Spirit City: Lofi Sessions Review (PC)

Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is a productivity toolkit for gamified productivity sessions. It is an application aimed at individuals who want to enhance their productivity or who experience trouble focusing on work.

It offers various tools to make one’s work session more productive, such as LoFi beats with ambient sounds, work timers, To-Do lists, etc. These tools aren’t pathbreaking; most readers might have heard about them. However, the application’s USP lies in allowing users to use all of these tools or just one of them. It made my work a lot more fun than it is otherwise.

Spirit City: Lofi Sessions has visuals that make it seem almost identical to the typical LoFi productivity videos broadcast on YouTube. However, it offers a lot more depth. But does it possess more substance and value than just coupling a LoFi playlist with a piece of paper?

The Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is out now and available on PC via Steam.

The application’s tutorial section covers all aspects, almost all customizable. The player gets a room that will form their virtual workspace, an avatar, and an adorable Spirit companion. The overall UI is intuitive and responsive. The art style of the renders and its transitions are effortless on the eyes. Spirit City: Lofi Sessions also has crisp shadows and high-quality textures. Overall, the graphical fidelity is as excellent as one should expect.

Spending more time in the application earns one in-game currency used to unlock cosmetic items used to customize the room, avatar, and Spirit companion. This helps keep visual monotony at bay, which isn’t feasible when listening to LoFi beats on YouTube.

While all of these elements may seem frivolous, I found using a work break to change my decor refreshing as someone who often has trouble concentrating. There is also access to a Pokédex-esque Spiritdex with hints to find more spirit companions if you want to catch them all. Using different ambient sounds and times of day lures different spirit companions. One can unlock more hints by leveling up.

All of these elements kept me engrossed and engaged. I am also using Spirit City: Lofi Sessions while writing this review. While all the features mentioned above add personalization options and a touch of finesse to the application, the real magic happens at the functional level.

One will get down to business when one admires their avatar, room, and cute little Spirit Companion. This is where the application’s titular offering comes in: LoFi playlists and the ability to mix them with ambient sounds.

Imagine working from your room where nothing is out of place, your bed is made, your floor is clean, and there isn’t a speck of dust on your desk or any of your wooden furniture. It is 5:30 AM, and there is a calm torrential downpour. Your fireplace is crackling while smooth LoFi music is playing in your headphones. Sounds like a fantastic day to get some work done, right? That is precisely what this application helps you simulate.

During my usage, I used to phase out the sounds and the ambient music so much that I used to forget that I was in physical space. What Spirit City: Lofi Sessions can achieve is truly breathtaking. All you need is a pair of earphones or headphones.

The avatar engaging in various activities also adds to the immersion because when your eyes move from your keyboard and the avatar does the same thing as you, it inculcates a feeling of collectivity. Moreover, the options to add tasks to my To-Do List, a Pomodoro timer, alerting you about work breaks, a habit tracker, and a Virtual Journal are blessings I didn’t know I needed.

Depending on the gratification one receives from experimenting with one’s workflow and incorporating various productivity tools, one’s experience with the application will vary. Additionally, this tool can be a game-changer if you have trouble focusing like me.

All in all, tinkering with the customizable options is utterly satisfying. Spirit Companions are as cute as they come, lighting and visual effects are a delight, and the productivity tools are the foundation of the application’s use case, making it a one-stop productivity solution.