Format PC Developer/publisher Kinmoku Origin Germany Release 2023
Almost as much as actually playing the things, an important part of loving videogames is often being part of the communities that grow up around them. Indeed, finding a way to discuss this shared passion with strangers plays a major part in many of our formative online experiences. That might mean scrolling through social media or comment sections, or lurking on a forum or even – for those of us of a certain generation – a bulletin board. While its story might take place in 2003, Videoverse speaks to a more universal experience by being set in its own digital world, one that exists separately but adjacent to all these real virtual spaces.
You’re cast as 15-year-old Emmett, a big fan of the Kinmoku Shark gaming system, and in particular its killer app, an epic historical JRPG about warring ninjas. As a result, you’re a regular visitor to the console’s built-in social network, Videoverse. But with the forthcoming release of a new gaming system, Kinmoku’s hardware is facing obsolescence – and along with it, so is Emmett’s online community. That’s more or less the story of Wii U’s long-extinct Miiverse, of course, yet pixelated, lofi presentation is more a throwback to AIM, MSN, Bebo, MySpace, and other fallen
