American Arcadia Review (Steam)

by Jim Smale · Published November 15, 2023 · Updated November 15, 2023

For this American Arcadia Review, we play a cinematic puzzle game that combines a 2.5D platformer and a first-person game to tell the tale of a thrilling escape. Experience the extraordinary story of Trevor, an average man escaping from the world’s most popular reality TV show.

American Arcadia Review Pros:

Beautiful graphics.
17.65GB download size.
Steam achievements.
Display settings – display mode, window size, upscale type, rendering resolution, field of view slider, v-sync, framerate limit, and brightness slider.
Graphics settings – global quality preset, and run benchmark test.
Controller settings – mouse sensitivity slider, controller sensitivity slider, vibration, smooth camera rotation, Invert axis, and head bobbing on/off.
Can rebind the controls for both the keyboard and the controller buttons.
Puzzle platformer gameplay.
Full controller support.
Game settings – subtitles, text size, background, closed captions, Crosshair, and detection icons.
Motion sickness reduction option.
Excellent voice work.
An instant attention-grabbing story thanks to the fantastic animated cutscenes and voice work.
The game is told as a memory as your character is being interviewed.
The presentation and production value are high with brilliant cuts and jumps between scenes.
It’s a game that mashes several genres together like 2D platforming with 3D puzzle sections.
Constant checkpoints.
Top-tier lighting that adds to the game and is used in engaging ways.
All the locations look really good.
Memorable characters and scenes.
Scene selection so you can replay parts.
You control two different characters and the genius part is the way in which they combine the gameplay to facilitate both of them, It plays like its the easiest thing in the world to have you playing as two characters at once.
I like all the little throwaway conversations you hear or watching something play out.

American Arcadia Review Cons:

Never sure when the game has been saved or when you hit a checkpoint.
The initial puzzles trick you by being very straightforward and somewhat simple then BAM, it is like the mental Krypton Factor on a loop.
The puzzles are tricky more in the not knowing what the game expects of you rather than the puzzle itself.
I never found a reason to replay any of the scenes.
No replay value.
Cannot skip cutscenes, I mean you shouldn’t because they are awesome but I’m just telling you.