based on the user's best performances.

As they play, users collect an in-game currency, fragments, which can be used to unlock more songs. Besides Music Play, the game includes other game modes. In World Mode, players progress through a grid to unlock songs and characters, referred to as partners. When selected, a partner can change some gameplay aspects, and its supporting statistics can be leveled up through playing using the partner or spending Ether Drops obtainable in World Mode. In Story Mode, players read storylines with the game's characters; sections of the story are unlocked by clearing specific songs. Course Mode features series of four songs each to be completed in a row, akin to boss rushes, to unlock special nameplates.

Development

Arcaea began as a single-developer project by Anton Prydatko, inspired by Japanese arcade rhythm games. Prydatko had a background in iOS development at Dischan Media and Rakuten before starting Lowiro in 2016. Despite being founded in the UK, the Lowiro team prominently includes illustrators and musicians in Japan, where the majority of its player base is from, as well as employees in the US and Singapore.

Arcaea includes a variety of music styles in its track library, such as Vocaloid and traditional Eastern music. Many of the musicians involved in Arcaea are Japanese indie or doujin composers. The game also includes songs from professional composers, such as Swedish musician Rasmus Faber. Prydatko stated that the team leaned into creating original songs since the original launch rather than only license from popular media, as was common in rhythm games, to "surprise" players.

The levels were designed so that the difficulty would not strictly depend on each track’s genre or beats per minute. Floating "Arc" notes were implemented to add immersion in contrast to the simple 2D top-down design common in mobile rhythm games.

Lowiro often commissioned Japanese illustrators for the visuals to maintain cohesiveness in the style and worldbuilding. Japanese illustrator Cierra (シエラ) created the key visuals and early character and world designs. The idea to add a story mode was made late in development; Prydatko said that he and writer Terrence Smith aimed for a "very flexible and open-ended story" without borrowing "any direct inspiration". To achieve a balance between the gaming experience and plot, Prydatko told artists to arrange the track vocals, tempo, rhythm, and cover artwork to match the story's themes and characters.

Using a free-to-play model to remain the game accessible, it was important to the developers that the game's monetization method allow players to "own" their purchased content. Players can buy songs individually or in "packs" and play them an unlimited number of times, unlike the "stamina" model commonly used in mobile game monetization, which restricts play time. Arcaea separate World Mode, where players can unlock new songs, limits progress via time-based "gates" to help "keep it fair", according to Prydatko.

Release and update history

Arcaea was released on the App Store and Google Play on 9 March 2017 and for the Nintendo Switch on 18 May 2021. While the mobile version is free with additional songs requiring in-app transactions, the Switch release is paid with some of those additional songs available with the base purchase. Due to the mobile version's live service model, it has received more frequent updates than on the offline Switch version.

On launch, the mobile game had about 20 songs and a paid song pack, "Eternal Core". It was the first of a series of packs that include content for the Story Mode's main plot; its first act was concluded with the release of the "Final Verdict" pack in version 4.0 on 13 July 2022. The version also introduced Course Mode. Act II of the main story began with the release of the "Severed Eden" pack in September 2023.

The main story was released alongside side stories featuring additional characters. Arcaea includes songs from collaborations with other rhythm games such as Lanota, Chunithm, and Cytus II, as well as series including Maimai and Groove Coaster. In 2025, a pack with songs from the soundtrack of Undertale was added, as well as a Camellia remix of "Megalovania" by Toby Fox. As of 2026, the game's library contains over 500 tracks.

Reception

Eric Ford of TouchArcade says that it has "an awesome art style combined with very upbeat songs and a nice twist to the traditional rhythm formula". But he also mentioned that some of the gameplay elements could make the game potentially difficult.

Digitally Downloadeds Mike S. praised the game's aesthetic and music, and described its character art as "impeccable", though not memorable compared to other rhythm games. He disliked the game's requirements for unlocking new songs, considering them to be inappropriate for the game's paid release on the Nintendo Switch.

Dani Maddox of Siliconera said the game's music was "just amazing", with a large range of songs and genres. However, she found the game's story mode to be poor, and encountered issues with controls in the Nintendo Switch version, such as the console's size when playing in touchscreen mode and the game being "finicky" with a controller.