The open letter from the devs sais that they hope this game to be weird and confusing, indeed it is.
My opinion, this is a movie requesting some clicks, it is weird and confusing and if you are considering buying it, do it when the discount is high. I purchased it by 1€.
Practicaly a David Lynch movie in a form of a walking simulator. It was a great experience (best word for this) for me and it will be for you if you are a fan of Lynch. If not, you will be probably very dissapointed.
I was so "I saw Lynch movies and interpreted them - I can do this" when I started playing the game. In fact having to find out what every scene means is part of the fun. Because of the missing dialogues every little scene is becoming a little puzzle. What is shown? Who am I? Why am I here? What does it mean? To make things a bit more difficult the devs added a lot of smash cuts so that sometimes you will be desoriented a moment. Not knowing where or even WHEN you are or IF you are in reality or a dream or a vision. If you want to know what gameplay the game actually offers I'd say THIS is it. Find out the meaning, the time, the who, where and why. It's like a puzzle told scene by scene.
I managed to understand the beginning quite well but in the end I was puzzled and did not get everything. However I was so intrigued to understand all the connections that I definitely will play it again. I don't know if I would do this if the game was about 10-20 hours but I don't mind replaying a story of 2 hours (it's really not longer). With a playtime of roughly 2 hours it is as if you are rewatching a movie you just did not get the first time. But to make this clear: this is not a choice based game in which your choices are influencing the story. The only "choice" you have in the game ist to pick up some special items or leave them be - but thoose items don't change anything! If you want to experience a choice based game like The Walking Dead or Game Of Thrones - skip this one. Really!
100% of the game is shown directly through the eyes of a character. Making you really feel as if you ARE the character which raises immersion a lot. It feels as if you are IN a movie and it is upt to you when you want to progress the scene. True: mostly "progessing the scene" ist just "clicking on a special spot" but until you do so you could often walk around, look around - as if you are in a freezed frame of a movie (even though there still sometimes is animation it it - so It does not feel dead).
I got this game for 4€ on sale on the PS4. Therefore, the <2h length did not bother me.
Virginia is a story, very much so like film. It controls the pace through frequent cuts, harking back to Thrity Flights of Loving, which it is as much based on as actual TV influences like Twin Peaks.
The story and how you read it is the real "fun" of this game. It follows two women of color, and touches on some themes this brings, without being blunt about them. I found watching it as enjoyable as working out the plot and how the visual metaphors fit into the rest of it all.
Exploration is limited, but there. By not looking at everything and checking every door, even if most don't open, minor details can be missed. I recommend letting yourself be guided by the game the first time, enjoying it as it is clear it wants to be played, and at consecutive playthroughs to break the flow and try to look at everything.
This also makes clear that the main audience is not 'hardcore' gamers. This might even be a good game to introduce people to the medium.
If you are open to what games can be and do, this is an interesting experiment. And, in my opinion, it paid off.
If you feel cautious, perhaps wait until it is on sale.
NOTE:I do not own the GOG.com version, so if extra content is available in this version I couldn't tell you. If I could do 3 1/2 stars i would probably give it another half star for at least not falling into the worst tropes of the sub-genre. If you don't like the use of the term "walking simulator", I'm sorry but it is applicable here.
A decently compelling story helps it stick out above some of the worse examples cough-gone home-cough, and enough interactivity to justify its existence as a video game instead of a visual novel, but it still didn't peek my interest like TSP did with its witty sense of humor and subversion of tropes, and didn't strike me visually like Journey. It's just an okay walking simulator, if you like the sub-genre then check it out on sale. If you don't like these types of games normally, I don't think the story or characters are interesting enough to warrant putting up with a style of play you don't care for.