CW/TW: Spoilers, mentions of sexual assault and pedophilia.

I recently got the Fanatical anime bounty bundle (which ends tomorrow, by the way!), focused on games with an “anime” aesthetic, most of them visual novels. I thought this bundle could be a good way to find stuff to play and review; so, after looking through the game selection, for my first game I settled on Synergia.

Synergia is a sci-fi yuri visual novel published on 2020 by developer RadiArts (Francisco Pérez Molina), focused on a love story between a human and an android. If I had to define it in a couple words I’d say “80s/90s anime”, both in a good and in a bad sense, as you’ll soon see.

The nice stuff

The first thing you’ll encounter when you play the game is an animated intro sequence, which is quite awesome in my opinion. After this introduction, the game doesn’t disappoint visually: it’s stylish and polished. It has a well-designed interface and the background art is good and varied. There’s PLENTY of backgrounds in this game, every little scene has its own background, which does a lot for immersion.

There’s also another thing I really liked, and it’s the fact that you don’t only interact with the text in the usual VN way (through dialogue), but also through different interfaces depending on which machine the main character is currently logged into. At certain points of the plot, you can read e-mail, request a copy of your house’s key card, check the news, use a virtual avatar to interact with other people… it’s pretty cool and well-thought-out, a neat piece of world-building. Definitely one of the game’s strongest points.

The character art is in your typical mainstream anime style. I find it a bit bland/expressionless personally, but it’s good for what the game aims to be, so I have no complaints on that front. Also afaik all the art and writing in the game was made by its author, which is impressive. The music is immersive, and great at some points – I really like the track that sounds during tense moments, it’s very unnerving and it fits the genre 100%. So, visuals- and sound-wise, the game is professional and, as I mentioned, very 20th century anime in a good way.

The not so nice stuff

The issues begin to arise when you pay attention to the writing; which is indeed a problem, since a visual novel relies on both good art and good writing, to make up for its lack of gameplay. I believe this is in part because the game’s developer is not a native English speaker (he’s Spanish, like myself), so the English translation feels unnatural and stilted – but I tried playing the game in Spanish and the writing was full of spelling errors and quite badly written as well, so I think it’s also a case of an amateur writer who couldn’t afford editing and proof-reading.

It’s a shame, really, because the bad writing definitely hampers the experience: sentences go on and on, dialogues feel unnatural, characters react in childish or unexplainable ways and have no personality, plot twists are predictable and make no sense, there’s WAAAAY too much exposition, etc. It’s not so terrible that I had to stop playing, you definitely can look past that if you like the genre and still enjoy the game. However, don’t expect a professional work of literature.

(also, note that the best part of the game narrative-wise (the epilogue) is locked until you finish both endings of the game, which means that most people won’t get to read it. Probably not a wise design choice…)

The outright horrifying stuff

However, my biggest gripes with the game aren’t related to its mediocre writing style (I can appreciate the effort put into it, and the fact that it’s been created by a single person – no shame in making and publishing a personal project, even if it’s not perfect), but to certain deeper aspects of the plot that are very very problematic, the kind of stuff we should have left behind decades ago, which just shows a total lack of critical thinking and self-awareness from the author’s part.

The entire game seems to be built around mechanophilia, and more specifically around the typical male otaku obsession of having sex with female-presenting robots. That’s fine, this kind of game is usually directed to a niche audience and I don’t mind (and even enjoy them myself) such topics in fiction when they’re treated with proper care. Unfortunately, while this VN isn’t as full of rampant machismo as the anime and manga that inspire it, it still has a lot of glaring issues, which I’ll summarize below:

• Childish/”lolita” aesthetic for the female androids, and more specifically the main love interest. She looks like a child, she acts like a child, and she is presented in provocative and sexual situations. Sorry, but no. This entire genre is disgusting and should be eradicated from the face of the Earth.

