Visual novels are fast becoming a regular feature on the various digital stores that hold our gaming goodies, with multiple offerings having arrived over recent weeks and months. Today it’s the turn of another in the genre, mixing a romantic theme into the usual chatty ways as Arcade Spirits launches on Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Available right now via the usual Xbox Store, PlayStation Store and Nintendo eShop options, Arcade Spirit from PQube and the development team at Fiction Factory Games (great name btw!), follows an alternate timeline to the one we currently find ourselves in.
You see, Arcade Spirits forgets all about the big video game crash of 1983 and thrusts us off to a future world of 20XX. It is here where you discover that you’ve been sacked from your usual job, instead rocking up at a popular arcade spot. From there, by chatting to a variety of folk the story will unfold and your new life begins. Who will you find time for? Will there be romance in the air? You can be sure of the latter!
Features include:
- Play as yourself – In Arcade Spirits everything is customizable. All choices are reflected throughout both cutscenes and artwork – pick your pronoun, hair style, skin tone, hair/eye colour, and more.
- Develop your personality – and interact with characters however you like: whether it’s friendship, platonic or something more intimate. Work hard and build the relationship you desire!
- Track game progress – The Identity Identifier System, or “IRIS”, can track your relationship status with all characters throughout the game, as well as your personality traits.
- Protect your Arcade – Your decisions will affect the future fate of the Funplex. Whether it’s the relationships you choose to develop, or the way you handle key moments of crisis management.
Priced at £19.99, Arcade Spirits will certainly ignite the fire of those fans of the visual novel scene, yet it may well be our full review that will tempt you in to an actual purchase. Feel free to give it a read before heading to your favoured store to pick up a download. Let us know whether or not you decide to pick up Arcade Spirits on Xbox One, PS4 or Nintendo Switch, and if you do, what exactly you make of it.
Game Description:
What if the 1983 video game marketing crash never happened? Set in 20XX, Arcade Spirits is a visual novel romantic comedy with a different history, where arcades still reign supreme as the ultimate place to play. After a period of turbulent employment, your character starts an exciting new job at the Funplex: a popular local arcade with a team of staff that are as eccentric as the customers.
