Arcade Spirits

It’s a game with a goofy premise told with the utmost sincerity and conviction, buoyed by its believable cast and comforting aesthetic. If you’ve ever loved a video game – like, truly loved one – this is the game for you.

This is a warm, funny, moving visual novel, with a delightful cast of characters to get to know and potentially fall in love with, dressed up in a loving celebration of arcade history.

The distinct graphic style and story based on friendships and gaming, adds to the fun factor of Arcade Spirits. It is suitable for any player regardless of the level of arcade system knowledge, as a lot gets explained. It isn't solely an arcade history lesson, though. There is a slightly supernatural element that creates a lot of mystery and thrills, making a sequel rather desirable. The solid plot combined with retro style colours and game appropriate menus all add to the arcade machine feel of this visual novel, which most will appreciate and enjoy.

Arcade Spirits is a unique visual novel. It has a lot of humor as well as dourness, which will have gamers guessing their fate while simultaneously shaping it themselves. As you go from floor assistant to something much more, you’ll find true love along the way. The dream of working a job you adore while finding your soulmate: a hardship in real life, but achievable in a few short hours with Arcade Spirits.

Arcade Spirits put me in the shoes of a character that faces many of the same struggles I have in my own life… but it also let me escape into a world where arcades are social places for gamers, full of friends and romantic interests. It’s an odd mix of fantastical elements and certainly no real life friend group would have that many attractive singles in it, but all in all, it’s an entertaining, heartwarming title that I think many will enjoy.

Despite not reaching its full potential, I still found some entertainment in Arcade Spirits. By ignoring the romantic aspects, I was able to play it as someone with an appreciation of the heyday of arcades. The charming setting made for a promising launching point, the audio is excellent, and the story (with smart pop-culture nods and humor) has page-turning qualities to some extent.

Arcade Spirits features a detailed character customization at the outset, but that’s the best thing it has going. The somewhat interesting story is weighed down by lackluster characters and boring visuals. The voice acting is okay, but not all of the dialogue is voiced: some lines have no audio, some have a brief character refrain, and others are fully voiced. Ultimately, the dialogue and points system just wasn’t engaging enough to keep me fully invested in the narrative, and its comedy leanings prevented the romance elements from feeling genuine. It doesn’t help that the writing is littered with far too many pop culture and gaming references. Those who devour visual novels like Gauntlet would devour quarters might find Arcade Spirits worth playing through, but everyone else should probably cash in their prize tickets for something else.