VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

Only played the game about a third of the way through, but liked what I saw. It's (basically) a point-and-click adventure where you make drinks. Your progress in the game hinges on the 'special' drinks you make at certain points of the game. Apparently there is also a New Game+ feature so you can see all the endings. All in all, a quirky indie game that's certainly worth the price of admission

Nice cozy game, i feel it was short but icredibly heart touching

This game prepared me for what police riots are, and what they're like. I knew they were a thing, but until 2020 I'd never seen them on the scale they occurred in the US, not in person, not so close to home. They were a thing that happened elsewhere. I played this game and was like, "Oh. Huh. So that's a thing." and then it happened here and I was like "Oh so that's what it's like IRL." The game wears a lot of its influences on its sleeve, which is cool. While the music doesn't sound derivative, you can hear familiar vibes in it, including Kōji Makaino, composer of the Bubblegum Crisis score and soundtrack. Indeed, multiple characters in VA-11 Hall-A bear character names with clear references, including the lead, Jill Stingray, and the character Sei P. Asagiri, whose name is suspiciously similar to Priss S. Asagiri. But Sei is not Priss, and Jill is not Sylia, and Dorothy is not Dorothy (Big O); the Red Comet is doing suplexes but not dropping colonies. Those are simply names. Y'know how it's a little awkward and frustrating that autistic characterization is so often only robots/constructs, but also it's really cool because beep boop robot? Y'ever think, what we need is exactly as many autistic robots but also some autistic humans? VA-11 Hall-A has got it covered. Y'know how it sucks sometimes that autistic rep is either characters who have totally got it together, found their niche, and it'd be nice to have better representation for us total disasters whose lives suck? VA-11 Hall-A has that covered too. It's time to mix drinks and change lives.

A visual novel with fun pixelated graphics and some interesting and entertaining characters. If you like cyberpunk settings and 80's sci-fi anime you'll likely get something out of this. However the game doesn't really go much further than that. You play as a bartender in a seedy cyberpunk city with shades of classic films like Blade Runner and Akira and it's exactly what it sounds like. You mix drinks with a simple, somewhat boring interface that makes it impossible to screw up unless you legitimately make the wrong drink and you listen to people's stories, some funny and some sad. Some of these little vignettes are nice but what sucks is the lack of interactivity. Other than getting drinks right or wrong you have no effect on the discussion and can't choose dialog chains like in its sister game Read Only Memories. This is a real problem in a game all about dialogue and it put me off of replaying it even though there are multiple endings. It's all compounded by the fact that despite your character having their own arc, you have little control over the outcome and there really isn't any conflict or resolution to be found. The end of the game felt more as if the game simply stopped and the game itself just felt like several semi-connected roleplaying sessions instead of an actual game with any real purpose. While I found myself enjoying the writing and the characters, many of the discussions were pointless and the ultimate conclusion was unsatisfying. It's worth picking up on sale for the curious but most people interested in this game would be better served joining a cyberpunk roleplaying group online. That would at least be more interactive.

This game is wonderful. That's all I can say. It got me at moments of my life where i couldn't think that a "video game" could be so powerful. The writting, the characters, the lore, it's not perfect cause it can't be, but i'll say it's perfect. If you like cyberpunk themed universe, Buy this game ! The visuals are stunning, it's a slow paced visual novel with no "action", only bartending, but i felt so captivated (btw, this review reflects only my thoughts, not unbiased at all !). If you like visual novels, or if you want something to give you love. Buy this game. It's a little perl. Like we say in French : Putain ce jeu est tellement bon j'en mettrais ma baguette à manger (makes no sens, don't tanslate this) ! Buy this game and be happy, or don't buy it and be happy. Just, be happy.