Someone made a retro video game based on Toronto's rave scene

An upcoming video game inspired by Toronto's own rave community invites you to sneak into City Hall while dodging government security to throw a massive unsanctioned party. 

The game — which is still in the process of being finalized — was created by Toronto Rave founder and DJ, ACE.

ACE was inspired by early 2000s video games, as well as the legendary raves thrown by party collectives under the Toronto Rave umbrella, which include Toronto DnB, Toronto Hardcore, and Toronto Dubstep. 

The model provided for the City Hall mission looks like more of a placeholder government building than Toronto's iconic City Hall, but the game's final version is still at least a year away. 

In Toronto Rave Game, players are tasked with various quests familiar to ACE and his party collective organizers, including sourcing DJ equipment.

However, the game takes an unexpected turn, inviting users to evade security guards to throw raves in Toronto landmarks such as the CN Tower and City Hall.

Similar to the party collectives, players will be sent on a mission to materialize all the items needed to throw a successful rave.

"I was sitting inside my studio looking through all my old video games I used to play while at the same time looking at Toronto Rave content and memorabilia and the concept just came to me," ACE told blogTO. 

While the concept originated in 2022, ACE explained that he's taken months to develop the game in an effort to hone in on its aesthetic and perfect its style of gameplay. 

The video game's BETA1.0 version features hardcore raver Crushenhaus, and cyberpunk hacker, Eve, who team up throw a rave at City Hall.

ACE told blogTO that the game's BETA2.0 version will feature a more rhythmic game with a soundtrack exclusively featuring Toronto dance music, which includes artists like ACE himself, as well as TyriqueOrDie, Angelphroot, and Ms. GothicFish. 

"It's got me really excited to have people play it," ACE said in response to game's reception so far.

"People think it's awesome, at first it was just something I was showing my friends. I got a couple BETA sign ups from there so I decided to post it on Instagram and people started sharing it with excitement." 

While the full game's release date is still to be announced, you can play its BETA1.0 version starting in January, and BETA2.0 in late 2024.