Arcade Spirits

[h3]Pros:[/h3] For the most part, I think this game is a big accomplishment from a small dev team. - NPCs: These are the friends you make at the arcade. They all have their own unique designs and personality traits. Throughout the game, I was able to get a strong sense of these characters, their values, and their goals. I enjoyed spending time with them. - MC: You are able to build up the personality of the MC, and change who they are fundamentally by the end. You start out as a depressed loser, but can build up several personality traits: kind, quirky, steady, gutsy, etc. You can also if you choose to, not only end up in a better place financially, but develop a profession that makes you happy as well. You definitely feel like this was a journey toward self discovery and character growth. - Romance: The game has 6 romance interests. I was chasing after the resident teddy bear, Percy, but then Teo unexpectedly and bashfully asked the MC on a lunch date. I was taken aback, and thought his pursuit was super cute, so the MC ended up with Teo in my playthrough. I cannot attest to how things end up with other NPCs, but Teo was a supportive partner, and looks GREAT in a speedo, lol. - Design: I'm not an expert in this area, but I appreciated the 90's neon aesthetic. There was so much homage to the 90s and games out of the 90s. Being a teen in the 90s myself it was nostalgic. [b]Now, I mostly like this game. Hence the positive rating, but I have a couple of complaints: one is more of a small gripe, but the other is a serious grievence I have with this game.[/b] [h3]Cons:[/h3] - The first is character design: very limited. I think I would have preferred the devs have a faceless MC. No matter what you do, your character is going to look like a bland potato sack hobo. This game has so many NPCs whose designs showcase their personality. For a game that advertises building up a personality, it is a shame that you are unable to express that in your MC's character design. - Story: (spoilers) There are 8 chapters in this game. Story is great from ch 1 through 6. However, it suffers greatly around ch 7 when a certain character enters the story. [spoiler]Sue is an annoying teenager who is introduced as the daughter of the main antagonist: Deco Nami. She sabotages the grand opening of your new arcade by hacking your games/tv, starting fights in the arcade, putting explosives in your toilets, and instigates a gang war, of which the result is that you get shot in the leg and end up in the emergency room. The reason Sue commits these felonies is because she has daddy issues. This plot development may have worked in another game, but introducing this girl so late with little character development ruins the end game. It's okay to have redeemable villains, but such redemption needs to be earned. You could argue, "But she's a teenager!" Doesn't really matter, Sue is just a character with a role to play, and she plays it poorly. Her background is that she enjoys committing felonies, as outlined above, and her father blackmails her into committing crimes for him because otherwise he will sell her out to the police... except that doesn't make any sense. The game tells you that Sue has achieved master level OP hacking skills at the tender age of 16. Not even the FBI could find her, and you are unable report her crimes the to police because she hacked all the computers and cameras, deleting the evidence of what went down on your arcade's opening day. How could her father report her for anything when Sue is a master class hacker? She could just hack daddy's accounts, hack police records, and hack the planet! In any case, the final chapter consists of the MC being forced by the game's narrative to tell Sue how great she is, and that she needs to go no contact with her toxic father. (Keep in mind, Sue has no remorse for went down at your arcade, which included you getting shot.) It is brain dead easy to convince Sue to betray her father. She then "hacks all the evidence" to make it seem like everything was Deco Nami's fault, and sheds crocodile tears in front of the camera when her father is arrested. Also, Sue's gang consists of all men, and one of them declares his love for her. But let's be real, all of them are probably in love with her as all the boys declare that they would die for her during end game. Ch 8: THE END! It was mistake for this character, Sue, to exist. The game jokes that her full name is "Sue Nami." I have another name for her: Mary Sue. I don't know, maybe Sue was self insert from one of the writers, but this intrusive and toxic character ruins the end game story. It's like enjoying a lovely ice cream sundae only to find a wad of pubes at the bottom of your bowl. Why is does the game force the MC to excuse and reward the actions of this toxic assh0le? The game should have ended with Sue and her gang going to prison and being forced into court mandated counseling.[/spoiler] My favorite genre is CRPG, but I do often enjoy a good adventure game or VN like this while taking breaks between more challenging games. So long as you think you can eye roll your way through the last chapter sucking up to selfish shi*tty person, I think this game is a great pick up when on sale.

I like how there's an option to be friends with all the characters instead of romancing them.