• Objectification and sexual assault as normal developments and plot points. MILD SPOILERS AHEAD: The main love interest is forced to strip and treated like an object (even though she’s fully sentient and basically indistinguishable from a human); other androids (mostly female-looking) are also shown naked in background art and treated like objects, and the main character basically assaults her love interest (breaking into the bathroom when she’s showering, touching her intimately without permission) and that’s… not condemned, but instead treated like this is Ranma 1/2 or something, with some blushing and some screaming and “you’re so mean” energy, and then everything’s forgiven. Seriously? Have we really not evolved at all in the past 30, 40 years? I was expecting better from a game that advertises itself as “story rich” and “LGBTQ+”. The fact that the main couple is wlw doesn’t make the game any less sexist and rape-apologetic.
• Stalking, lying, “celebrity-crushing” and manipulation… equated to “true love”. OK, there isn’t a non-experience-breakingly-spoilery way to say this, so if you want to play the game for yourself, just skip this bullet point, OK? OK, great. BIG SPOILERS AHEAD: in the end, the cute android was actually manipulating you and everyone else in the cast. She “fell in love” (?) with you before she knew you (by stalking you), artificially implanted her “love” for you (?!) into the minds of all her sister androids so they would help you against their will (!), and basically lied to you during your entire relationship. But this is all magically forgiven and forgotten in just a few lines of dialogue. Yay! It was at this point when I realized that not only the entire plot of the game made no sense, but it was also incredibly fucked-up from beginning to end.

• “Villainification” of social change and insurrection. OK, this may seem somewhat mild after the objectification and apology of assault and whatnot, but it really irks me when writers, in order to make the opposing forces in a story appear “equally good/bad”, just turn rebels/leftists/anarchists/whatever into mass killers or outright evil people for no reason. MORE SPOILERS: In this game there’s a huge Empire that’s evil, and fucks with the main character’s mind by giving her apathy pills basically. There’s also a group of rebels that are trying to destroy this Empire. The main character is pro-Empire, so as to make this stance appear a bit less ridiculous, the writer turns the rebels into evil would-be-genocides that would willingly kill (??? Whatever for?) the entire population of the Empire in order to win the war. Because this makes total sense and is how social revolution must work irl surely. To paraphrase Pop Detective, since the author found no better way to handle this, they “pulled a Marvel” (go watch this video essay, it’s awesome).

Final verdict

So, what’s my final verdict? Do I recommend this game…?

…

Absolutely NOT. Unless you already own the game (for example, because you got the same bundle I did) AND you’re a big fan of cyberpunk and/or wlw stories, this game isn’t really worth your time. You can definitely overlook all of this and still enjoy parts of it, I know I have, but I’d really recommend you go play something else. If you want a good visual novel set in a not so distant future with queer romance and heavy political plots, I really recommend the Arcade Spirits series (I recently wrote a review on part 2).

OK, I think that’s all I wanted to say! Thanks for reading. When I have the time, I’ll keep playing more games from the bundle and reviewing them here, hopefully with more positive results. Until the next time!

CW/TW: mentions of suicide, spoilers.

This is a spoilery review, so beware: read it if you have already played the game or if you don’t mind spoilers (I won’t really reveal stuff like “the end of the game” and other major plot points, just specific details throughout, so this shouldn’t ruin the experience of the main plot).

Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers is a sequel to Arcade Spirits, an arcade-themed, queer-friendly visual novel released in 2019 by Fiction Factory Games. I really enjoyed the first installment, which I got in the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality from itch.io, and I had been looking forward to playing AS: TNC for a very long time. Fortunately, I got the chance to do so recently, and it was a lot of fun.

After posting some comments and screenshots on Mastodon, I thought it would be interesting to write a review of the game from my point of view. So here it is! A list of pros and cons, and a final verdict, on Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers.

The nice stuff

• It ties well with the original. AS: TNC lets you load your savefile from part 1, which changes some minor aspects of the plot depending on the decisions you took in the previous game. It also has several characters reappearing. Ben and Matt are my favorites – such a fun pair! Other characters don’t reappear directly but are mentioned during conversation.

