“Here, brutality in all its forms is an everyday reality. The quality of life for the non-powerful decreases at an alarming rate. For many, this can be overwhelming. Some devote themselves to their jobs, their families, or even their studies. Some look for ways to escape this place, and others… just give up. But for many, the answer lies at the bottom of a glass.”
There’s something especially bittersweet about playing VA-11 Hall-A. The often gloomy setting shows its wear on even the most upbeat of the game’s characters, but they continue to do the best they can to live and find enjoyment in the world they were born into. Their reality is harsh yet I can’t really say that it seems particularly beyond belief (the most implausible thing in the game is YIIK becoming a beloved classic), and many of us among the non-powerful of today’s world are able to find kindred spirits in these characters just trying to get by the same as us. It’s a game that appeals most to adults dealing with similar amounts of regret, sexual frustration, anxiety, and a lack of purpose, which in many ways makes this game a breath of fresh air.
Jill Stingray is also the perfect protagonist for this type of story, being incredibly down-to-earth with her bad habits and odd quirks while doing a mostly good job at talking to people and working them through their problems. She doesn’t have any major reason for being where she is, it’s just where she happened to end up, and many decisions could have led her somewhere else. The closest this game really comes to having a main plot revolves around her past and the resolution she finds as she confronts it, even if it’s too late to truly fix everything. She embodies what makes much of early adulthood so confusing, and why connecting with people in an otherwise uncaring world helps to bring out the best in oneself and make life more meaningful through looking out for one another.
VA-11 Hall-A succeeds at delivering a thoughtful, relaxing experience that’s perfect for easing off the stress of a long day. Perhaps it’s the uniqueness of the setting paired with the music and overall tone of the game, but it creates a vibe that is simply unmatched—a feeling not unlike the romanticized vision of going to a bar to forget your worries. At no point does it drag, and the less focused approach to the story allows for the coming and going of many characters who we’ll never see the complete picture of, but rather hear a little bit about the world from their perspective. While this keeps things fresh, the game’s heart really shines through the handful of characters with whom Jill has the closest relationships with. What this all creates is a nice little slice-of-life story with a pessimistic setting contrasted by an optimistic message, and I think that’s largely why it resonates with me so much.
There’s something especially bittersweet about playing VA-11 Hall-A. The often gloomy setting shows its wear on even the most upbeat of the game’s characters, but they continue to do the best they can to live and find enjoyment in the world they were born into. Their reality is harsh yet I can’t really say that it seems particularly beyond belief (the most implausible thing in the game is YIIK becoming a beloved classic), and many of us among the non-powerful of today’s world are able to find kindred spirits in these characters just trying to get by the same as us. It’s a game that appeals most to adults dealing with similar amounts of regret, sexual frustration, anxiety, and a lack of purpose, which in many ways makes this game a breath of fresh air.
Jill Stingray is also the perfect protagonist for this type of story, being incredibly down-to-earth with her bad habits and odd quirks while doing a mostly good job at talking to people and working them through their problems. She doesn’t have any major reason for being where she is, it’s just where she happened to end up, and many decisions could have led her somewhere else. The closest this game really comes to having a main plot revolves around her past and the resolution she finds as she confronts it, even if it’s too late to truly fix everything. She embodies what makes much of early adulthood so confusing, and why connecting with people in an otherwise uncaring world helps to bring out the best in oneself and make life more meaningful through looking out for one another.
VA-11 Hall-A succeeds at delivering a thoughtful, relaxing experience that’s perfect for easing off the stress of a long day. Perhaps it’s the uniqueness of the setting paired with the music and overall tone of the game, but it creates a vibe that is simply unmatched—a feeling not unlike the romanticized vision of going to a bar to forget your worries. At no point does it drag, and the less focused approach to the story allows for the coming and going of many characters who we’ll never see the complete picture of, but rather hear a little bit about the world from their perspective. While this keeps things fresh, the game’s heart really shines through the handful of characters with whom Jill has the closest relationships with. What this all creates is a nice little slice-of-life story with a pessimistic setting contrasted by an optimistic message, and I think that’s largely why it resonates with me so much.