Extra Coin Review

Extra Coin is the debut game of developer CINIC Games and is a story-rich life sim where you must travel through the Metaverse to find your parents.

I was immediately drawn to Extra Coin by the pixelated art style (of which, I am a sucker for) and when I read that it was about a young woman who is searching for her parents in a simulated world… Well, who am I to say no to that?

Mika, the protagonist, lived with her grandfather in Hangzhou, following her family’s deportation from America. Mei, her mother, was anything but happy to be living with her own father again, but made the sacrifice for Mika before both she and her husband ended up disappearing into The Arcade.

The Arcade is an element of the Metaverse, where many people live in an endless Loop cycle which varies between whether you duel, or whether you perform an activity. The duels are essentially tennis matches, while the activities include going to the gym and training through the use of mini-games. The mini-games involve timing when you hit the bottom face button, or moving the directional buttons in a specific way. Meanwhile, the duels are a bit more challenging, as you need to hit the left face button to hit the ball to deplete your opponent’s HP. You can dash with the bottom face button, and you can use power-ups, and unlock more through winning duels and completing activities successfully. However, you can also earn power-ups by earning money by winning duels.

If you don’t do what the Mods want, then you’re at risk of getting punished by them. However, Mika has her own goals, which involve her searching for her parents, finding Shards (memory fragments), and searching for allies. So, it’s essential that you’re careful of what you do, as you don’t want the Mods to pay attention to your antics. Instead, it’s best to err on the side of caution.

Of course, it’s fine if you don’t repeatedly skip the activities or duels in the Loops. I also found that if you’re struggling with the duels and mini-games, then you can reduce the difficulty, which is especially helpful when handling boss fights. You can improve your stats and purchase special abilities (passive and active) in different areas, which can be shown on the map during each Loop. However, it’s best to buy these during Activity Loops, as you won’t be able to go back during this time.

While Mika is travelling through The Arcade, she’ll make several allies. These include a young revolutionary, Arr0w, a man called BleeD, who first meets Mika, and opts to help her for his own mysterious reasons, and M4rsh, an Interpol agent who’s searching for criminals in The Arcade and enlists Mika’s help. The reason Mika is asked is due to her “hacking” abilities, but in reality, it is due to the hidden gem that her grandfather gave her, allowing her to break through the avatars and identify the real person behind them.

There’s no specific time span to take part in each Loop, but you can only speak to certain allies at certain locations on either an activity or duel Loop. There are also boss fights, which require a best-of-three duel, which range in difficulty. So, you should use the activity loops wisely. Of course, if you lose these boss fights, it’s game over and you can either be sent back to the most recent save via Autosave, or your manual save file. Or, you can be stubborn and try again from the beginning of the duel.

Narratively, it’s a tale of choosing to accept reality or choosing to live in a dream. It’s a tale as old as time, whether reality is worse, and choosing refuge in a digital world. It’s a tale of choosing your family, or whether you want to choose your friends or something more. Those themes are ones I resonate with a lot. After all, haven’t those in their darkest hour wanted an escape from all their problems?

But, it’s also a story of abandonment and grief. Honestly, I adored Extra Coin, and my only issues were when it came to the dialogue, which sometimes felt a little bit stilted. However, overall, I really enjoyed it. It was addictive, the duels were entertaining, and I loved the little customisations for the characters, as you could see the pop culture influences, including references to Dark Souls, Dragon Ball Z, Futurama, Legend of Zelda, and many more. So, if you’re looking for a game to play, then I think that you should give Extra Coin a go.