Va-11 Hall-A is... Something else for me. I don't think I can start this review saying otherwise.
When I started Va-11 Hall-A, I didn't expect much. A chill game with nice graphics and good music, nothing too standard, but enough to be enjoyable. However, as I dived and dived more in the game, I got way too invested with it in a matter of days.
Let's start with the setting and the unique twist it gives to it. Va-11 Hall-A's setting is a dystopian, futuristic city named "Glitch City", in the year 207X, where new politics are being brought night by night, new technologies drop each day, and where everything is new even to the characters themselves. In this type of setting, you'd expect to be able to explore the recondite world we live in, but instead, the main scenario is Va-11 Hall-A itself, a bar located in a shady back alley where we'll play as Jill Stingray, a bartender in this peculiar site. Our objective? Earn enough money to pay your taxes so you don't lose your apartment.
It's a... Weird twist, to this type of game, but it sure is a welcomed one. Despite being a bartender, we get much of Glitch City's drama as we speak and get to know better the clients that will frequent our bar more and more, and thanks to the digital newspaper, we get to know the necessary to understand what this world is and how it works, albeit in a superficial level, it doesn't brag out much more than necessary and tells perfectly what it needs to, which is something I admire a lot.
Let's talk about the clients; I love them. All of the clients we get are vary enough to be interesting to talk with, and their stories will sure surprise you as well. We get to know all different types of personalities, some more than others, but in the end of it, we get to learn what their daily lives are, their problems, what type of life they deal with... And it's one of the reasons why I love this game so much.
This game, despite it's intrinsicate scenario and wacky characters, strikes a cord to me, as my mother works as a bartender, too. She always had to listen to a lot of drunk clients talk about their share of problems, and she always told me how many people she interacted with thanks to her job, and honestly? The fact that this game, despite how dystopian its setting is, achieved to be an actual relatable story, impressed me a lot. Many of the things we experience as Jill are things I always heard my mother talk about whenever we have time to chat. It may be a dumb thing, but as I was playing, I couldn't help but imagine that that's the experience my mother always used (and uses to) talk about, with the good things and the bad things it has to it.
But, that's not the only reason why I love this game, of course not. The main reason is the protagonist herself, Julianne "Jill" Stingray. The more we continue the story, the more we get to know Jill better, and her character is told as a mundane, relatable character in this weird, weird world. She's a simple person, she doesn't have a grandiloquent objetive to achieve in her life, nothing to really brag about, or something truly important to grasp on. But it's that simpleness that made me relate to her character. When asked why she chose to be a bartender, she simply answered saying that she liked it, one thing led to another, and one day she found herself working at Va-11 Hall-A. In other stories, you'd expect that the protagonist had an actual reason to be what they are, but in real life, most things don't usually go as smoothly, and you are brought where life gets you around. It's those things, that made me love Jill a lot, but it isn't until a certain character appears that we get to know more about her and who she is as a person, that being Gaby, her ex-sister in law, who tells Jill about how her sister died without ever having talked again with Jill after a fight they had when they broke-up, something Jill already mentioned to this point of the game being something she regreted. After this, while we progress with the story, we get to see more of Jill, and get to know her a lot more, and how much pain it brought to her life the fact she never could reconsider things with Lenore as much as she loved to, without even knowing the reason of why she did not. Here, we get to see why Jill decided to be a bartender, or, well, why she didn't chose to keep studying, because she felt she wasted her life studying, without doing anything else, and decided to take another route to her life, which Lenore didn't agree on and made them fight. Ironically, one of the things Lenore told Jill before their fight is what made her be a bartender:
"If everything else fails, why not try bartending?"
And I love it. I love this section of the game, I love how much it tells about Jill, and how much it tells us about how we should take on life, following what we truly desire to do and not what we are supposed to. At the end of the day, Jill became passionate about bartending, and loved to keep up with the people she met along the way. Such a simple way to life, yet a fulfilling one.
The last conversation between Jill & Gaby is amazing, too. Seeing both of them moving forward and enjoying life as what Lenore would've wish they could, and reconnect again after all those years... I just, can't. I couldn't help myself but cry over the ending, and smile like an idiot.
Other things I liked/disliked about this game that I didn't mention:
.-The graphics are amazing.
.-The music is amazing.
.-I love how easy to play is, where the main attractive is the dialogues themselves and the mix drinks part is just something to integrate to the gameplay. While minimun, it's enjoyable.
.-Love how many endings you can unlock with only one playing, so you don't need to replay it countless of time.
.-Some fanservice here and there, but eh.
This review is a mess, I know, it's hard to put into words what I love about this game and how much it hits home with its message and mundanity, but yeah, I love it.
Stats:
—Favorite Character: Jill Stingray.—
—Favorite Scene: Jill and Alma's conversation & the final conversation between Jill and Gaby.—
—Score: 5/5 = A Favorite of Mine (10/10).—
"Time to mix drinks and change lives." ---Jill Stingray.