• The meta humor is amazing. I snorted and even laughed out loud several times during my first playthrough. There are constant references to current gaming culture, corporate media, copyright law and all kinds of stuff, without breaking the fourth wall directly. This is very much on-brand, which you’ll soon realise if you follow Fiction Factory Games in any social media.

• There’s so many penguins. Seriously. Part 1 had a lot of penguins everywhere already, but here there’s an entire amusement park dedicated to Pengy, the corporate penguin mascot. My paradise.

• Incredible background art. The background art was already good in the original, but in AS: TNC I was blown away by the sheer detail and personality of each environment. The images aren’t static, but have simple animations, particularly in their lighting, that bring them to life. I feel this game is a practical lesson on how to do VN background art well.
• Well-designed characters. The main characters are very varied, both in their visual design and personalities. I love them all. There’s also very solid nb representation, with two non-customisable characters who are nb (and this time straight away, unlike (SPOILERS FOR PART 1) Ashley in the previous installment, which only reveals themselves as nb/gender-questioning when you romance them). Each character is also representative of at least one or two social or mental issues, which makes this a very attractive game for left-leaning people who worry about this kind of stuff, and that’s definitely the intended target demographic for this kind of VN (more on that in the “cons” section…).

• Polyamorous route! I was lucky enough to stumble into it in my first playthrough. I came in blind, so I wasn’t expecting this at all, but the game gave me enough clues that I could Google it and keep on the right course to unlock this option. I liked both characters and wasn’t sure which one to choose, so it’s cool that I didn’t have to choose in the end. 😉 They have a very cute and healthy dynamic in my opinion.
• Many qualify of life improvements from the original. There’s icons/avatars to represent each character, and you can even pick your own; you can navigate locations visually on a map instead of choosing from a simple dropdown menu; there’s more character customization; there’s also a few more meaningful meters/choices during gameplay, which make the story even more nuanced.
• Great voice acting. As in the original Arcade Spirits, the voice-acting of this game is incredible. Great casting, each voice fits their character perfectly, and it just makes the game come alive. I just wish there was more of it!
• Excellent writing. Each character has its own voice, and choices are more weighted than in the original – being brash isn’t always necessarily bad, being quirky isn’t just a gimmick, etc. There’s more nuance. Considering how your choices affect dialogue, I can’t imagine what their design document must have looked like. Extremely complicated, I assume. I also like the order/chaos mechanic for Iris. I still have to replay the game to see what happens if I choose chaos, but it’s a very nice addition. Iris feels more alive and like a character of her own.

• Genre subversion. I like the use of VN conventions as a way to subvert expectations, like not being able to choose the “reasonable” option, having a (MAJOR SPOILERS) creepypasta alternate personality counter, etc.

