Extra Coin: Tennis Dystopia

Narrative side-scrolling adventure that nearly cost me my sanity. (For one night)

Logo design for "EXTRA COIN" featuring bold, modern typography with a contrasting colour scheme of pink and teal.

Steam page Blue Sky

Basic info:

Genre: Adventure, side-scroller

Release date: 8th October 2024

Price: £12.79 (I got it for £5.79 on sale)

Platforms: Steam

Developer: Cinic Games

What else have they made?

The Wardrobe

My Plathrough:

Playtime: 5,5 hours (not completionist)

What it reminded me of: Broken Age

Rating: 20/30, somewhere around 6/10

A pixel art scene captures a peaceful night in a cozy room, where a person rests on a sofa illuminated by moonlight streaming through the window, revealing a city skyline beyond.

What is it about?

Somewhere in the near(ish) future, everyone has gone to the Arcade.

Arcade is a virtual world where you can chill while the real world is being destroyed. Easy. And you can even choose to be uploaded to it completely and then they kindly store your body in a tank and you never have to worry about reality ever again.

We play as Mika. Mika has lost her parents and is left alone to live with her cat and grandad. Well, you guessed it... The grandad dies. So Mika goes on a quest to find her parents in the virtual world and give them a stern talk about abandoning her. Luckily, granddad gave her a special medallion that can reveal how people look beneath their avatars. The game switches between the virtual life in the Arcade and shorter moments in reality. (Mostly to pet and feed the cat)

The days in the Arcade can be either an Activity Loop, where we go to the gym, cinema or the park and play a minigame to work on our stats, or a Duel Loop that is used to find opponents and crush them in a battle. And by battle, I mean cyberpunk tennis.

PS: You can watch my full playthrough on YouTube!

Players face off in a vibrant, fast-paced street arena game, navigating fences and benches, as glowing projectiles fly across the urban court.

Originality and overall vibes: 🎾🎾🎾 out of 5

I like the idea of "a game in a game" and even though the minigames were very simple, they all had a certain charm. I also haven't played many games where duel would be effectively like tennis matches (I really hope I am using the correct sport analogy). The music was good as well. I can't give it more than 3 out of 5 because it was good, not memorable.

Visuals and Style: 🎾🎾🎾🎾🎾 out of 5

You can't go wrong with pink and teal in a cyberpunk setting. The real world had its fair share of sadness, while the virtual reality was as dystopian as you could want.

Now, I have to mention that some of the light effects during the duel were dangerously close to strobe lighting. Let me tell you, the game caused some serious eye strain during battles! My partner, who was just in the same room, ended up with a headache and nausea. I reached out to the developers, and they were super responsive! They're looking into adding an accessibility option to turn off those intense light effects. So, thumbs up for their willingness to improve the experience.

(As of March 2026 this is still in the game so keep that in mind)

Pixelated characters engage in a colourful rock climbing activity, set against a vibrant and animated climbing wall adorned with posters and lively vegetation.

Audio Design: 🎾🎾🎾🎾 out of 5

The soundtrack is upbeat and sufficiently futuristic. I actually enjoyed it. While doing research for this review, I saw on their website that it has "a fully voiced cast of characters," but that is not the case as there is no voice acting in the game (a peculiar thing to lie about on the website). Other sound effects are good, and the duels and minigames are well accompanied by sound design. I think a game like this missed the opportunity to have a radio and let us pick music.

Gameplay and Controls: 🎾🎾 out of 5

Look, this is just my personal point of view. I was getting bored with the constant battles. I didn't find them intuitive or fun, and they were a bit too long. Bless the developers because they helped me after I complained in their Discord that I was stuck on a boss fight and couldn't change the difficulty. I appreciate that so much.

"The Loops" felt a bit too short, and the world was lacking depth for me. I feel like I didn't particularly care for any NPCs, and I also had very little choice in what I wanted to do. You can't log out of the game to go pet your cat unless the game wants you to. The activities and minigames quickly became repetitive.

I am crap with a controller, so even though the game warned me that it should be played with one, I ignored it. I couldn't remap any of the keyboard bindings (the settings screen is literally empty when you try and just says TBD). I found myself waiting for the game to "open up" somewhere in the middle and give me the freedom to bond with characters, do side quests, and learn more about the Arcade, but that didn't happen. That is not to say I HAD to always just follow the main quest, and I absolutely could spend more time just doing side stuff, but the locations didn't change enough to motivate you to keep visiting them.

Story: 🎾🎾🎾 and out of 5

(no spoilers)

You will be able to guess where the story is going.

I loved the beginning of the game and how well they portrayed grief. The writing was good, and the few characters we interacted with were easy to distinguish and felt like they had their own personality.

In a vibrant park setting, two characters emphasise the importance of concealing one's true human form amidst playful pixelated creatures.

Value for Money: 🎾🎾🎾 out of 5 (when discounted)

I think this is easily 5 out of 5 for someone who really enjoyed the duel system. The additional "versus" mode adds a lot of replayability. Because I did not enjoy the duels, I am unlikely to come back to the game.

At the same time, especially while on sale, this game will keep you busy for a weekend, and you can see and feel the love the developers put into the game.

What I liked:

• Visual style

• The setting and synopsis

• Variety of minigames

• Little Easter Eggs like an NPC wearing Link's costume

• Developers communicate quickly

  
  

What wasn't quite so good:

• The tennis duels

• I missed one of the features of the game entirely (apparently, there is a social media app you can post to as a character)

• I wish it was a bit longer or the world had a bit more depth

• Repetitive

• Weirdly unfinished bits (like the keyboard mappings) for a game that's out for 2 years

I am a bit on the fence about this game. I enjoyed it. I also know that when I play games solo and off stream, I tend to be quite quick with them. While there wasn't anything broken or wrong with the game, I didn't leave feeling satisfied, victorious or impacted by the story. I feel like a lot of the time, when I pick up a small indie game about a dystopian future (or past), I expect thought provoking experience and quite a bit more somberness. And instead, I was stuck being incredibly frustrated with a tennis duel. Oh well.