this is an interesting game. i feel there are a lot of little details worth talking about here, but the ultimate experience is kind of ... nothing.

i think the most attractive thing about this game, to me, is its art direction. particularly the use of colors & camera work to differentiate between the two player characters, as well as what "world" those characters reside in, is really nice. warm, pleasant tones for the people of arcadia, presented as a side-scroller, help solidify the idyllic retro aesthetic both within the game as well as for the player; conversely, the cool, clean, sterile colors & environments for the people in "real life", as well as the first-person POV, solidify this world as grounded & modern. it's tasteful & cute, as well as being very beautifully executed. this is a fantastic looking game.

as well, american arcadia is explicitly, textually critical of corporations & capitalism, and i think in that context, making a product ( the video game ) using an art style that is very reminiscent of the highly saturated, highly contested "corporate memphis" style that permeates nearly every real life tech space that the product is criticizing, is fun. it's cheeky! it shows a level of conscious thought going into the visual design that i find engaging. but unfortunately, as excellent as this game looks, it doesn't really ... say anything. by the end of the game, everything feels a bit shallow.

which was the point, maybe? american arcadia told a very dramatic, hopeful story with a very blunt, cynical ending. it felt like what they were building up to over the course of the game ultimately amounted to nothing, and despite the over-the-top horrors the game presents you, its final message is just, "shit sucks, and there's nothing you can do about it." it is a story interested in being Real -- it indulges in the fantasy of progress & growth, but squashes it at the end in favor of discussing the grim reality of living in our 21-century capitalist nightmare world. and like, of course i sympathize with this view point & the need to express one's frustrations with it through art ... but i don't really think this made a good story, in the end. despite agreeing with the thesis, i didn't like where the narrative went with it, and as a player, i felt kind of let down that all that work i put into engaging with the plot & game was thrown in the mud right as the credits rolled.

but like i said, that empty feeling seems to be the point. in an era of increasing corporate cruelty towards creatives, this almost feels like a personal vent towards that scene: being thought of as cannon fodder by executives who peddle imaginative worlds but have nothing to do with their creations, who treat their artists, animators, writers, designers like they're proverbial cogs in the machine, easily tossed aside & replaced by something more useful, always thinking about an ever-further monetary goalpost -- and as the one who gets tossed, it can feel like there's little you can do to escape the thralls of this machine.

but unlike the workers involved in this scene in real life, american arcadia was not interested in talking about things like unionizing or banding together to make the world a better place, though; it wasn't about conceputalizing a universe where these things can change; it really was truly just about wallowing in the status quo, after dangling the fruits of revolution before you.

... oh, and as far as gameplay goes: it's fine. not especially exciting, but gets the job done. it's clear the game's about the story, but it's a pity the story lacked the staying power they wanted it to.