The not so nice stuff

• The character customiser is lackluster. One of the first things that you come across when you play the game is the character customiser. While I will admit that this customiser is much better than the original’s (there’s more pronoun options, you can wear different accessories, etc.), it’s still clearly not enough. The player character looks lifeless and flat, particularly when compared to the other characters. The “corpulent” options look terrible (they don’t fit the face properly), there’s not enough color options to pick (you can only choose highly saturated colors), the clothes are bland and almost all haircuts are horrendous.
• …and it’s grossly overused. But that’s not all. The original game also had a pretty bad main character design, and a very limited editor; but that was fine because the main character was unique in the game that they existed in. However, this time other NPCs use the same generator as the player, leaving them with no personality at all. I understand cutting corners in development, but it would’ve been better to use generic NPCs that looked bland instead of using the same template that the main player uses. I can kind of understand having the rival character use the same template (although it’s still weird), but random one-off characters? No way. It makes the player feel like an NPC instead of an actual character. You don’t want a self-insert character to feel like an NPC. They have to be generic, yes, but unique. This is an enormous design mistake, the biggest in the game I’d say.
• Too much plot and political commentary, too little human interaction. The writing of the game is excellent, but I feel like the dialogue leans too much on the main plot and the underlying political commentary (there’s A LOT of political commentary in this game) and too little on the human interaction, romantic or otherwise. There should be more dialogues and scenes not directly tied to the plot or to some deep understanding of society or human experience. Characters speak all the time about heavy topics, like gender, accessibility, capitalism, environment, depression and mental health, family acceptance, living with disability, etc. Don’t take me wrong, those are topics that I (and most of the intended target audience) am interested in, and in most cases I believe they tackle them in a sensible manner. I love a text heavy game, and I even love a text heavy game that is not only fun but also makes you think; however, it’s just TOO MUCH, too often. Clearly a lot of thought was put into it, but ultimately it’s too heavy-handed. Such discussions aren’t properly balanced with normal, lighter everyday conversation, so at points the characters feel stiff, like walking manifestos.
• Too much plot, too little romance. Unfortunately, the previous point bleeds into the “romance/friendship sim” part of the game. This is a game with a main mechanic (the friendship/love meter) heavily tilted towards romance, but where there isn’t much romance at all plot-wise. I detect a bit of a ludonarrative dissonance here. This also happened in the previous installment, in some romance routes more than others, but in AS: TNC it’s more apparent because of the constant political commentary. Personally I took the (SPOILERS SPOILERS) polyamorous route with Grace and Jynx, and I was looking forward to seeing some of the dynamics in conversation, maybe even how Grace opens up to her family about this relationship despite her anxiety, or how Jynx learns to welcome so many people into her living space or something; but this wasn’t as developed as I had hoped. It feels like the characters and plotlines were under-developed and under-used.
• The main character doesn’t have much of a personality. In the original Arcade Spirits, this was diminished because they had a friend from before the events of the game (Juniper) that gave them context as a character, and they also had previous jobs, a family curse, etc., stuff that gave them a backstory of sorts. In AS: TNC they try to make the main character too much of a “blank slate” for the player to project themselves into, and the character ends up being a bit of an empty husk. Which I understand, I guess; we can’t have it all. But it’s still a shame, since it turns conversations between the player character and the other characters much more flat and less interesting. An approach more similar to the original would’ve been preferable, imo.
• Inadequate treatment of disability. One of the main characters/possible romance interests has a physical disability, wears leg braces and uses a cane. While the game’s treatment of her disability throughout the story is mindful enough (although, as with the rest of the political discourse in the game, there’s way too much of an over-focus on her disability), the first scene when you meet this character is… how to say it… a bit of a disaster. I felt extremely uncomfortable since you (SPOILERS) aren’t able to respond in a respectful way when meeting her, you can only choose bad options, making the main character look like an asshole. I understand that they did it that way to create some kind of “teaching moment” for the audience, but they failed to consider two things: their intended audience has a high chance of being already educated on this matter, so forcing them to be assholes is a bad move. And, even worse: disabled people do also play games, they might even be playing this game in particular because there’s a main character who is obviously disabled, and they may (and have been, if Steam reviews are anything to go by) be rightfully offended at being unable to respond properly in that situation. Not a good idea.
• Inadequate treatment of suicide. Many players have commented that the game’s treatment of suicide is tactless, used as a gimmick, and should’ve been better informed. I myself didn’t realise this while playing, since it’s not a topic that I personally know much about, but I can totally see it afterwards after reading people’s reviews. I don’t think it’s as blatant as the disability thing, but it could’ve been certainly done better. In any other game I wouldn’t complain, but the team behind AS clearly want to do representation as well as possible from all fronts, so this should certainly be improved upon.

Verdict

Do I recommend AS: TNC? Overall, yes, absolutely yes. Despite its faux-passes, the writing is clever, intriguing and thought-inducing, and the characters are quite delightful and varied. If you’re a fan of visual novels, you’ll definitely enjoy its play on the VN genre conventions, its meaningful choices, relationship meters (hidden or otherwise) and lovely background and character art. If you like queer stories, and/or stories that tackle mental health or social justice issues, here you’ll find representation aplenty.

Be aware of the content warnings and the game’s shortcomings, but consider that, regardless of its imperfections, the authors clearly put a lot of thought into doing representation as well as possible, and this is one of the best queer-friendly, body-positive stories you’ll be able to find in the indie scene.