So this time I'm actually reviewing a game that's not out for the general public yet. This is possible because I supported the game's creator on Patreon, so I got access to the closed beta test. Yes, this probably means I'm a bit predisposed to like the game, if for no other reason than that I'd hate for something I supported that way to turn out bad.
That's also why this is marked as part 1. I haven't played through the full game yet, and couldn't even if I had devoted more time to trying out the beta given that the full game doesn't exist yet. So there will be another review of this game at some point in the future once I've had the chance to actually play the full version.
Everything I've seen so far is positive, though. Arcade Spirits is a visual novel, set in a fictional alternate reality in which the video game crash in the 80's never happened, which means that gaming and arcades are much more of a mainstream pursuit than they are in the world we actually live in. It's partly romantic comedy and partly a rather serious drama about chasing one's dreams. It also features an alignment system of sorts (which players of some RPG computer games may recognize) - your choices give you points towards a variety of character traits, as well as relationship points with the other characters, and as the story proceeds, that starts to have an impact on how everyone reacts to the main character.
The biggest single point in this game's favor, of course, is Stefan Gagne's writing. He's responsible for writing a lot of the game's story, and I've liked everything he's written ever since I first read one of his stories. The worlds he's built are interesting and amusing by turns, and the characters he puts in them have very realistic strengths and weaknesses - he always avoids giving his characters the idiot ball for no reason, but also doesn't have any boring invincible heroes that I can remember offhand. And the dialogue choices are written in such a way that you can tell what type of person you're going to be, but it's not obvious to the point of parody. That's a common flaw with alignment systems like this game's, but this one avoids it to at least some extent.
One of the other interesting details, though, is the character customization options and how they affect the romantic options. Or rather - how they don't. I haven't actually reached any of those story lines yet, but from what I understand the player is free to romance whoever they like, regardless of what gender they picked for their character. That's not common, and it's kind of refreshing to see it treated as utterly normal and unremarkable.
As for the rest of it, I guess we'll see. Everything I've seen makes me think I'll like this one, though, and I strongly recommend at least giving the demo a look.
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