This article is about a rhythm game. For the domain of single-celled organisms, see Archaea.
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Arcaea is a rhythmvideo game developed and published by the British company Lowiro (stylized in all lowercase).[3] The game was released on iOS and Android mobile platforms on 9 March 2017. A single-player version of the game was released for the Nintendo Switch on 18 May 2021.[4]
The game serves as both a rhythm game with quite a bit of visual novel side gameplay, as it has a curated story novel with illustrations covering the two main female heroines, Tairitsu and Hikari. It’s also considered a three-dimensional music video game, that gives the opportunity for unique and challenging gameplay. Another project revealed from lowiro, titled In Falsus, is scheduled to be released during 2026.
Gameplay
Unlike other mobile rhythm games, Arcaea's gameplay uses three-dimensional chart lanes that are split into two parts: The top lane and the bottom lane. The top lane consists of two different note types; Arcs in blue(L) or pink(R) that are color coded to indicate which hand to play with, that require the player to hold the note throughout its duration (arcs go in 360 degrees of direction, creating unique chart patterns), and sky notes that are single-tap notes that are present on the top lane. The bottom lane consists of two note types as well: Floor notes and long notes. Floor notes are basic single-tap notes that are present on the bottom lane (much like the sky notes), and long notes require the player to hold throughout their duration.
During the gameplay, players must keep track of two sets of notes moving across the screen,[5] and tap the screen or press controller buttons when the notes intersect with the guiding lines.
The game has 5 base difficulties: Past, Present, Future, Eternal,[6] and Beyond[7] (since version 5.7.0). It has a difficulty scale of 1-12, with + variants present, as low as the FTR difficulty (e.g., Future 9+), as a system better known for accurately capturing chart constants. The Arcaea chart constant is a detailed numerical value representing the difficulty/complexity of a song chart, providing a far more precise measure than the displayed difficulty level.[8]
The game features 3D rhythm mechanics, especially on the Present, Future and Beyond difficulty levels. This screenshot showcases such mechanics in a song on Future difficulty.
The game includes characters referred to as partners that give various beneficial effects while playing the rhythm game, and they gain experience points when selected for gameplay to play in World Mode, a gameplay mode consisting of worlds that allows players to actively play songs to collect more songs, in-game currency, story progress, and possibly partners. This is where the Stamina features take in play, as different Worlds require different amounts of stamina taken every song played. The game starts with 12 bars of stamina by default, where it takes exactly thirty minutes to gain a bar. Worlds typically take either 0, 2, or options for anything up to 6 bars of stamina. [5]
The player's overall skill level (rank) on Arcaea is calculated by “Potential”. When a player starts with 0.00 PTT, the current highest potential that can be reached by any other player’s method is 13.27 PTT (if using the Tairitsu (Testify variant) partner). Potential is the result of mathematical calculations that revolve around a completed song of a chart’s main difficulty, letter grade, and high score. Sometimes, a player's potential can either drop, rise, or stay after completing a song based on one's performance. This potential system does not contribute to gameplay in similar ways, except for some songs that may only be unlocked to play once the player meets the requirement of a certain potential level, usually at 11.00 PTT for many boss songs.
Arcaea's main story is accessed through the “Story Mode” feature, where players progress through every separated little part of the chapters (also known as Story Packs) by playing the required songs under any difficulty.
Update History
Arcaea Song Packs (mobile)
Main Story packs bolded Side Story packs italicized
At launch, the game had only 30 songs; as of version 5.10, it expanded to more than 400. Along with original songs created from specific story packs, there are also collaboration packs from other rhythm games. On the Nintendo Switch version of this game, additional content is expanded with the purchase of DLC items from the eShop; it only goes up to the Esoteric Order pack. Each one mainly costs over $7,99, while the collaboration packs only cost about $5.99.
On 13 July 2022, the Final Verdict pack was added to contain over five boss tracks and a sweet conclusion with Hikari and Tairitsu's main conclusion of the story. Because of the next part's overlap, they had to split into two sections, named "Act I" and "Act II", starting from the 4.9.0 update. There was also a mini-expansion called Final Verdict: Silent Answer, which is a bonus area that can be unlocked by playing songs after the unlock progression. Another possible update is a collaboration with the Japanese indie label HARDCORE TANO*C, featuring producers who created original songs made exclusively for ‘’Arcaea’’. From the 5.7.0 update from 14 March 2025, the game inculded a pack featuring five popular tracks, including a Camellia remix of Megalovania from the RPG video game UNDERTALE by Toby Fox.
Development
Arcaea began as a single-developer project by Anton Prydatko, inspired by Japanese arcade rhythm games.[10] Prydatko founded Lowiro in the United Kingdom, though many of the musicians involved in Arcaea are Japanese indie or doujin composers, and the majority of its player base are also from Japan.[11]
It was important to the developers that the game's monetization method allow players to "own" their purchased content. Players can buy "packs" of songs and play them an unlimited number of times, unlike the "stamina" model commonly used in mobile game monetization, which restricts play time.[11]
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.[12]
Digitally Downloaded's 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.[5]
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.[13]
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