When I started Va-11 Hall-A, I didn't expect much. A chill game with nice graphics and good music, nothing too standard, but enough to be enjoyable. However, as I dived and dived more in the game, I got way too invested with it in a matter of days.
Let's start with the setting and the unique twist it gives to it. Va-11 Hall-A's setting is a dystopian, futuristic city named "Glitch City", in the year 207X, where new politics are being brought night by night, new technologies drop each day, and where everything is new even to the characters themselves. In this type of setting, you'd expect to be able to explore the recondite world we live in, but instead, the main scenario is Va-11 Hall-A itself, a bar located in a shady back alley where we'll play as Jill Stingray, a bartender in this peculiar site. Our objective? Earn enough money to pay your taxes so you don't lose your apartment.
It's a... Weird twist, to this type of game, but it sure is a welcomed one. Despite being a bartender, we get much of Glitch City's drama as we speak and get to know better the clients that will frequent our bar more and more, and thanks to the digital newspaper, we get to know the necessary to understand what this world is and how it works, albeit in a superficial level, it doesn't brag out much more than necessary and tells perfectly what it needs to, which is something I admire a lot.
Let's talk about the clients; I love them. All of the clients we get are vary enough to be interesting to talk with, and their stories will sure surprise you as well. We get to know all different types of personalities, some more than others, but in the end of it, we get to learn what their daily lives are, their problems, what type of life they deal with... And it's one of the reasons why I love this game so much.
This game, despite it's intrinsicate scenario and wacky characters, strikes a cord to me, as my mother works as a bartender, too. She always had to listen to a lot of drunk clients talk about their share of problems, and she always told me how many people she interacted with thanks to her job, and honestly? The fact that this game, despite how dystopian its setting is, achieved to be an actual relatable story, impressed me a lot. Many of the things we experience as Jill are things I always heard my mother talk about whenever we have time to chat. It may be a dumb thing, but as I was playing, I couldn't help but imagine that that's the experience my mother always used (and uses to) talk about, with the good things and the bad things it has to it.
But, that's not the only reason why I love this game, of course not. The main reason is the protagonist herself, Julianne "Jill" Stingray. The more we continue the story, the more we get to know Jill better, and her character is told as a mundane, relatable character in this weird, weird world. She's a simple person, she doesn't have a grandiloquent objetive to achieve in her life, nothing to really brag about, or something truly important to grasp on. But it's that simpleness that made me relate to her character. When asked why she chose to be a bartender, she simply answered saying that she liked it, one thing led to another, and one day she found herself working at Va-11 Hall-A. In other stories, you'd expect that the protagonist had an actual reason to be what they are, but in real life, most things don't usually go as smoothly, and you are brought where life gets you around. It's those things, that made me love Jill a lot, but it isn't until a certain character appears that we get to know more about her and who she is as a person, that being Gaby, her ex-sister in law, who tells Jill about how her sister died without ever having talked again with Jill after a fight they had when they broke-up, something Jill already mentioned to this point of the game being something she regreted. After this, while we progress with the story, we get to see more of Jill, and get to know her a lot more, and how much pain it brought to her life the fact she never could reconsider things with Lenore as much as she loved to, without even knowing the reason of why she did not. Here, we get to see why Jill decided to be a bartender, or, well, why she didn't chose to keep studying, because she felt she wasted her life studying, without doing anything else, and decided to take another route to her life, which Lenore didn't agree on and made them fight. Ironically, one of the things Lenore told Jill before their fight is what made her be a bartender:
"If everything else fails, why not try bartending?"
And I love it. I love this section of the game, I love how much it tells about Jill, and how much it tells us about how we should take on life, following what we truly desire to do and not what we are supposed to. At the end of the day, Jill became passionate about bartending, and loved to keep up with the people she met along the way. Such a simple way to life, yet a fulfilling one.
The last conversation between Jill & Gaby is amazing, too. Seeing both of them moving forward and enjoying life as what Lenore would've wish they could, and reconnect again after all those years... I just, can't. I couldn't help myself but cry over the ending, and smile like an idiot.
Other things I liked/disliked about this game that I didn't mention:
.-The graphics are amazing.
.-The music is amazing.
.-I love how easy to play is, where the main attractive is the dialogues themselves and the mix drinks part is just something to integrate to the gameplay. While minimun, it's enjoyable.
.-Love how many endings you can unlock with only one playing, so you don't need to replay it countless of time.
.-Some fanservice here and there, but eh.
This review is a mess, I know, it's hard to put into words what I love about this game and how much it hits home with its message and mundanity, but yeah, I love it.
Stats:
—Favorite Character: Jill Stingray.—
—Favorite Scene: Jill and Alma's conversation & the final conversation between Jill and Gaby.—
—Score: 5/5 = A Favorite of Mine (10/10).—
"Time to mix drinks and change lives." ---Jill Stingray.