ARCADE SPIRITS
Two quarters and a heart down?
Picture a world where the game industry crash of 1983 never happened: games are respected as more than the lucrative media industry they are today, yet arcades are still a widespread phenomenon. That’s the alternate reality in 20XX, and you, the protagonist of this cute visual novel, are… single and unemployed.
But don’t worry, you soon become the new floor attendant for a local arcade.
There’s a bit of nerdy wish fulfilment at play in the setting and your suitors, but the storytelling softens any possible bristling at this by giving you the option either to play along or to do something less tropey. For instance, you get to choose your first impressions of characters rather than the writing telling you what to think.
You can customise a wealth of things, from your appearance and pronouns to removing romance; if you don’t want your entanglements to become romantic, the power remains in your hands as choices are well-signposted and you have plenty of opportunity to make your intentions clear. Playing to make friends is as engaging as playing for keeps, and having the option turns what could’ve been a rote romcom into something more interesting.
Within the fiction itself, you’re discouraged from the playstyle too many VNs give way to, of just being whoever you think your fave wants you to be. Overall the writing, though at times clumsily reference-heavy, 1 generally feels emotionally sincere, and playing through character conflict with this charismatic cast2 gives us (an extra) life. If you’re burned out on mainstream VNs, this is a perfect palate cleanser. So, got any quarters? Jess Kinghorn