Your whole life is secretly a deadly reality show in American Arcadia

We know the setup: A whole group of people life in an elaborately fake place that's actually the set of a sprawling reality show where they—and their lives—are the entertainment. Upcoming "cinematic puzzle game" American Arcadia is just that, a retro futuristic 1970s world constructed for entertainment purposes. Except for one thing: If you're not popular, if your ratings with the audience at home drop too far, you're killed.

American Arcadia just got a proper release date, too: November 15, 2023 will debut the hybrid of puzzle, platforming, cinematic story, and first-person mystery as protagonist Trevor and stage tech Angela Solano attempt to keep Trevor alive. There's a demo out now, for the curious. The voice cast will definitely be a draw for people, featuring Yuri Lowenthal (Spider-Man 1 & 2), Cissy Jones (Firewatch), and Krizia Bajos (Cyberpunk 2077).

"American Arcadia is a cinematic puzzle game that combines a 2.5D platformer and 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," says the official description.

Trevor's story is a big old 2.5D puzzle-platformer with a withdrawn camera angle and a lot of style, whereas Andrea's is a first-person one where you use your access to the technical details of America Arcadia's behind the scenes to try and get Trevor out alive. It's a pretty promising setup if you're drawn in by intriguing stories, and should give the action and espionage thriller fans among us just what we want.

This'll be the second game from Out of the Blue Games, the studio behind story-driven adventure and exploration game Call of the Sea. That game was praised by players for its storytelling and environment design, though its puzzles weren't brain-burning

American Arcadia was announced last year, but we've not seen much from it since. We'll soon see much more of it.

You can find American Arcadia on Steam, where there's a dem out now and where it will release on November 15, 2023. You can also find it on its website, americanarcadiagame.com.

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Screenshot image from American Arcadia depicting a retro-futuristic 1970s world — (Image credit: Out of the Blue Games)

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.