RWBY: Arrowfellis the latest attempt to cash in on the popular Rooster Teeth anime. The series began in 2013 and while characters like Ruby have appeared as gussets in games, there haven’t been many solo adventures for console players to dig into.
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So, how isRWBY: Arrowfelldoing in the reviews? As of now, there aren’t many out there on aggregate sites like Metacritic but opinions seem to be middling at best. Perhaps these ideas can help spruce the adventure up. A game is never truly dead unless the publisher pulls it. A good patch or two could turn this action gamewith Metroidvania elementsaround.
7Add More Voices
RWBY: Arrowfellfeatures the voice cast from the properRWBYanime along with newcomers to the game. The cast is great, but there is a problem with that. The characters are only voiced in the animated cutscenes and there aren’t a lot of them.
Most of the story is told through dialogue boxes which are standard formost action gameslike this. It’s understandable why this was done as voicing a game can deter from the overall budget. However, to appease fans, more elements of the story should get voice updates via patches.
6Add Difficulties
Players from all walks of life will pick up an action game expecting to get something different from it. For example,Bayonetta 3can be tough as nails if players wish to test their merit. They can also have it made easier with an adjustment of the difficulty level.
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It’s odd then thatRWBY: Arrowfellis missing such a basic feature of action games likeBayonetta 3. The simple solution then would be to add in some difficulty levels or to give playerssome assist options.
5Characters Should Have Their Own HP
Players can swap between the four heroines at any time. Most games that include a system like this often give their characters their own health bar. The NESTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesgame is a great example, which can be checked out via theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, but there are others out there too.
RWBY: Arrowfelldoes not have this luxury as all characters share the same health. This can force players to focus on one hero until they need another to get past an obstacle or something. It kind of defeats the purpose of including this many playable characters, but a patch could fix this issue.
4Losing A Heart Should Restore All Health
RWBY: Arrowfellhas an odd health system besides having all four heroes share the same bar. Once all life is lost, players will also lose a heart. Consuming a heart automatically will revive the player on the spot. The trouble is that only one point of health is restored upon revival.
If players get revived and then are immediately hit again, that’s another heart that gets lost. A patch should make it so that when players get revived, they get more health back like at least a third of their bar if not half.
3Guns Need A Separate Energy Bar
The final oddity regarding the health system is that guns use it. They don’t consume bullets or a special meter akin to magic inother action games. One bullet equals a fraction of HP gets consumed. It’s as if the game doesn’t want players to use these weapons since the loss of health is such a deterrent.
It should be said that HP will automatically regenerate but it is slow. How much gets healed is dictated by how many points players put into the regeneration ability on the skill tree. So, the developers should add a special meter for projectiles instead.
2Add A Map
The lack of a map is one of the biggest mysteries in this game. Even the most indie of action games, especially onesthat resemble Metroidvanias, have maps of some sort. There is a world map wherein players can choose a location to jump to such as dungeons or hub towns.
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Dungeons and towns don’t have maps though. It would be ideal to get a big map in the player menu along with a mini-map while players explore. As that could prove to be too difficult, one option or the other would suffice in the next patch. Without a map now, it’s easy to get lost in the game, which should come as no surprise since there are many Metroidvania-like tendencies aboutRWBY: Arrowfell.
1Add Health Bars
There is a plethora of issues regarding health on the hero side of things as was already established. This next idea is not as concerning, but it would be good to allow players to see the HP of their enemies. The absence of an enemy health meter doesn’t matter so much with normal enemies running around since they don’t take many hits before they die.
The bigger concern is with bosses which tend to have health bars no matter ifan action gamehas them on normal enemies. The first boss, which resembles an elephant, can seem immortal without a health bar updating players on its condition. Whether a patch adds in health bars for all enemies or just bosses is up to WayForward.
RWBY: Arrowfellwas released on July 15, 2025, and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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