Arcade Spirits

Players take control of a customizable character, whose gender, skin color, hair length, hair color, hoodie color, and name (which defaults to Ari) can be determined. Players can also customize Ari's personality, using an in-game mechanic called the Identity Identifier System, which judges Ari on various traits. This affects how Ari interacts with other characters in the game. Picking certain dialogue choices will both affect Ari's relationship with other characters as well as influence how strong these traits are.

If a certain trait does not have enough time put into it, certain dialogue choices will be locked. By building up relations with certain characters, Ari may romance them at some point.

Arcade Spirits is set in an alternate history where the video game crash of 1983 never occurred, and arcades continued to thrive. Players control a customizable character, who can be either female, male, or non-binary, with the default name of Ari Cader. Ari shares a home with their roommate, Juniper, who encourages them to look for a new job using a phone app called IRIS. This app has an artificial intelligence named Iris, who helps Ari apply for a job at an arcade called the Funplex as a floor manager.

She is hired by an elderly woman named Francine, who hires them due to their experience with working as a lifeguard, which she deems suitable experience for working in a high-stress environment. While working at the Funplex, Ari meets a number of people, most of whom work at the Funplex, and may choose to participate in romantic relationships with certain characters. Ari may pursue characters romantically regardless of any genders involved.

Its development took a little over two years before the first release. Arcade Spirits was developed by Fiction Factory Games and published by PQube, with writing done by Stefan Gagne and Aenne Schumann, the former who also served as project director. It was Fiction Factory Games' first project. Schumann had written for other works before, but it was their first time working as a narrative designer.

Gagne came to work with Schumann after they met through a mutual friend at a PAX East panel titled "Romance in Video Games," at which point they became friends. Gagne later asked Schumann if they would like to work on a game with him, which Schumann accepted. Gagne and Schumann made a point of hiring a diverse team for the game's development. The team behind Arcade Spirits put out a casting call looking for musicians to work on the game.

Arcade Spirits has received generally positive reception, with aggregate website OpenCritic identifying it as receiving "strong" reviews. Washington Post writer Christopher Byrd compared Arcade Spirits to a "beach read," calling it "charming and relatable" and noting that it understands its audience. They were critical of its art style, noting that the repetition of environments became worse due to its art style not being strong enough. However, they felt the story was strong enough to keep them interested, discussing how it specifically examines gaming in a critical light.

GamesRadar+'s Heather Wald listed Arcade Spirits in their list of the best visual novels, praising it for its cast of characters and "creative nods" to arcade games. They also appreciated how much choice there was, contributing to good replay value. RPGFan writer Alana Hagues was "surprised" by the game, noting that while it was not "genre-defining," it left players with a "warm feeling" upon completion. They particularly enjoyed being able to decide whether their character wanted romance or not, as they felt it allowed players to decide how they wanted to play their character better.