VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

Visual novel presented exceedingly well through some amazing pixel art and music.

A bartending themed visual novel in a cyberpunk setting. Mix drinks, change lives, and learn the stories of your unique patrons. The bartending mechanic is simple enough, you only really need to make sure your customer ends up with the right drink. This is perfectly fine though, since it means you can casually enjoy this wonderful game. The art is anime themed with a retro aesthetic, and it looks great. All the characters look distinct, and most of them are totally cute. The bar truly draws in the most interesting people, as they're all a joy to interact with (even the assholes!), with plenty of dark, sarcastic humour and interesting stories to tell in equal measure. It also touches on some social issues in an interesting way, as well as giving a unique take on common cyberpunk elements. It's amazing overall and I highly recommend it to anyone into visual novels and cyberpunk media.

To get it out of the way, this a visual novel. I'm referring it as such, since this isn't really a game in the scope of interactivity. Just now that this game gives you exactly what it promises, namely 'bartending action'. Your interaction in this novel is more or less limited to serving drinks. You are in no rush, there is no time limit or such, so it plays rather laid-back, and that's absolutely fine. You can influence the story through your bartending performance, though, by messing up the drinks, or going the extra mile to please your customers. After a while you get to know and develop a feeling for them, so going the extra mile sometimes means overriding their order to serve them something you know they _really_ need now, which isn't always what they are asking for. The graphics are lovely and quite pleasing to look at, only the font rendering seems off in places (but that's only minuscule, and might be only me [I'm a graphics artist myself]). About the music, it is the right kind of MIDI-synth stuff, ranging from laid back lounge/elevator music over 80s synth to slightly jazzy sounding pieces. A big plus is the 'jukebox'-feature, which allows you to pick the soundtrack as you please. The story in itself is engaging, and one starts to care about the characters quite a bit. The multiple ending feature is absolutely clever, since these add together, so you have not ending X or ending Y, but ending X+Y and so on. It fits and doesn't leave you with unfulfilled promises or open questions (depending on how much you unlock of course). For the feeling, well, if you are into 80s to 90s cyberpunk, especially of the Japanese kind (Bubblegum Crisis, Silent Moebius, Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner...), you'll feel right at home. Bonus points if you ever served drinks for a living yourself, I guess. All in all VA-11 Hall-A is really enjoyable, just don't mistake it for something it doesn't want to be, namely a 'game' instead of a 'interactive novel'.

From the moment I started playing I couldn't put this game down. It's remarkably simple yet engaging, playing more like a VN than anything. You just mix some drinks and change lives, listening to your clients' stories and sometimes giving helpful advice. I really liked the characters and was surprised by how thought-out the relationships and back stories were; it has a depth you won't often find in your run-of-the-mill RPG. The art design bothered me a bit at first, but I grew fond of it surprisingly quickly (so much so that I'm not too thrilled about the change in N1RV Ann-A). What struck me the most was how cozy and welcoming the bar felt despite its simplistic design, to the point I wouldn't have minded playing a few more hours. If I have one critique though, is that I wish the TV had had something more to show than the same static images every time I changed the channel. Also, it's a bit of a shame that the GOG version doesn't have any achievements. Not a bad way to start the new year all things considered.

Great game with an aesthetic and soundtrack that synergize well to create a fantastic atmosphere and mood that makes you just sink into the world and the story around the characters