Format: PSVR2
Genre: Simulation
Developer: Nosebleed Interactive
Publisher: Wired Productions

Arcade Paradise VR takes place in a laundromat-turned-arcade, and the immediate street in front of the building. Perhaps because it's not an expansive area, it really develops its own sense of place, especially within the context of a VR headset: one can almost smell the must near the washing machines, and feel the arcade carpet beneath one's feet, and the weight of ownership of being tasked to manage this hole-in-the-wall business. The arcade games have a nice Sega-esque "Super Scalar" look to them. Unfortunately there is also lots of forced "diversity" with the visitors; some truly bizarre character models are on offer, like androgynous fat black people with the sides of their heads shaved.

The green and brown laundromat begins with an equally dreary piece of elevator music, which becomes more up-tune as the arcade side of the business begins to take over. There is a juke box in the arcade area, which can be set to play from various weird new-age rock songs. There are lots of goofy sound effects, such as the sarcastic "winner!" when peeling a gross piece of gum off of a wall surface. The in-game music is quite good: certainly "Hi-Bit" in style-- meaning, it's pre-recorded but meant to roughly emulate chip-tune audio in a high quality way.

Movement and camera rotation are performed with the analog sticks, as is usual in most modern titles. The L1 and R1 buttons control grabbing with their respective hands-- and it's this function which is used to toss trash bags into the dumpster, clean the toilet, open and close the somewhat fussy washer and drier doors, and many more actions besides. The arcade games typically use more traditional button schemes-- with the exception of the extraordinary light gun game, which works flawlessly. The games are hit-and-miss-- for every GTA-meets-Pac-Man there is a "UFO Assault"-- but most of them are a lot of fun.

Arcade Paradise VR's progression system plays out in an unusually satisfying way: at first the player is swamped just doing laundry and throwing away garbage-- but gradually he unlocks ways to walk faster, slow clock progression, make garbage appear at half the rate, and so forth; eventually untold amounts of time can be spent walking up to the arcade cabinets and enjoying the games! The only real missed opportunity is that, like almost all pieces of contemporary pop culture oriented around 1980's nostalgia, this title comes across as a little too self-aware and pretentious-- almost like it's making fun of the 80's, versus trying to be an authentic tribute or serious simulation. All the same there is a fun game here: Arcade Paradise VR is an immersive winner with a fun core gameplay loop.