When you think of a cute sim game, what do you think of? Most gamers will typically name off at least one Nintendo title in their top 10 cutest games list. Games such as Animal Crossing, or other titles such as Slime Rancher. These cute franchises have excelled due to cute characters but also addicting gameplay elements. Where some games thrive in one area, they fall short in others. Sadly, this is why many Indie games struggle to reach mainstream gamers; however, this is not the only reason why. Many provide gameplay for a specific audience which is not appealing to everyone. At PAX East, Wired Productions brought a diverse lineup of games for people to preview. During our meeting, we got to try out a few of their games, specifically Tin Hearts and Arcade Paradise.
Earlier, we published our Tin Hearts coverage from PAX East 2022; if you haven’t checked it out, you should. For those who are unaware of who Wired Productions are, they are the publishers behind Max: The Curse of Brotherhood (PS4 & Switch), Close to the Sun, Deliver Us The Moon, The Falconer, and Martha is Dead. They are also the publishers behind the game, The Last Worker, which we awarded Best of Show at PAX East 2022.
Let’s dive more into Arcade Paradise, which is one of the many games we got to check out during the show!
Arcade Paradise
Although Arcade Paradise was the last title that I was shown, it still had some key elements that I appreciated beyond that of The Last Worker. With a limited time window, we opted for the developers to show us the game rather than trying it ourselves. Sometimes watching someone show off what they are passionate about is even more enjoyable than getting to play the game.
Arcade Paradise is the story of taking something you are passionate about and turning it into a business. Take a struggling laundry mat and turn it into a successful and thriving arcade. At the start of the game, the player must manage tasks around the laundry mat; these tasks include changing over laundry, picking up trash, removing gum, taking out the trash, and cleaning the bathroom. Everything is a game to the character and as such, players are graded with a score based on their performance. As your business succeeds, you are able to turn the tiny little break room with arcade games into a full-on arcade.
Takeaways
When watching the demo a few things really stood out. One, players can choose which arcade games are available in their arcade. Beyond that, you can actually play the arcade games and each game is filled with multiple levels. This is the inception level of gaming that some developers have recently started to embrace. Additionally, when games break, there is a debugging feature that makes players eliminate bugs rather than having to deal with code. The player can also move around the machine’s location and change its price to be more appealing to the customers.
Arcade Paradise gives players a taste of what it can mean to run their own business and incorporate something they love into a growing business. The graphics give the appearance of old 80s and 90s games, highlighting an era of gaming when arcades were a major thing. Watching this game made me remember the time spent in arcades as a child and long for those passionate moments yet again.
Release Date
At the moment, there is no official release date for Arcade Paradise. Arcade Paradise was supposed to previously launch in 2021 but was delayed. Arcade Paradise is currently being planned to be released on the PC, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
