Archetype Arcadia | Switch Review

May 27, 2024 Alyssa White

I adore visual novels, love video games in general, and anything with a science-fiction theme piques my interest. This should have made Water Phoenix’s Archetype Arcadia a homerun for me. Instead, I found myself struggling to push through the lengthy story. This saddened me to my core. I really wanted to love this narrative, but large sections failed to keep my attention.

It’s the End of the World as We Know It

Archetype Arcadia’s central premise is fascinating. The majority of humanity has been decimated by a disease called Peccatomania. This illness causes whoever develops it to become aggressive and start attacking themselves and/or others. There’s no cure, and the only way to relieve the symptoms and slow the progression of it is to play the titular game.

Our main character, Rust, has been traveling the country with his sister Kristin in a fully decked-out camper van. They’re desperate to find other survivors and possibly a cure for Peccatomania. You see, Kristin is slowly succumbing to the illness, and Rust is desperate to save his only surviving family member. Her refuge is playing Archetype Arcadia via a VR headset daily. When she doesn’t emerge from her bedroom one day, Rust is forced to join the game, despite the fact that those not suffering from the disease aren’t supposed to play it.

What unfolds after this is a long journey to save Kristin, find out the truth of what’s occurring in-game, and more twists and turns than you can see coming. There are some genuinely disturbing, emotional moments that hit hard during the forty-to-fifty hour playthrough, and they’re executed excellently. I just wish the story didn’t have so much repetition and filler, especially in its early chapters. It makes it a struggle to continue the game, and I can see more casual visual novel gamers being turned off by this aspect. There are also some juvenile jokes about the women in the game, including thoughts Rust has about his own sister. Maybe I’m a prude, but it made me feel uncomfortable reading these.

The Good, the Bad, and the Meh

Starting off with some positive aspects of Archetype Arcadia, I’d be remiss not to mention the affect your choices have on the story. Some will lead you straight to a bad ending, while others determine your final outcome later on. Most decisions are pretty binary, but some are deceptively worded and can lead you to a bad ending.

The graphics are also pleasant to look at, with landscapes and enemy designs being standouts. The little details really pop, and the anime aesthetic works well at immersing you in the game’s world. The Japanese voice-over is solid, and each character feels distinct.

Now onto a couple of slightly negative aspects. The soundtrack isn’t bad, but it’s not very memorable. Some songs even felt out of place in certain scenarios, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. There are also a ton of typos, which considering this game boasts having nearly two million lines of dialogue means a lot of the lines are littered with grammatical errors. This was extremely distracting to me, but I tend to be sensitive to these. It may not bother other players, but it was something that was hard for me to get past.

The Final Verdict

Archetype Arcadia promised a unique premise that had a lot of potential riding on it. Sadly I didn’t love the story like I hoped I would. There was way too much repetition and filler, especially in the introductory chapters. It made it difficult to want to continue the journey, but the deeper moments saved the game. These darker elements are what kept me pushing through, and I also wanted to discover what would happen to Rust and Kristin. The visuals and voice acting are pleasing to look at and listen to, but the soundtrack is a mixed bag. The sheer abundance of typos and grammatical errors was also a personal deterrent. You may enjoy this story more than I did, especially if you’re a fan of isekai content. It just didn’t satisfy me in the long run.

To hear me talk more about Archetype Arcadia, be sure to listen to the November 8, 2023 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 1:26:16 time stamp.

This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Archetype Arcadia provided by PQube for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation and PC via Steam.