Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is the Cozy Gamified Productivity I Didn’t Know I Needed

Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is part cozy game, part focus tool. You create an avatar who’ll hang out in various spaces of the comfy space you design, working alongside you on projects like writing, drawing, and knitting. Along the way, you discover various spirits and increase your rank as a Spiritographer.

It’s gamified productivity made comfy and cozy, like if the fan-favorite YouTube channel Lofi Girl was a video game.

The Details

• Developer: Mooncube Games
• Cost: $11.99
• Where to Buy: Steam
• Review Copy Provided: No
• Age: All ages

Spirit Sessions Creates a Cozy Vibe All Your Own

When you first log in to Lofi City: Spirit Sessions, you’ll create a character. The character creation tool is fairly straightforward, with options to change your skin tone, hair, and other features. There aren’t many options yet, but the developers are already working on updates.

You can also pick from a variety of comfy cozy clothing options for your avatar. However, the customization doesn’t stop there. You can also adjust the physical space your avatar will hang out in, with different furniture and colors for each area. This tool toggles between pre-set options, without the ability to build or reshape your space. Some might find this limiting, but as a struggling non-aesthetic gamer, I liked that my space would stay comfy and pretty no matter what I did to it.

You can even switch the drink that sits on your character’s desk while working in that area. Mine has an iced matcha latte in a mason jar, a beverage that frequently appears on my actual desk in real life.

My favorite custom feature, however, has got to be the way you can shift the vibes. I got this game primarily because I enjoy listening to lofi while I work anyway and thought the cute game options would be an added layer. Turns out, the sounds in the game go beyond just lofi music.

You can set which Lofi playlist you want, or use your own. But you can also add other ambient sounds like fireplace, typing, and more. Each sound has a slider to adjust how loud it is compared to the other noises, letting you craft your preferred ambient noise for the task at hand.

Adorable Spirits Keep You Coming Back For More

The main gamified part of Lofi City: Spirit Sessions is the Spirit Dex, a book full of different spirits you can discover while you work. Whenever you log in for a work session and set up your cozy digital coworking vibes, you’ll have the chance to attract certain spirits.

The spirits appear based on where your avatar is located in the room, as well as what activity they’re doing. The Spirit Dex gives you hints so you can set up your workday to attract a new spirit if you choose.

The character designs for these little spirits are adorable, and they have me actually excited to start my work day because I can fire up this game in the background and meet cute little buddies as I go.

I’ve been using the game for about a week and haven’t yet met all the spirits, but I am already worried about running out of new friends to find. You unlock new ones as your Spiritographer rank goes up, through experience you earn as you work in the game. Hopefully, more spirits will be added as time goes on because I don’t want to stop finding them!

Once you’ve found a spirit, you can make them your avatar’s work buddy in the game. They’ll sit near your in-game self while they work, adding to the adorable cozy feel.

Timers Help You Focus… And Remember to Take Breaks

I’ll be honest – productivity isn’t something I often struggle with. If anything, once I get in the groove with work, what I really need is a reminder to take breaks.

When I noticed the Pomodoro-style timer feature in Lofi City: Spirit Sessions, I decided to see if it would help me remember to actually stand up from my chair. You can change the intervals of work and break to whatever times you like, and you’ll get a pleasant but hard-to-miss notification when it’s time to switch.

Lo and behold, I’ve found myself taking the initiative to stand up when my timer goes off. These little work breaks help me remember I own a human body that needs to stretch, and it’s a solid point in the day that can help you stay focused, too.

So, even though I didn’t think I needed a productivity tool, I wound up discovering something I didn’t know would help my workdays improve from this game.

Final Score – 9/10

Lofi City: Spirit Sessions is nearly perfect for what it does, serving as an encouraging tool for creating a nice environment to encourage you to get things done. The level of gamification is just right to make it engaging while not offering so many elements that it becomes a distraction when you’re trying to get things done IRL.

My only complaint is that I wish there were more customizations for the avatars, furniture, and more. It’s nice that you get to adjust these aspects, but there’s not much to choose from, so I’d like to see more added in future updates to really make the space feel like home.

About the Author

Amanda Kay Oaks

Editor

Amanda Kay Oaks is a writer, book witch, and video game enthusiast based in Latrobe, PA. She writes about books, games, and more from an office packed with crystals and Pokemon plushies. When not engrossed in work or fictional worlds, Amanda can be found in the kitchen, on her yoga mat, or walking her dog, Azula.

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