Hello, my name is Rose and I am a workaholic. Most people work to live, but I live to work. I am addicted to the constant dopamine rush of creating, hitting goals, completing projects, and receiving praise. It’s something I’ll eventually work out with my therapist, but in the meantime, I have Spirit City: Lofi Sessions to aid my workflow.
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Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is less of a game and more of a motivational life tool. It captures the serene essence of those cherished ‘Lofi Girl’ YouTube videos, which became a staple during our high school and university days. It offers a cosy idle gaming experience intertwined with life organisation.
The game consists of chill music, to-do lists, spirits to collect and a loft to decorate. At its core, it perfectly encapsulates the angsty, yet-relaxed, vibe of being 16-22 years old.
Beats To Capture Spirits To
What separates this game from a diary or organiser app is its game-ified collect-a-thon of finding Spirits. These cute mythical creatures chill with you as your character lounges by the fire or types at their desk.
If your first thought was, “That sounds ever so subtly like Pokémon,” don’t worry, I had that exact same thought too when I was introduced to the Spiritdex: the in-game tracker used to keep tabs on the Spirits you collect. This handy dandy book is also your go-to for finding clues for how to unlock your next Spirit.
Each Spirit is collected by luring it to you through various means such as changing the time of day, the soundscape, and your character’s activity. The mechanics are not overly complex, and the game’s tutorial is brief and easy to grasp.
Beats to Customise To
If like me, you love creating cosy homes and characters in games like The Sims or Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, you are probably on the lookout for the next game to scratch that itch.
Unfortunately, Spirit City: Lofi Sessions doesn’t satisfy this urge quite the way I had hoped it would.
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The game allows you to customise three things: your character, your Spirit companion, and your loft. Each of these comes with a variety of options, colour pallets, and styles.
Character creation is simple enough: adjust body shape, hair, eyes, accessories and clothing to your liking. No need to select race, sex, or gender which is awesome. Though, it would be cool to see an update with some disability representation.
New styles are unlocked as you level up in the game by completing your to-do lists and such, which earns you Spirit Credits to spend on new items in the catalogue.
There are just not enough options to keep me engaged. I need more clothing, more colour pallets, and more furniture if I am to stay glued to this game for longer than a week. I don’t mind whether my wishes are granted through updates or DLC, but please hear me cry for more cosy customisation.
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My only other gripe with this aspect of the game is the inability to see how a customisation option would look before purchasing it. I would like to be able to try before I buy, but I can’t — which is a bit of a bummer.
On the upside, the in-game transactions are well-paced. I never found myself strapped for Spirit Credits, but I also wanted to be more productive to earn more.
Yo dawg, I heard you like productivity, so we put productivity in your game about being productive in real life so you can be productive while being productive. *taps head knowingly*
Beats To Be Productive To
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is basically the cutest life-organisation game you could ever get. To-do lists, session timers, habit trackers, and even a journal, this game has a lot to help you stay on top of the daily grind. I hope that this game eventually makes its way to mobile too.
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As a nearly 30-year-old woman who works a 9-to-5-day job in a city office, I find that this game doesn’t quite hit the way it would have back when I was at university. It would have been fantastic when I was sitting on my laptop studying in the courtyard or campus library, and I’m sure I’d play it at work nowadays if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m not allowed to install video games on my work-issued devices.
Perhaps if Spirit City: Lofi Sessions made its way to mobile, I could find more value in it by playing it on my phone while I write marketing copy all day. I’m sure I could find a way to convince my boss that it would make me more productive.
Idle games are the quick-fix high of video gaming. They’re especially brilliant the older and more time-poor I become. If I can be productive in my day-to-day life and game-ify it at the same time for even more rewards, that’s TWICE the dopamine! *insert dopamine gremlin noises here*
Beats To Fit Any Display
The game window is extremely versatile. You could have Spirit City: Lofi Sessions running in window mode and shape it to any size you desire. The game UI will accommodate this easily.
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This allows you to place it neatly in a corner, on a second display, stretch it across the top half, or split your screen. The possibilities are endless. I’d recommend using a small external screen beneath your main display.
Running the game while using your computer for other productive (or unproductive) purposes is hardly affected. It uses varying CPU, but often less than Google Chrome.
Are The Beats Bopable?
I’ve always said that I don’t have a single musical bone in my body, which makes reviewing the bops of Spirit City: Lofi Sessions difficult.
I’m not a connoisseur of the finer sounds in life; I am the kind of person who picks their headphones based on aesthetics and not on sound quality. If you physically cringed when reading that, then I can only say that you will need to judge the music of the game for yourself.
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However, as a connoisseur of the vibes, I can confidently say that this game has plenty of chill vibes to bop to. I don’t generally listen to music as I go about my day-to-day chores, I rather prefer comedy podcasts as hearing people talk and laugh assists me with my chronic extrovert-ism.
However, while reviewing this game I was walking around my house doing chores while actively listening to the music. Pairing this with an in-game timer and the ability to earn points, and I suddenly found myself thriving.
Should I buy Spirit City: Lofi Sessions?
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is a great game-ified to-do list paired with cosy vibes and relaxing beats.
Though I found the customisation options a little lacklustre, the game is well-paced and provides plenty of dopamine to motivate you during your day-to-day life.
If you’re looking for a digital aid to get you through the daily grind that doubles as a video game, you can not walk past this one.
It’s out now on Steam for AUD $13.59.
Quest Daily scores Spirit City: Lofi Sessions
7.5/10
A review copy of Sprit City: Lofi Sessions was provided to Quest Daily for the purpose of this review.
