This game surprised me. I thought I knew what I was getting into with this game: something fun and light, with a lot of cringy pop culture references, leading up to you kissing your romance option of choice. And for most of it, it sure was. But it had a lot of heart to it that I really appreciated.

One of the moments that stuck out to me was when you get sucked into Polybius and you're confronted with your inner and outer demons. Typical, sure, but for someone in their late 20s, unemployed and trying to find their way in the world right now, being tempted with the possibility of just staying in your safe bubble of games and never being hurt but also never growing, that's a black mirror moment that made me put down the Switch for a bit. Another thing that stuck with me was all the stuff about a family curse following you and keeping you from fully settling into being happy; Playing/being a person of color, that resonated with me.

It's also really well done as a game. I haven't played a ton of visual novels, but I've played enough to have an idea of what I don't like. I really appreciate how this game handles its ensemble and the number of opportunities you get to hang out with each person and get to know them, all the while leaving stuff open for future playthroughs. I started another character as soon as I finished my first game, and I found at least one character who I didn't see at all prior. A lot of the dialogue changed flavor as I made different choices too. It really gives the game world a lived-in feel.

I intended to romance Naomi, she was my type from the start. But then I fell in love with QueenBee after getting to know her, so I set that aside for my second playthrough. Well, whoops, I ended up getting really intrigued by Ashley after some conversations I didn't see the first time around. I don't think I've ever done that with romance options, usually who I liked is who the PC likes. But I so bought into the story that I wanted to be true to the characters as I helped shaped.

I felt the affection the creators had for their characters. I appreciated how there wasn't an outright asshole in the main cast, and everyone had an appeal to them. I never regretted a decision to do something with anyone, and that's always a plus with character-driven games. In the end, what I loved about this game is that it was just a nice world to be in, and I took some positive things to think of, coming out of it

Scattered Thoughts (some slight spoilers):

There's a lot of BioWare in this game's DNA as well, I feel. The conversations at the end felt like the last conversation you have prior to the endgame of a Mass Effect (characters from the start of the story hook up, even) or Dragon Age. Just having a final boss fight in general was an interesting twist. Like I said, I'm not too familiar with the tropes at large to say if that's rare or not, but I was certainly surprised.
I really enjoyed the game's art style. Sure, it's very Dream Daddy-esque, but the characters are very expressive and distinct.
The audio, was not good. The volume mixing was all over the place, the voice acting was terribly directed, and the soundtrack sounded like stock 80s music.
While I loved the feel-good nature of the game, I do wish it didn't give such easy solutions. QueenBee being allowed to start a local branch of the eSports team, getting into which was a lucky break in and of itself, strained credibility for me. Same with Percy finding a solution to his condition.
* I'm really looking forward to playing the second game at some point. I'm curious to see what more they can do with this game's formula. I'm intrigued that there are supposed to be customization options, I'm a little skeptical about the new characters being more larger-than-life but I'm willing to give it a shot, and I like the music I've heard from it, it feels a bit more distinct.

Thanks for reading!

”Love and friendship, in a time of pixels and quarters.”

- Artwork: 3/5
- Music: 4/5
- Characters: 5/5
- Story: 5/5
- Gameplay: 2/5
- Overall: 3.5/5

this is only like my...third? fourth? visual novel, so i went in not really knowing what to expect. i got this as part of a bundle and i was drawn to it bc irl the kind of arcades i want to see are vanishing; many are barcades which aren't my thing, many are seaside arcade piers which have remained the same since the 1970s, and most "modern" arcades in my part of the country. are gone. it's obvious why but i'm not any less sad about it given arcades are an experience that won't ever be replaced due to their nature, and i was born too late to really see their heyday. this game struck me as more on the side of light feelgood visual novels that show everyone prevailing rather than raw and unsettling visual novels with lots of graphic content that leave a deep impression, but i like light feelgood stuff too

so, i went in unsure of if i wanted romance. initially i was REALLY charmed by naomi and thought i'd romance her but i found myself getting drawn to QueenBee very quickly??? like i thought i'd hate her but i ended up falling in love with her very quickly and i don't regret it, though i'll probs go back in for a naomi route. i'm a big fan of the way the "morality system" works in this game and ESP the way it's explained. like ok so iris is a walking privacy violation and a major human rights concern but this is a light feel game so i was like yknow what yeah sure i'll roll with it. admittedly i REALLY avoided percy bc i didn't like his vibes at first esp w the day trading talk (is this man into crypto or smth???) and though it got a bit better given the Reveal around him, i enjoyed the rest of the cast p well too

admittedly i feel like this is a game that will show its age very quickly; there's a fair bit of 2010s style "gamer" talk from several characters, and the main character has a kind of sarcastic humour (no matter what personality you have, i figured it was just the creators making sure you don't come off too much of a bland blank slate) that i feel will also just be kinda dated in a few years - not in a bad way dkjglhkjdg just that it's the kinda snark that's going to lose its bite in a few years, doubly so with the memes that were ALREADY aged by the time the game came out. it's a VN of a very specific style that will make it very easy to pinpoint when it was made and what cultures influenced it, and the problems it presents are relatable more to people in their 20s and 30s but may lose that relatability...well, to be fair it'll be a long time till we're all older than that KJFDHGJKFHG but i don't think it's a bad thing either. it's all a product of its time, for better and worse is the tldr.

