So many reviews (including so many by me) begin rather predictably by saying how a game is a cross between X and Y, aiming to coordinate it on a graph for the reader. Unshine Arcade is a game that entirely defies the possibility, and I love it for that. This is a game set in an abandoned arcade, in which you’re required to play a sort of terrifying version of Pac-Man if it were sometimes an isometric shooter in order to win tickets to free some sort of sentient computer? I think?
We’ve had a few games set in abandoned arcades of late, and visually Unshine Arcade is most like CloverPit, with both sharing a dark, crunchy pixel aesthetic, and indeed both being games in which you’re focused on a single arcade machine within a peculiar room, lined with other machines and devices to explore. (It should be noted that Unshine was in development long before CloverPit was released.) However, this isn’t about faux-gambling, but rather mastering a peculiar arcade game via the equally grim pursuit of faux-gacha.
Each round of the core arcade game itself plays out in two stages. You play as a little alien sitting in a floating UFO-like ship, moving around multiple maze-like rooms to avoid enemies and pick up gacha balls, bonuses, and coins, on your way to a final location where a weapon awaits you. Slide over the weapon and the game changes modes, becoming an isometric shooter in which you now need to shoot all those enemies you were just hiding from, earning tickets for each foe you slay. Succeed in a round and you’ll get to open those gacha balls you picked up and select the contents of one as a new ability or bonus as you continue. You then arrive at a Slay the Spire-like progression tree, with branching choices about where to head next. There’s not a huge amount of choice here, it should be said, as you pretty much select between another regular round, an opportunity to pick more gacha balls, a visit to a shop to buy more gacha balls with the coins, or a place where you can upgrade the abilities you already have. Then on you go through the increasingly difficult levels.
Failure to reach the final boss is always softened by the awarding of all the tickets you earned on the way, which can then be spent in a surprisingly large number of ways. There’s the sentient AI thing I mentioned, who wants you to give him increasingly large numbers of tickets to “free him,” although this feels slightly dubious. There’s a claw machine for more gacha balls to boost your next attempt. Then there’s a battery vending machine that lets you power up other machines that are currently switched off. And that’s just the first room. You’ll quickly discover the meta-game here of trying to learn codes that will open doors to new areas and new strange devices, each of which allows you to tweak or boost your abilities. Or play a knock-off of Pong. Or gamble tickets on a slot machine thing. And so on.
The more you explore of the surrounding area, the more the story becomes apparent, and the weirder the whole vibe becomes. There are also discs to discover that change the nature of the core arcade game, and ways to increase the difficulty in order to improve the numbers of tickets you’re receiving. The variety in enemy types, and the constantly growing difficulty, ensure the game remains interesting to repeat. Also, it really helps when you’ve boosted your base move speed enough to start zipping through.
Because it’s a repeated arcade game, it’s best not to approach Unshine Arcade like a game to beat in a day. I’ve found it’s great to just leave running in the background, and then play a few rounds here and there, making steady progress without burning out. The more you poke at it, the more details you discover about how you can influence the game, and I’ve not even mentioned the cheat codes you’re able to discover. I’ve kept coming back to the game all week, really enjoying my time with it spaced out over the last few days, and always feeling like I’m making steady progress.
It has such a strange atmosphere to it, not grungy and foreboding like CloverPit, but still dirty and odd and out of sorts. Yet within that, there’s this sparky nature, partly the odd AI thing’s chatter, and also the jubilant moments of all those paper tickets printing out to reflect your success. The game is a weird mess of muted blues, greens and pinks, but it also feels unserious in a pleasing way. It hides many secrets, and some of them feel sinister, but it’s not an overwhelming oppressiveness.
This is a really splendid oddity, and while I do think the game within the game might wear thin too quickly for some, I’ve really clicked with it. And given it’s just $10, it’s not a risky one to try out. Also, there is a demo that lets you play a fair chunk.
Unshine Arcade is out now on Steam.
