[h1]Beautiful and highly customizable productivity and focus tool[/h1]
[quote][b]For other [i]honest cozy games reviews[/i], feel free to follow my curator page:[/b] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/46070687/][b]Rabgon’s Cozy Corner[/b][/url] [b]♡[/b] ~ 🇫🇷 [b]Review également dispo en français[/b] [url=https://rabgon.substack.com/p/review-spirit-city][b]sur mon blog ![/b][/url][/quote]
After +200 hours, I’ve finally achieved the last achievement; and I think it’s the perfect time to finally review Spirit City, a productivity tool game that may be considered the pioneer of this subgenre of full-screen idler focus tool.
[b]With similar games on the market[/b] (Gogh, Chill with You, Ithya, etc.), this one stands out with its high-quality visuals, richness of customisation and creative freedom, and, evidently the goal of the game: [b]finding and collecting all Spirit critters[/b] through your different activities, your location in the room, lighting and background sounds.
[b]As for “active” activities, there are none.[/b] Your character will do whatever activity you tell them to, but there aren’t actions required by the players, no mini-games or anything.
[b]This is a 100% distraction-free focus tool with a Pomodoro, a to-do list, an habit tracker and a diary.[/b]
[hr][/hr]
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3717966852
For in-game currency and leveling up, you get some automatically every minute the game is running (you’ll get more when you discover new spirits, check a list item, let the pomodoro run…). For critters, [b]there are hints to find them that are unlocked through leveling up.[/b]
To find and discover new spirits, there are different conditions to meet depending on the spirit; of course, those are more and more complex the farther you are in the game:
[olist]
[*]Room spot (desk, bed…)
[*]Activity (typing, reading, relaxing…)
[*]Time/light (morning, afternoon, evening, night)
[*]Background sounds (fireplace, rain…)
[*]Spirit to have with you (for DLC critters)
[/olist]
[h1]Experience[/h1]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3717967841
This game has helped me to… sleep again (insomniac here). Nighttime is kind of the only moment I can “play” the game without it to crash and quit (see “big issues” section below 🫠). The visuals and animations are [b]soothing, not distracting.[/b] The background/ambiance sounds selection is rich; I let them run at low volume during the night.
As someone with ADHD, Spirit City (same as with “Chill with you”) has [b]helped me keep focused on ONE task at a time[/b]. For the rare occasions I could let the game run without it crashing while doing anything else on my computer, [b]it has helped me doing dull numbing tasks for work as well.[/b]
I adore [b]customisation and decoration in video games, and this game has been a treat![/b] You can decorate [i]every[/i] room spot in detail, even saving custom colours to apply to other items. Same for your character, [b]lots of body features and clothing options![/b] You can save up to 5 decor and dress-up presets.
[b]This creative freedom applies to the DLC locations as well[/b] (kitchen, garden, and train; the train is the most limited imho). [b]Also, the spirits all have different colours![/b]
[h1]The less good[/h1]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3717968616
[h2]🔮 Neutral[/h2]
I was a bit skeptical about those DLCs, wondering if the base game was the type to be affordable with not much content at launch, then filling up the content with paid DLCs that could have been in the base game. It’s not.
I’m personally OK with DLCs that [i]do[/i] add quality content that extends the base game, not just cosmetics or micro-transactions sold as DLCs. In SC:LS, it’s a bit peculiar since [b]the game is all about aesthetics,[/b] [i]but[/i] they also do add additional locations that genuinely required a great amount of work.
What bothers me is that those DLCs are always discounted at the same cut.
[quote][b]Note that you don’t need any of the DLCs to 100% the game![/b][/quote]
[h2]👿 Big issues[/h2]
1. [b]I’ve [i]never[/i] had a game crashing so much[/b]. Either it simply doesn’t start, or it’ll crash then close for the most basic action within the game, or [i]outside[/i] of it! (yes). The issue was already there months ago when I originally bought the game. I didn’t play it then, waiting for patches, but same problem to this day…
Is it because of my hardware? I don’t think so. If BG3, Cybperpunk, and No Man’s Sky can run just fine, GPU at max 70°C, and never [i]ever[/i] crashing, I don’t see why SC:LS would. Some memory leak issue somewhere?
To be sure it won’t crash, I let it run with nothing else open on my computer, at night, 99% of the time. This is insane for a game that’s supposed to sit on a secondary monitor while you’re doing other things, like… working.
2. [b]Impossible to use text fields in French (ditto for Portuguese):[/b] the character “^” will crash and close the whole game (it’s hitting Windows users too from what I’ve read). Forced to use it in English, but to be honest, I wanted to use the game (diary) in my own language for once… It’s such a shame because the French localisation of the game is very good otherwise.
3. I’ve contacted the team about those issues. They quickly opened a ticket on Discord, then… [b]well, they ghosted me since they’ve never gotten back to me, even after I asked for a follow-up.[/b] Given these issues have [b]apparently been known for a [i]while[/i][/b], this is a big yikes to be ignored like that.
Fortunately, I was [i]still[/i] able to enjoy it, but it was quite stressful to decorate or be about to discover a new Spirit just for the game to crash to my face. It runs on Steam Deck, but it makes it sound like a rocket launch (again, it’s fine with BG3 or CP2077) [i]*shrug*[/i].
[hr][/hr]
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3717968072
[b]I know I enjoy a game when I’m looking forward to having all its achievements.[/b] I usually don’t care about “100% games”, but this one has clear goals and achievements, and not stuff requiring whatever obscure stuff you would never think about.
Finding all the Spirits through hints was really fun! The game takes lots of time to “finish” so I didn’t mind to sometimes clicking randomly here and there until I heard the “ding” notification for a closeby new spirit.
[i]I recommend both of these guides made by[/i] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3217721720][i]iamrure[/i][/url] [i]and[/i] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3691754392][i]November Brightshroom[/i][/url] ♡
[b]Despite the crashes, I really did enjoy it![/b]
[table]
[tr]
[td][b]💻 (macOS) Performance[/b][/td]
[td]3/10[/td]
[td][b]It crashes so much it’s ridiculous.[/b] I’m not able to write in my own language because of a single character. [b]Being ghosted[/b] by the devs doesn’t help either.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td][b]👾 Gameplay[/b][/td]
[td]9/10[/td]
[td]This is more of a (very pretty) utility than a game, really. No mini-games or anything — and that’s perfectly OK. [b]The game offers a distraction-free experience.[/b] Shame I can’t use all the tools in my language.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td][b]🎨 Art Style[/b][/td]
[td]9.5/10[/td]
[td]Really pretty 3D environments, characters, and spirit designs. I love the user interface design![/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td][b]🎵 Music & Sound Design[/b][/td]
[td]10/10[/td]
[td]The background sounds are incredible. There’s also the possibility to mix volume levels individually. Haven’t listened much to the music yet, but it sounds nice.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td][b]⏳ Length[/b][/td]
[td]10/10[/td]
[td]Around 200 hours to 100% the game. Seems quite reasonable for an idle game.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td][b]🏷️ MSRP Value[/b][/td]
[td]10/10[/td]
[td]For the price paid, I clearly got my money’s worth![/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
