Be careful if you have issues with anxiety! This game is really neat, but it can also shoot your anxiety through the roof. If that's not a concern, I recommend it!

Fantastic game, but I get too tilted playing it to complete :(

2017

Really fun game, but I've come to terms with the fact that I'll never be good or patient enough to finish a run.

Love the game, but my vocabulary just isn't good enough to advance :(

An absolutely wonderful game I'll never truly finish. I love it to pieces, but I'm happy with my experience as is, and don't want to ruin it by trying to force myself to see the ending.

A game I've had a lot of fun with, but I'll probably never sit down and actually complete.

I wouldn't say it's the GOAT Picross game, but it got me into Picross in general, so I'm pretty thankful for it!

This review contains spoilers

I named my cat Sissel, what more can I say?

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.