Unshine Arcade is a game that defies easy description, and that is exactly why it works. It is a roguelite shooter wrapped inside an arcade cabinet, and it asks you to master a terrible version of Pac-Man if it were sometimes an isometric shooter. The result is a game that rewards curiosity from the first room to the last.
The setup is simple on paper. You play as a little alien in a UFO-like ship, floating through maze-like rooms full of enemies, gacha balls, bonuses and coins. Find the weapon at the end of each round and the game shifts into an isometric shooter, where you must fight the foes you were just avoiding. Win, and you open the gacha balls to pick a new ability or bonus. Then you face a Slay the Spire-like progression tree, choosing between another round, more gacha balls, a shop, or an upgrade for your abilities.
The loop is small but effective. Each round builds on the last, and the difficulty grows steadily as you push deeper. Failure is softened by the tickets you earn along the way, which can be spent on a battery vending machine to power up other machines, a claw machine for more gacha balls, or the sentient AI who wants you to free him with tickets. The first room alone is packed with secrets, and the game encourages you to dig into every code and device you find.
The Arcade Within An Arcade
The visual identity of Unshine Arcade draws on CloverPit, another game set in an abandoned arcade. Both share a dark, crunchy pixel aesthetic, with a focus on a single arcade machine surrounded by other machines and devices to explore. The comparison holds on the surface, but the mechanics could not be more different.
CloverPit leans into the idea of faux-gambling, with its machines tied to the idea of losing control. Unshine Arcade instead treats the arcade as a puzzle box to master. You are not gambling here; you are pursuing a grim kind of faux-gacha, earning tickets by playing a terrible version of Pac-Man that occasionally turns into a shooter.
| Game | Setting | Core Mechanic |
|---|---|---|
| Unshine Arcade | Abandoned arcade | Pac-Man-like maze followed by isometric shooter |
| CloverPit | Abandoned arcade | Faux-gambling and losing control |
The game’s central space is a room full of arcade cabinets, each one a door to a new device or a new game. There are discs to discover that change the nature of the core arcade game, and ways to increase the difficulty to improve the numbers of tickets you receive. The more you explore, the stranger the whole vibe becomes.
The Core Loop Explained
The core loop of Unshine Arcade is a two-stage process. In the first stage, you move through maze-like rooms as a little alien in a UFO-like ship, avoiding enemies and collecting gacha balls, bonuses and coins. The second stage arrives when you slide over the weapon at the end of the round, and the game switches to an isometric shooter. Now you must fight the enemies you were hiding from, earning tickets for each foe you slay.
That switch is the heart of the design. It takes a familiar avoidance game and turns it into a shooter, and the tension comes from the fact that the enemies you avoided are now the ones you have to kill. The loop is small, but it is endlessly varied by the enemy types, the constant growth in difficulty, and the branching choices you make at the Slay the Spire-like progression tree.
There is not a huge amount of choice in the progression tree, it should be said. You pretty much select between:
- Another regular round
- Picking more gacha balls
- Visiting a shop to buy more gacha balls with the coins
- Upgrading the abilities you already have
The game is not trying to confuse you with options; it is trying to keep you moving forward.
Failure Is Rewarded
One of the smartest design choices in Unshine Arcade is how failure is handled. When you die, you lose everything except the tickets you earned on the way. Those tickets are then awarded to you, ready to spend on upgrades, new machines, or the sentient AI who wants to be freed. The game never punishes you for dying; it simply gives you the tools to try again.
The variety of ways to spend tickets is surprising. The sentient AI wants you to give him increasingly large numbers of tickets to “free him,” although that request feels slightly dubious. There is a claw machine for more gacha balls to boost your next attempt. There is a battery vending machine that lets you power up other machines that are currently switched off. And that is just the first room. The game is packed with secrets, and some of them feel sinister, but it is not an overwhelming oppressiveness.
The Atmosphere And The Cheats
The atmosphere of Unshine Arcade is strange and dirty, with muted blues, greens and pinks that feel out of sorts. It is not grungy and foreboding like CloverPit, but it shares that same sense of a world left behind. Within that, there is a sparky nature, partly from the odd AI’s chatter, and also from the jubilant moments when paper tickets print out to reflect your success.
The game hides many secrets, and some of them feel sinister, but it is not an overwhelming oppressiveness. The joy comes from the discovery, and the game rewards you for poking at it. There are cheat codes to discover, and the more you explore the surrounding area, the more the story becomes apparent.
How To Play It
Unshine Arcade is best approached as a game to play in short bursts. It is not designed to be beaten in a single sitting. I have found it great to play a few rounds here and there, making steady progress without burning out. The more you poke at it, the more details you discover about how you can influence the game.
The game rewards patience. The more you boost your base move speed, the faster you zip through the levels. The variety in enemy types ensures the game remains interesting to repeat, and the constantly growing difficulty keeps you engaged. The progression tree gives you a sense of direction, even though your choices are limited.
What You Get For Your Money
Unshine Arcade is a game that costs $10. It is not a risky one to try out, especially since there is a demo that lets you play a fair chunk. The game is a weird mix of ideas, and it does not always land perfectly, but it is a splendid oddity that has really clicked with me.
The game is a strange mix of genres, and it refuses to fit neatly into any category. That refusal is part of its appeal. It is a game that rewards curiosity, and it is a game that hides secrets in every corner. The battery vending machine, the claw machine, the sentient AI, the slot machine thing — all of it is packed into a small package.
A Game Worth Returning To
I have kept coming back to Unshine Arcade all week, really enjoying my time with it spaced out over the last few days, and always feeling like I am making steady progress. The game is a really splendid oddity, and while I do think the game within the game might wear thin too quickly for some, I have really clicked with it.
The game is not perfect. The progression tree is limited, and the loop is small. But the loop is executed with precision, and the secrets are plentiful. It is a game that rewards the player who is willing to dig.
Unshine Arcade is a really cool crunchy pixel roguelite shooter that is packed full of secrets. It is a game that defies the genre graph, and it is a game that rewards the curious. It is a splendid oddity, and it is worth your $10.
See the video the story is built around at Kotaku.
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