RWBY: Arrowfell is a platformer game created by WayForward Technologies and Arc System Works, with Rooster Teeth providing animation for the cutscenes. The adventure has been written by Kerry Shawcross, Eddy Rivas and Miles Luna, and takes place during Volume 7 of the original show.
Players take control of Team RWBY, utilizing their unique weapons and Semblances to explore Atlas and Mantle, interacting with familiar characters and a host of new faces to solve the mystery of a new threat facing the kingdom.
The game was released on November 15th, 2022, and is available for the Nintendo Switch, Steam, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
Arrowfell provides examples of:
- Advertised Extra: Despite a showing in the trailers Amoncio Glass doesn't get much, if any significant role in the story other than being a minor guy within the conspiracy. After his boss fight, he disappears from the plot.
- Ambidextrous Sprite: The characters' sprites reverse rather than the characters themselves when they turn around.
- Big Bad: Bram Thronmane is the cause of conflict within the game. He manipulates others to do his dirty work, is the cause of all the Grimm attacks, and tries to kill Team RWBY when they get in his way.
- Canon Foreigner: Several new characters are introduced for the game, including the new Team BRIR.
- Cast from Hit Points: Or rather "Cast From Aura" as the girls' iconic ranged weapons are fueled by the Aura meter to keep players from trying to constantly play keep away and to mix it up with their melee attacks.
- Doomed by Canon: As this game came out after Volume 8 of the main show had been released, but takes place during Volume 7, players already know what the fates of the canon characters will be. Part of the villains' plan involves taking out Ironwood; given his fate in Volume 8 of the original show, players already know that the Arrowfell villains will fail.
- Fetch Quest: The first half of the game is heavy with these, as is the case for many Metroidvania-type games. They're done to push the game forward.
- Forced Tutorial: The game drops you off in a field in Atlas where you get a handle on how the girls play, understand how their iconic Semblances work and show off the Ambush mechanic.
- Ground Pound: Yang's Burst Semblance is this, triggering her power, then striking the ground. The normal version can be used to destroy boulders while the Burst+ not only destroys steel blocks, but also sends out a wave of energy that damages everyone on that floor.
- Humongous Mecha: Amoncio Glass's boss fight has him driving one of these against Team RWBY.
- Improvised Platform: Weiss can use her Glyph semblance to create platforms temporarily. It stays if she is switched out so other characters can use it.
- Locomotive Level: Partway through Chapter 4, Team RWBY is tasked to take a train in search of the perpetrators behind the sudden Grimm attacks. It's actually a trap by Olive Harper to get Team RWBY out of the way, something Ruby realizes after having to deal with tons and tons of Atlesian soldiers, robots and mechs.
- Me's a Crowd: Blake's Shadows Semblance is this like in canon. These allows her to draw in foes and attack them from a safe spot and even be used to trigger pressure plates. Shadows+ allows her to create two of them at once.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Ruby groans when Amoncio Glass attacks with his Humongous Mecha, a Call-Back to the fact that they ended Volume 6 with this.
- Saved by Canon: This game takes place during Volume 7 of the original show, and comes out after Volume 8 has finished airing. Players familiar with the original show therefore already know that the villains will have a minimal impact on canon settings like Atlas and Mantle.
- Skill Scores and Perks: The game has Skill Points, which players can either find in the stages or can buy them for 100 Lien. They're used to increase melee power, ranged power, defense power and how much one's Aura can be recharged.
- Title Drop: The titular "Arrowfell" is an abandoned Atlesian weapons project that was shut down long ago.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Most of the characters involved with the conspiracy have good goals, but their actions are not heroic. Team BRIR is a band of mercenaries who want to defend the people and protect Arrowfell's secrets. Hanlon Fifestone is a Mantle Union leader who originally fought to reduce tensions between Atlas and Mantle until he started using his Semblance to incite and harvest raw fear energy to enable the Negative Emotion Orbs to attract Grimm. Olive Harper is The Mole who only helped the conspirators because she thought it was to improve the tension between Atlas and Mantle. All of them have been misled and used by the conspiracy's leader, Bram Thornmane.
- Worldbuilding: The game shows and develops the entire Kingdom of Atlas on the continent of Solitas unlike the show where only the cities of Atlas and Mantle were focused on.
