Platform:
PC
Released:
October 9, 2024
Publisher:
CINIC Games
Developer:
CINIC Games
Out of a sea of indies releasing each month, Extra Coin caught my eye because of its fascinating visuals, which showed off a stunning virtual world populated by striking, brightly coloured figures. It was instantly intriguing, especially since it was clear that there was something sinister underneath the surface. Extra Coin is definitely something worth your time if you happened to miss its release earlier in October of this year.
Extra Coin is a story set in a futuristic dystopia where almost everyone spends their lives in a VR game, similar to Ready Player One only without the cringey 80s nostalgia. The outside world is violent and scary, and most people have decided to hide in “The Arcade”, the bright, fun, tightly controlled virtual reality game. Even protagonist Mika’s parents have “cloudjumped”, meaning they’ve placed their bodies into stasis tanks to live in the Arcade full time, leaving her and her sickly grandfather behind. After her grandfather finally passes away, Mika ventures into the Arcade to find her wayward parents, and exposes herself to the secrets, perspectives, and struggles of those within the game.
Mika’s fear of the world outside her window mirrors what a lot of us might be feeling right now about the real world, but neither can she be excited about the escape offered by the virtual world, which has lured her loved ones away from sharing the same reality as her. Delving into the Arcade, you as Mika can choose how to react to what it offers. In dialogue, that manifests in occasional dialogue options where you can either decry the whole thing as a stain on society, or admit that it’s not so bad. It’s hardly an original premise at this point, but that doesn’t stop it from being fun or heartfelt. Extra Coin is not so much about the virtual world itself, but about Mika’s quest to find her parents in the backdrop of the Arcade. Extra Coin only runs a few hours long, and in that runtime it certainly succeeds in telling a largely satisfying emotional tale, but I can’t help but feel like it only scratches the surface of the depths the Arcade could hold. It still offers a satisfying enough conclusion though.
Inside the Arcade, the game is played in “loops”, which are analogous to days. Each loop allows you to visit one of the game’s eleven areas to either participate in an activity or challenge someone to a duel. An in-game tutorial bot tells Mika that she should “follow the Good Loop”, which means to participate in activities and duels alternately without skipping any loops. Extra Coin explains that players who go against the “Good Loop” are punished, but not exactly why. It’s not a mystery that gets solved later, either; we are never shown what kind of problem skipping a loop causes for the Arcade or its mods, so it comes off a bit like Extra Coin implemented a needless restriction just as a way to foreshadow the idea that the Arcade is not so free as it appears.
Duels are the mean meat and potatoes of Extra Coin. It’s a surprisingly addictive sport that combines tennis with Pong. Two players stand opposite each other separated by a virtual net, and the goal is to make the ball touch the back of your rival’s wall. Apart from that, it doesn’t matter how many times the ball bounces on the floor or side walls. I initially felt that the game would get old fast, especially for how often you play it, but surprisingly no. It needs quick reflexes, but getting into a good rhythm feels really good, and the game keeps a fast pace by keeping the ball moving until a match is won.
Speaking of rhythm, it helps that the soundtrack is absolutely bangin’. Swinging the ball around to the crunchy beat is good, simple fun, and cuts down on the rage you might feel should you lose. Even outside duels, the music is great. The background tracks that play in the Arcade are something you might find in a “Lo-fi video game music to listen to” playlist, while during the emotional moments, it knows when to pull back and focus on sound design. The game isn’t voiced, but a few key emotional moments have some vocal sounds from Mika.
Activities are short minigames that beef up your stats in preparation for Duels. These are passably fun, but I appreciate them more for what they depict than the challenge they offer. Each area has one activity to take part in, such as rock climbing, dancing, or even watching a movie. But no matter what the activity is, the challenge is always to press a combination of buttons. Instead, I like that it shows Mika participating and enjoying the Arcade’s features, showing off why one would want to find escapism in this VR world.
Environments are a pleasant combination of 2D pixel art and 3D objects to provide a bit of depth to the scenes. The result is quite easy on the eyes, especially with all the vibrant and varied colours that practically scream we’re in a video game! The outfits worn by the NPCs are just the sort of fare you’d get in a game like this: fantasy armour, top hats, and helmets, many of which are fun references to existing media like Dragon Ball Z, Halo, Zelda, and more.
You’d think you’d be able to equip these gear sets too, but in what is a baffling design decision, even though you can purchase gear with in-game coins, Mika cannot equip them due to an arbitrary limitation placed on the plot-relevant amulet she wears. There’s even a wardrobe in Mika’s in-game room where you can try to equip the gear, only to be cruelly reminded that you can’t because of reasons. I have honestly no guess as to why this “feature” was added, as it hardly enhances the experience. It just makes me feel like I’m missing out on wearing cool gear.
Some aspects of the game could be tutorialised a bit better too. The duels and activities all have effective tutorials, so no problem there, but other things are a bit more opaque. Maybe I just missed it, but I wasn’t aware that I had a diary that kept track of my quests and my collected shards until I happened to find it in the controls menu. On another occasion, I broke the Good Loop one time too many (though a misclick, no less) and had my account “restricted” by the mods and my place in the Duel leaderboards frozen. An in-game message told me to “appeal to the duck god” to contest my ban, but hell if I know what that means. Believing it to be a puzzle of some kind, I wasted multiple loops visiting every single location to try to find this duck god, to no avail. Meanwhile, I stayed stuck on the leaderboards even though I was winning every duel, which wasn’t exactly fun.
It probably wasn’t an option due to the smaller scope of the game, but it would have been nice to do some more varied things in the Arcade. The eleven areas and their minigames do a great job of conveying how many things to do there are for the NPCs, but we don’t truly get to experience their essence beyond the brief button presses required. There are some extra collectables to find, tiny white pixels hidden in each area of the Arcade, which help to reveal memories of other player’s experiences in the Arcade, which show Mika other perspectives on the whole “living life inside a fake reality” thing. I wish there was more stuff like this to show how the good side of the Arcade, instead of focusing on its more sinister side. There seem to be some different endings to the one I got, so maybe it does this in one of the other endings. Maybe I’ll jump back into the Arcade one of these days and play a different way.
However, I don’t wish to disparage a good game for what it could have been. The truth is, despite some minor gripes, Extra Coin is well worth your time.
7
Good
Positive:
- Overall narrative is compelling enough to carry its runtime
- Vibrant pixel art and 3D combo art is very stylish
- Dueling mechanic is addictively fun
Negative:
- I wish there were more ways to engage with the Arcade
- Has a few confusing design choices
Extra Coin is a heartfelt little tale set over a gorgeously colourful video gamey backdrop, and offers an addicting duelling game system that you can play continuously without getting bored. The art direction is beautifully detailed and the potential of the virtual reality of the Arcade is immense, but it seems to have held back on exploring its concept past the surface level. Its small scope doesn’t quite do justice to what the story and world could have been, but it’s still an easy recommendation.
About the Author
Edie W-K
she/her
If it isn't video games, Edie doesn't care about it. She's been playing games since the N64 era, and only spent enough time away from her 3DS to earn a Bachelor in Games Design from RMIT.
