Anime City

One of the biggest gaming surprises of the year for me has to be Anime City. This is a 3rd person life sim kind of game. It is kind of weird how the developer is describing the game as a visual novel, but in 3D as I feel that this has far more in common with life sim style games than it does visual novels. Anyway, forget about that, this is a fantastic game that lets you live at an anime school where you need to work, play, and find deep connections with others and perhaps even find someone special to fall in love with.

An Anime Lovers Dream

The setting of Anime City is Japan and the game really goes all in with this Japanese anime school setting. From the vibe, the fashion, the overall style, and pretty much everything in between. If you are into anime and Japanese culture in general, you are going to get such a huge kick out of this. I would have loved to have gone to an anime school when I was a kid. Granted, you still have your typical school classes, clubs, and issues to deal with, but the setting and the vibe here is just so freaking cool.

Being The Kind Of Person You Want To Be

I said that the developer of Anime City said that this was like a visual novel and I think they say that because of how story driven the game is and how the story revolves around the choices that you make. You get to create your character and you can be a boy or a girl and you can date both boys and girls as you try to find that perfect person for you and make new friends. You have various stats that you need to build as well as making your character look the way you want them to look so this character very much is like a digital representation of you in this anime world which I think is so damn cool. When you speak to people you are given multiple responses so you can truly see yourself in this character or you can play as a character that is nothing like you!

Making Each Day Count

While Anime City is an early access game as I write this, there is a ton of stuff for you to do in this game. I already touched on this, but this is not just a case of all play and no work! You have several classes that you need to attend and there are also after school clubs that you can join as well. These are mini-gams in the form of stuff like playing a game of tennis or cooking a certain dish. You also have your health to look after too, you need to make sure you are eating, getting enough sleep, and just generally taking care of yourself as you do not want to get sick. Of course, the whole social aspect of the game takes up a great deal of your time too. You always feel like there is something that needs your attention in this game. In some ways, it reminds me of a more in depth version of that old Wii game, My Sims.

Switching The Style

With a title like Anime City, you may be wondering about the art style. The game has a kind of “Nintendo Switch” look about it if that makes sense. It is not the most detailed game that you will have ever seen, but at the same time, it is nice to look at. You create your own character and they do have a bit of an anime vibe to them, but it is not too over the top. The menus and UI are nice and easy on the eyes and in general, the game is not bad to look at at all. There is just something kind of basic about the presentation of the game and I do not mean that in a bad way at all, the style they have gone for 100 percent works with what they are doing. It is just that you will feel like you have seen this art style before, actually, now that I think about it, I think the characters kind of look like the modern design for Pokémon trainers in games like Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Violet.

Pros:

• You can create your own character
• There are many school classes to attend
• There are also fun after-school clubs too
• I liked the whole finding a partner and making new friends social system

Cons:

• I am not sure how long we can expect this to be in early access
• You will probably want to play your own music while playing this game