VA-11 Hall-A is a bartending simulation visual novel set in the cyberpunk dystopia of Glitch City where a similarly named bar acts as a safe haven for its residents. Reflecting the oppressive and corrupt environs, a day in the life of our protagonist bartender, Jill, can see visits from a diverse and eclectic group that range from hackers and sentient sex worker robots to assassins and talking dogs.
The game's 2d, anime-like visuals and humorous pop culture-referencing characters contribute a conversely lighter touch to its dystopian setting, allowing for the game to switch tones easily, while the game's length (around 14 hours) and the 19-day period its set over, allows the characters' stories to be told organically with Jill's intelligent and disarming personality encouraging the patrons to open-up, showing the layers of their very distinct and charmingly-flawed personalities. It also means that a lot of the world's mysteries, that are brilliantly told through multiple sources, can be pieced together from behind the bar.
The discourse is where this game excels and is impressively varied, expanding the universe with every conversation, and allowing it to blossom with credible context without ever feeling overwhelming. Philosophical debates on what it means to be human and the morality of a sentient robot rights, give the high-tech and distant future plausibility while the customers sexual preferences and lifelong regrets bring a human aspect to the fore. As Jill and her clients get to know one another, they begin sharing their problems, forming the game's theme that no matter how dire, the support of others can allow you to overcome any adversity.
Uniquely different from other visual novels, VA-11 Hall-A uses a drink making system to subtly change the story depending on how good of a bartender you are. Not only is the system itself integrated seamlessly into the story, preventing it from feeling like a gimmick, but a timing-based mixing minigame completes each drink, utilizing the controller ingeniously with its vibrations, allowing you to judge when to stop mixing.
Serving the wrong drink will lose you tips and the chance to further that particular character's story. To mix things up even further and to check you're paying attention, customers will occasionally request 'the regular' while other despisable individuals toss riddles in your general direction.
The best example of the story making this difficult for you is when a pop-up message is shown to the player stating that Jill will be unable to focus at work the following day due a particular thing you neglected to do. I, thinking this would change very little, ignored the warning, only for your reminder of the customer's order to be replaced by a random and hilarious thought about a sex toy. There goes my flawless service bonus.
Largely excellent, this gameplay mechanic can sometimes fall victim to its large variety of options with customers able to order drinks from a few overlapping categories (a drink be chosen by its name, its taste or its category) meaning that it's possible to serve the same drink consecutively without the customer referring to or complaining about it. This is can be made worse when the customer states that they've never tried a certain drink before despite being served it the drink prior. The soundtrack itself is also adjustable through a jukebox, granting the player control of the bar's atmosphere. Jazz tracks, for example, work well with the omission of a time limit and the relaxing pace in which you can serve your drinks. While its logical to not burden the player with a time limit during the shift, it could have been included in other parts of the story whether as a staff competition or even as a tip for providing quick service to customers.
Working at the bar, while facilitating the game's slice of life storytelling and its gameplay loop, is also necessary to pay your household bills, which amusingly you can choose to ignore and purchase items to furnish your apartment. Nearly all of these small and seemingly insignificant choices made throughout the game have a knock-on effect with up to 6 different endings possible.
There's no world-destroying event or choice that leads to death or disaster in the VA-11 HALL-A's final act, what this game aims for from beginning to end, is to create a sense of belonging and inclusion amongst a group of very different and vulnerable characters. With the story exposing these vulnerabilities, it allows the characters' humanity to shine through, creating a tight-knit ensemble of characters that you can't help but fall in love with.
Verdict 9/10 + Expertly crafted characters that flesh out the world + Unique drink making gameplay mechanic + The number of story-affecting actions leading to multiple endings + Simple 2d visuals aided by atmosphere-creating soundtrack + Extra story modes - Repetition of serving the same drinks A triumph in immersive storytelling, VA-11 Hall-A is a game at the top of its genre and a must-play for anyone who wishes to lose themselves in a fascinating cyberpunk world created by its incredible community of characters. Played on the PS4 version.
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