the main story was a standard thing of "cute lil shop struggles to stay afloat in these tough times and you have to save it", and it hit yakuza 5's Yume (TM) levels of mentioning dreams but it kinda added to the aesthetic it had on. like, the game's about how arcades are magical places. it's to be expected. easy enough to get into, easy enough to ignore if you wanna focus on the characters, yknow? the game has this nice and warm feeling to it and i'm glad it still does put some more depressing stuff in here and there to make the highs feel higher and make them feel like they were fought for

the soundtrack didn't impress me at first, but i think i failed to understand at the time that when it comes to visual novels, they aren't meant to take centre stage as they do in games that are about action like devil may cry. they've made a really nice addition to my playlists. the voice acting was kinda inconsistent, like, sometime it was stereotypical (see: hamza, francine and percy), though they all sounded like they were having fun so i'm fine w that, though, nothing to write home about? it was weird that even within the same conversation w one person, some lines got voiced and some didn't, and some only got intonations. weird. anyway hi i think i've said all i can, and yknow what? i'm going back in for a naomi route, that is if i don't get drawn in by someone else

stray notes:
-iris keeps advertising pizza bagels despite being premium/adfree, so i am led to believe that that's just who she is
-sue has a VERY high proportion of voiced lines compared to non-voiced lines compared to the rest of the cast???
-i love that the game doesn't railroad you into romance
-imo the game's humour and writing are kinda allowed to be dated anyway given it's based around an aesthetic/vibe that saw its heyday like 40 years ago, before me, maybe you, and also probably the creators of this game were born
-i like ashley's route that is all
-it's very clear the creators know next to nothing about the uk outside of stereotypes
-ben and matt talk like gilmore girls characters, but like, JUST those two
-when you have pizza on a bagel,

https://www.backloggd.com/u/HuFe/list/gay-visual-novels-ranked-bara/

The Overall Game
A visual novel with a great retro-futuristic atmosphere and design, set in an alternative future where the videogame crash never happened, so the world ended up completely submerged in the industry’s aesthetic and way of life. The main story is that you look for work at an arcade, and the place ends up becoming the place you call home. It focuses on child friendly relationships and deep connections, leaving the romance aspect as secondary and optional. There's 7 romanceable characters, 3 boys and 4 girls, and they can always be interested in you, no matter the gender you choose. They hired actors to perform a few of their lines, and they also say quips like “Will do!” from time to time, and this helps them become fully fleshed out characters. It would be nicer if the game was fully voiced because I don’t like to read, but oh well.

Big Feature 1: Character Creation
You can play as any gender you want, and the game offers a significant amount of customization for the main character, a rarity in these kinds of games. This is similar to Dream Daddy, but instead of focusing on having lots of shit to choose from, the main objective is to be able to show all possible customizable characters in the unlockable wallpapers, which is pretty cool in concept. However, I have some complaints with this system: The head/face shape is not customizable, therefore they focused on making it as gender neutral as possible, but this has the consequence that your character always looks ambiguous, you can't be femme or masc no matter how hard you try (And they don't even offer any facial hair options, I'm screwed). They also don't let you choose your body type, so you are forced to be skinny.

Big Feature 2: Point System
Another big part of the story is that you have a robot helper named Iris. She keeps track of your personality points, and of your friendship points. You can flirt with any of the characters along the way, but once you get closer to the end of the game, Iris tells you that it’s an ideal moment for you to start a romantic relationship with one of the characters. And she acts as matchmaker, telling you the friendship points you have with each person, and she offsets the score taking into account your personality points, offering your perfect suitable match. You can choose to igore her advice and choose another person, and you have the option to be asexual or to remain single, but I don’t think you have the option to be polyamorous, and I’m sure that is disappointing to the community.

My Personal Taste
The game has a linear story that focuses mostly on improving your arcade workplace and becoming friends with everyone along the way, so it forces you to spend some time with all the characters, even when you don’t like them very much. This initially annoyed me, as I didn’t care about 90% of the characters, but in retrospect it’s actually kind of cute, and now I'm feeling very nostalgic for the whole experience. I honestly just played the game because I wanted to date Percy, and I did just that. If you put a ginger bear in your game, I will play it. The funny thing is that he turned out to be a good lad just like me: kindness was our largest personality trait, so we were actually compatible on an emotional level. The Percy romance is so cute that I consider it one of my favourites of all time, and as a big sucker for a good romance storyline, it made the entire game for me.

I don't typically enjoy games that take a "gamer" aesthetic; they tend to be ham-fisted in delivery and chock to the gills with cringey memes. Arcade Spirits doesn't always avoid that trap, but it still happens to have some compelling writing and endearing characters. I do feel the writing at times is a bit uneven, especially as the game moves to its latter half and forces your hand in conversations in a way that you may not have wanted. And the overarching "conspiracy" doesn't really intrigue me and takes focus away from the interesting bit of the story--namely you helping run an arcade with a cast of colorful characters.

Still, even with the weird oddities, it's a pretty decent title.

technically a polished game, with a nice running theme about job anxiety within capitalism, but that's the nicest i can really say about it.
i truly hate to say it, but it's...cringe. the writing, dialogue especially, is just so bland and twee, and the jokes never land. the art is not exactly bad, but i find it off-putting. it seems like the devs thought they could ride the wave of "wholesome queer western vn with a schtick" without putting anything interesting into it. droves of cheerful, monocultural queer people with very palatable problems is not the representation i personally am looking for.
my complaints are entirely subjective, and i know a lot of people love this game, but i think it's kinda basic at best and cynical at worst.