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
Fiction Factory Games · May 1, 2020
About
Arcade Spirits is a romantic visual novel that follows an alternative timeline where the 1983 video game crash never occurred. It's 20XX and you've just started a new job at the Funplex game arcade. Who will you meet along the way? Will you find the romance you're seeking?
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Critic reviews
- 7.6At first glance, Arcade Spirits may appear to be only fun and pleasantly nerdy, but it is actually a visual novel packed with unexpected and heartwarming lessons. While not entirely perfect with room to increase character customization and to adjust audio consistency, Arcade Spirits demonstrates what a geeky romantic visual novel should be like.
- 8.0Arcade Spirits is tailor-made for someone like me who was born in the 70s and spent much of their formative years in the 80s, the golden age of arcade, video and computer games. The old retro uncle inside me trembles with enthusiasm when seeing the game’s piquant arcade hall and all its lovely retro games. In the arcade game auction during chapter two, when I made a bid for a game I would have loved in real life, too, it felt so uncannily real.
- 8.5Arcade Spirits paints a vivid painting of life in an alternate reality in which the arcade scene is still huge. It brings all sorts of diverse characters to life while giving you a huge array of options for dealing with them. While, occasionally, the game seems to really push you towards making particular choices it still feels like I have some control over my path.
- 8.0If you enjoy getting lost in a great story based around realistic characters, then you shouldn’t hesitate to play Arcade Spirits. Its story throws enough twists and turns to keep you captivated for its six to eight-hour runtime, and it’s hard not to get invested. It’s a shame the voice acting is inconsistent, but it’s not enough of a bugbear to ruin what is otherwise an excellent visual novel.
- 7.0Arcade Spirits is a niche title that will nevertheless find its audience thanks to some great writing and a very inclusive selection of diverse characters to interact with. While there are a few flaws in the sound design area, including some poor voice work and an overall low volume output, the gameplay is engaging and the plot intriguing, making this the perfect choice if you're after a fun, lighthearted experience or a well-written gaming nostalgia trip.
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