Toronto's Rave Scene Inspires Upcoming Video Game

A new rave-themed video game is in the works, inspired by Toronto’s underground party scene.

Created by Toronto Rave founder and DJ ACE, Toronto Rave Game will take players through a rave, with various missions and side quests. Inspired by early-2000s video games, ACE is developing the game and aims to give players a whole new way to explore the city.

“The concept came about after sitting in my studio looking through all my old games I used to play while also looking at Toronto rave memorabilia and I thought it would be cool to have a rave game,” ACE tells Billboard Canada. “[It will be] something like Guitar Hero, mixed with Grand Theft Auto, a little bit of Sims, and the feeling of Tony Hawk Underground.”

When it comes to the production of the game, ACE says while it’s been time consuming it’s been an incredibly satisfying project capturing Toronto’s underground nightlife.

“I’ve sat down and come up with really cool missions so I’m excited to show people when it's all released,” says ACE. "We have such a crazy scene.”

ACE draws inspiration for the game from his own experience in the local scene, founding party collectives Toronto Hardcore, Toronto DnB and Toronto Dubstep, all under the umbrella of Toronto Rave. Each mission takes elements from what Ace has personally done in his life as a DJ and party promoter, like grabbing equipment, while mixing them in with “larger than life” quests such as planning a rave in the CN Tower, sneaking past security guards and hacking into government headquarters.

The game will be split into two modes. Story Mode goes through missions from the perspective of an unknown raver, becoming a “certified legend” by the end of the game. The second is Music Mode, a more rhythmic setting which is a “soundtrack focused on Toronto dance music” and features musicians and characters from the city’s scene like Angelphroot, TyriqueOrDie, Ms. GothicFish and ACE himself.

The single player game’s BETA1.0 version is set to be released in January 2024 on PC. The BETA 2.0 version, with expanded characters and missions, will come out in late 2024 or early 2025, ACE says.

In the meantime, there's an email sign-up waitlist for Toronto Rave Game at Toronto Rave.