Publisher: Fiction Factory Games
Genre: Visual Novel
Summary: A new job at an arcade leads to friendships, difficulties, and perhaps a new dream for the future.
Gameplay: Gameplay consists of choices, which are often designated by tone (unless you turn off the option to view them.) Choices can also gain approval with characters. Your character and tone ratings are tracked (with in-game explanation!), viewable at the end of each chapter, and lead to different options and endings.
Style: The game has an overall video game aesthetic to its text to fit the topic. The characters are styled well with lots of art and expressions. The music is good as well.
Story: Arcade Spirits shines in telling a long, thematic story about finding friendship and purpose while going through the anxieties and depressions of life. It resonated especially strongly with me, but I imagine anyone who's had strong nostalgia, periods of melancholy, or struggles to find purpose would find something to appreciate.
The game is paced very well over eight chapters, with each chapter feeling like a satisfying chunk of story. The characters are rich and memorable, even minor ones, and not one feels underused. The variability offered by the customization for the main character (name, pronoun, and, to an extent, appearance), romance options, and tone choices makes for great replayability as well.
Conclusion: Arcade Spirits is a long, fun game with all the emotional highs and lows of a great story and all the variety of a great visual novel.