Posted on: June 21, 2020

xtaran

Games: 227 Reviews: 2

Silent point-and-click movie w/o choices

This is not a point-and-click adventure, this is a point-and-click novel without choices and without anyone speaking, not even in subtitles. If you have to solve a puzzle, you always have to first figure out which is the sole place you can click to — in the worst case hidden several rooms away. And you don't really understand the story as nobody speaks a word. And then it's again and again unclear when the main character is actually just dreaming (and why) and when not. In the end, it was unclear to me, why that boy vanished, what his parents or the observatory or the military had to do with this. Or the bison. So in the end I "saw" a silent detective movie where I had to click to get to the next scene, but without understanding the result of the investigation. A few positive parts, though: I liked the graphics design and the music. But they don't make a game alone. Definitely id not meet my expectations at all. Can't recommend at all even though the storyline and pictures on the product page sound like a nice detective game.

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Posted on: May 9, 2020

MichCOdel

Verified owner

Games: 15 Reviews: 1

The very epitome of the walking sim

The first warning sign within Virginia was that the game itself begins with extensive unskippable credits which never bodes well. Pausing the game reveals that the continue button is titled 'Resume Feature' which makes it abundantly clear that the developers were clearly thinking of an interactive feature film rather than an actual video game. As a walking simulator, Virginia has a very basic control scheme i.e. you can move and click on things to progress the game. If you want to replicate this interactive feature in your own house, simply pick a movie and pause it every 10 seconds. The only other thing Virginia provides to the player is an aimless "collectathon" where the player can pick up feathers and flowers that affect the game in no meaningful way as the player can only see their collection two or three times in the entire game. The story that is the only thing Virginia has to offer begins and proceeds relatively nicely but falls flat at the end where the writers gave up on a cohesive/interesting story in favour of cinematic value.

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Posted on: April 30, 2021

Blakeman258

Verified owner

Games: 14 Reviews: 1

Not much of a mystery

Felt kind of pointless and I like other walking sims but this one felt like it would be better off not being a game. I think it would be better as a short animation. I apricate that they tried to tell the story with no talking and the music was amazing but It feel like you never really do any thing are grow connected with any of the characters. In other walking sims like firewatcher you feel like you solving a mystery and experiencing it unfold in first person. You feel connected to the characters and world and the ending ties everything that be going on together perfectly. This game just kind of feel like you walk from set piece to set piece as your forced through a story and then the game just ends kind of ambiguously. I never felt like I was discovering the story are working through a mystery but more the game just showed be a story but in first person.( kinda spoilerish from here on out) I though the story was okay at first but its seem like nothing ever real goes anywhere and the ending is very ambiguous. I know the ending is this way on purpose but I don't feel like this game pulls it off very well. When ever the story started to feeling interesting the game just abruptly ends. In the ending they basically show you a bunch of information and shove some forced "deep" symbolism and metaphors your face and then tell you decide on your own ending. It all feels rushed and forced like none of it really mattered. Again maybe the game just wasn't for me. I enjoyed other walking sims like firewatch, Eldritch fitch, and the beginner guide but this game just felt pointless and seemed to me like it would be better as a 10 minute short film. Maybe my expectation were to high the GOG story said the game was a mystery detective walking sim so I expected to be solving a mystery and finding clues but instead I feel like I was just shown a lackluster mystery but in an fps format

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Posted on: January 16, 2018

Jalixx3

Verified owner

Games: 1325 Reviews: 34

CAUTION: Caused Motion-Sickness!

It seems like almost every game on GOG is given a low rating by the community. This one is sitting at three stars, currently, which I assumed I could ignore. However, now that I've played it, yes, it is a 3-star game, a confusing mix of great and poor storytelling, giving an overall "average" impression. However, I don't think the average rating gives a sense of how much a roller coaster this game is. Okay, first of all, there's the literal motion sickness. Sometimes you are walking, teetering around, bobbing and swaying, which is bad. Sometimes you are in a moving car and expected to look outside, which is worse. But the worst thing is all the YANKING of the camera. Ugh...I barely made it through the game. I'm still not sure if I'm going to be sick. The story...? Despite the stripping away of nearly every narrative convention, this game does manage to somewhat tell a story, which is an impressive feat. But the narrative is tattered and thin. It's under two hours long, but twice during the story, the protagonist gets drunk/high, and all sense goes flying out the window. And sleeps six times and has weird dreams. That does not leave much time for stuff that definitely happened. The story has a beginning--"there was this FBI agent"--but after that, you are on your own. The game basically says, "Here's some nonsense to sort through. Good luck!" The story really earns those averaged 3 stars. If you like weirdness to think about and don't mind the camera movement, you may like this game? I...do not, so it's hard to know how to recommend it. If it appeals, I suggest you pull up a let's play video in full screen and make sure you don't get sick before buying. Bonus nitpick section: game forces you the protagonist to throw away a new tube of lipstick; that hurt me deep in my miserly soul. That stuff is expensive!

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Posted on: September 4, 2019

Marzio_Bruno

Verified owner

Games: 372 Reviews: 12

A movie-like game that you should try

Even more and more gamers are disappointed by the latest years’ offers by the Triple-A gaming companies. But with the advent of indie games, the choice became wider, and independent developers let their creativity do the job. And Virginia is a unique and memorable experience born by this inventiveness. This detective story gives the closest feel possible to a movie, it tells a willingly mysterious and ambiguous tale, open to the player’s interpretations since no many clues are given. In fact, the game lacks dialogues or any other verbal aspect of communication. An image is worth more than thousands of words, someone said and this actually not only results in making Virginia an almost universal game. The lack of dialogues is also able to convey more effectively the emotions of the beautiful soundtrack and in immersing the player more in a surreal and symbolic low poly world. Obviously not everyone will enjoy this game since you don’t have to really do anything in particular, just walk and sometimes interact with the ambient and the objects. Contrary to many other reviews, I can’t say It was a boring experience since it’s short, lasting no more than two hours, like a movie. I instead felt really captured by the game’s atmosphere. In conclusion, it’s a game that I'd personally recommend the niche of gamers that love storytelling based titles and a cinema culture to catch, for example, the Twin Peaks flavors. Rating (out of 10): 7 Graphics: 4 (Not realistic nor impressive, but surely unique and snappy painting-like graphics. Unfortunately, you can’t remove the black bars but you can disable the fps limiter) Music: 4.5 (Beautiful and powerful tracks recorded by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra) Cinematics: 5 Story: 3 (A particular type of storytelling and scenes montage that may leave the player puzzled) Content: 3 Controls: 2 (Very basic controls) Gameplay: 1 (Very linear with literally no incentive to replay the game) Price: 2.5

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