review of Valhalla the Bart ender simulator
with a steam description that mentions waifus as a part of the game's appeal, you might expect, justifiably or not, less than stellar writing, but you would be pleasantly surprised
this game's writing is so incredibly mature, to the point where it makes the writing of most of the other games I have played seem shallow by comparison
it thrusts you into a believable dystopia without making it all feel too pointless and hopeless, gives you some stunningly real-feeling characters, each with their own struggles and memorable qualities, and there's some good use of second-hand worldbuilding to boot, all of that combined with the small-stakes story makes it all so easy to empathise with
the extremely unique choice system that presents itself in the form of drink-mixing does not at all overstay its welcome or even feel tacky in the slightest, I would argue it's actually much better than most choice systems in gaming because it never really tells you how important or meaningless your actions are, nor does it tell you if they are of short-term or long-term effect, there's no "character X will remember this" crap, the only way to know is to know the characters and how they would react in the first place, which can be hard but getting to know them so well is a pleasure in its own right if I dare say such a thing
the protagonist, Jill Stingray deserves a special mention, her character being an absolute delight to play as as her personality and character development throughout the game never ceased to be entertaining, a blank slate main character would have probably been a bad choice for this kind of game anyway, so I'm glad that they went above and beyond in making Jill brim with history and personality
the visuals in the game are fantastic, adding to the grim but not overly despair-filled atmosphere of Glitch city and (mostly) graceful and subtle characterisation of its denizens
and lastly, there's something to be said about a game that is so goddamn confident in its own soundtrack, that it literally lets you pick the assortment of songs from the jukebox, unafraid that it will break the atmosphere at any point in the game (and frankly it never did, which is kind of amazing for a game with so many tracks)
VA-11 Hall-A is a game that is brimming with confidence in just about every aspect of itself, and it is not for nought, for it is an amazing game more than worth being confident in
9.5/10 drinks mixed, lives changed, Barts ended
with a steam description that mentions waifus as a part of the game's appeal, you might expect, justifiably or not, less than stellar writing, but you would be pleasantly surprised
this game's writing is so incredibly mature, to the point where it makes the writing of most of the other games I have played seem shallow by comparison
it thrusts you into a believable dystopia without making it all feel too pointless and hopeless, gives you some stunningly real-feeling characters, each with their own struggles and memorable qualities, and there's some good use of second-hand worldbuilding to boot, all of that combined with the small-stakes story makes it all so easy to empathise with
the extremely unique choice system that presents itself in the form of drink-mixing does not at all overstay its welcome or even feel tacky in the slightest, I would argue it's actually much better than most choice systems in gaming because it never really tells you how important or meaningless your actions are, nor does it tell you if they are of short-term or long-term effect, there's no "character X will remember this" crap, the only way to know is to know the characters and how they would react in the first place, which can be hard but getting to know them so well is a pleasure in its own right if I dare say such a thing
the protagonist, Jill Stingray deserves a special mention, her character being an absolute delight to play as as her personality and character development throughout the game never ceased to be entertaining, a blank slate main character would have probably been a bad choice for this kind of game anyway, so I'm glad that they went above and beyond in making Jill brim with history and personality
the visuals in the game are fantastic, adding to the grim but not overly despair-filled atmosphere of Glitch city and (mostly) graceful and subtle characterisation of its denizens
and lastly, there's something to be said about a game that is so goddamn confident in its own soundtrack, that it literally lets you pick the assortment of songs from the jukebox, unafraid that it will break the atmosphere at any point in the game (and frankly it never did, which is kind of amazing for a game with so many tracks)
VA-11 Hall-A is a game that is brimming with confidence in just about every aspect of itself, and it is not for nought, for it is an amazing game more than worth being confident in
9.5/10 drinks mixed, lives changed, Barts ended