The Skeletal Play: VA-11 Hall-A
Good evening ladies and gentlemen and everyone around and in between. Let me introduce you to a gem. A gem called VA-11 Hall-A, developed by Sukeban Games and published by Ysbryd Games.
I do want to say that this is another odd game for me to pick but looking at my game libraries on Steam and GOG I kind of feel like I lost the right to say that. On GOG alone I have Point-&-Click Adventures, Third-Person RPGs, First-Person Horror, 2D Survival Horror, 2D Action and Platformer, Isometric Action RPGs and Horror, JRPGs, RTS and turn-based Strategy, Rogue-lite, other turn-based RPGs, and other games I can’t put into a convenient shelf. Steam pretty much looks the same, just a bit bigger and with the addition of a certain Visual Novel. And I thought I was mostly a RPG -guy. Especially after this game.
Back to VA-11 Hall-A, or rather its full name VA-11 Hall-A: Cyperpunk Bartender Action. It’s a lovely, adorable, endearing gem and I don’t care if I sound like a teenager who has fallen in love and confessed to crush and is now dating her for a week or two. I don’t just like this game and enjoyed it, I love it and loved every second of my 14h with it. So, there you go.
First the gameplay, which is fairly simple. You mix five chemicals into the drinks your customers want most of the time. Some times the orders are more like riddles but a little mental exercise is always welcome. Another part could be described like a scaled down Tamagotchi. The protagonist has some needs as well and you can buy certain things that she finds interesting to keep her focused on her work. Otherwise you don’t get reminders from her while mixing drinks. But again, a little mental exercise is always welcome. And besides, some things she thinks when she’s distracted are quite funny. There are also some goals in front of you. Again, the protagonist has needs and living alone in an apartment isn’t cheap, or having a certain subscription, or paying the bills. And not paying those obligations will distract massively. I barely missed the mark of the last goal by $119.50. The goal was $10,000 for the rent. And that’s the gameplay.
Now the reason I binged this game. First, it has a dark setting. A tax haven ruled by a corrupt government which just a puppet for an exceedingly greedy corporation which also openly does the law enforcement and I should also not forget that criminal powers also have their big share of power. Brutality is increasing and the quality of is decreasing for the powerless masses. And almost everyone has nanomachines running through their body to keep them monitored. Some don’t have them because their body rejects those nanomachines or they expunged them from their system so the government doesn’t have a means to track them. Not a pleasant place to live. And yet, I would describe VA-11 Hall-A as cheerful and hopeful and bright and sometimes tremendously silly.
The protagonist Jill isn’t part of any rebellion against the system or a cog in the machinery of the corporate overlords. In this whole mess she is just a bartender working at a little oasis called VA-11 Hall-A, or rather Valhalla, serving drinks and listening to the woes and sorrows of her customers and friends while dealing with her own emotional baggage. Daily life of a normal citizen in a dystopian city among other citizens. You’re not doing illegal runs like in the latest Shadowrun games (Shadowrun Returns, Dragonfall, and Hong Kong) or defeating the great evil that threatens to destroy your world in one way or another like in Dragon Age: Origins or The Elder Scrolls. It’s actually pretty mundane.
And yet, this game made me laugh so many times. It made me happy on numerous occasions and even almost made me cry. Quick tangent, there are only two reasons why I fought back the tears. For some reason I have it in my mind that crying is a weakness and men are supposed to be strong at all times. And last time I checked I was a man. The other reason is that I sincerely dislike to cry because I’m one big sobbing and incoherent mess and just feel awful and everything is just blurry and want to curl up into a ball. Back on topic. Even though Jill’s life and the stories of her customers and friends are mundane, they were astoundingly special to me.
There’s Dorothy, Lilim sex worker and ever cheerful. She’s open almost to the point of being blunt. Lilim are AI’s walking around like normal citizens. You can think I Robot with more advanced bodies and with more social tolerance towards them and without the three laws of robotics. Back to Dorothy. She’s the kind of person that storms to help friend and giving them some love, charging for a lost day of work but charging such a pittance that it’s laughable.
There’s Alma, security consultant and hacker. She’s kindhearted and has an open ear for her friends if they need one. Include a big family with one of her sisters not being able to provide for herself among other problems surrounding said sister. Some of those problems are an abusive husband and a shattered relationship with Alma and a constant escape through sex, pretty much the opposite of Alma.
I should leave it at that. If I don’t stop now, I’ll talk about every other character in this game. Including Jill. And I like almost every single one of them. There are only two I dislike and I dislike them for their personalities not because they’re badly written. So, I shall leave you with the sweet tunes of VA-11 Hall-A. Good night and sleep well.
