One of the debates that crops up every so often is whether or not something is a game. It happens all the time when a studio puts out a 'walking simulator' because the act of simply moving around an environment and being told a story doesn't count as a video game to some people...maybe because there's no guns? I never saw any problem with these types of games, to me they seemed like more interactive versions of visual novels. In visual novels you're being told a story and your interaction starts and stops with clicking the mouse - with more well known entries such as 999 and Danganronpa being a bit more involved, of course. Walking around a place and being told a story in digestible bits and pieces calls to mind the various visual novels that break their story off into routes, giving you bits and pieces of smaller stories on the way to the full narrative picture. Gameplay isn't as easy to define as 'pulling a trigger' or 'jumping to platforms' and saying a game where you walk shouldn't be called a game seems insane to me.
In a year that has delivered a buffet of great experiences, from the incredibly fun Overwatch to the gloriously gory DOOM, the refinement of franchises with Dark Souls 3 and Uncharted 4, and even Stardew Valley, it comes as a surprise to me that with a healthy amount of options that halfway through the year my favorite game has been one where there's very little gameplay to speak of.
The year is 207X, The place is Glitch City, a place where corrupt corporations and criminals rule, the citizens have nanomachines, and corrupt law enforcement agents ensure the population obeys the laws from an equally corrupt government. There's a gap between classes that widens by the day and citizens seek solace wherever they can. Some focus on their work. Some, their family or their dreams of leaving the city behind. But there are some who turn to the bottom of a glass. Off the street leading to the main area of the city there is a small ball located at VA-11 in Hall-A; this bar, named Valhalla, is where the story takes place.
You are Jill, a bartender at Valhalla who, along with your coworker Gillian and your boss Dana, just wants to do your job and make it through another week.
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action is a newly released game from Sukeban Games where the goal isn't to fix the corruption in Glitch City or anything of the sort; rather your goal is to make it through a shift at Valhalla. You're just a simple bartender after all. Right from the start the game lets you know the right frame of mind to be in when playing: relax, have some snacks and a drink and just enjoy it. At its core the closest comparison I can make with how you play this game is Papers, Please but where Papers, Please had the added element of a time limit, with VA-11 you can take things at your own pace. Like Papers, Please there is the ultimate goal of making enough money to provide for yourself, VA-11 doesn't penalize you much at all for making a mistake.
The moment to moment gameplay is quite simple. The night begins and in comes a customer. After introductions the customer asks for a drink. There are 24 possible drinks to make and various ingredients to make them. You never have to memorize a recipe since you can always just refer to the drink menu when it comes time to mix and pour. If someone asks for, say, a Beer, you pull up the entry for Beer, put the ingredients in the mixer, and serve. Customers will wait forever if you so choose. The challenge comes in the later stages when customers start asking for more vague options. Someone might ask for a drink that is 'manly' but also 'contains no alcohol' and you have to start cross referencing the drinks to find the one on the list that is both 'manly' in the categorization and has 'optional alcohol' in the recipe.
The reward for serving the proper drink is a bigger tip and cut at the end of the night, but the true reward isn't in the money you get. Serving drinks is this game's version of the branching path mechanic that so many games have. You're encouraged to serve customers the drinks they ask for but nothing is stopping you from getting a drink wrong or giving them more alcohol than the recipe calls for; in fact, doing so will unlock a different conversation path.
See, the customers are the main narrative in the game. They provide an outlook into the world you exist in and in turn they flesh out themselves and develop your character as well. You're not a faceless entity, Jill is as much a character as anyone else. The various customers are colorful and interesting and the way they interact with you comes off as a natural, flowing conversation. Over time and repeat service, the characters start to feel like regulars and their banter with Jill is much more of a prize than simple money. One of your very first customers, a rather chauvinistic man with some...interesting beliefs, eventually just starts asking for his usual order and by that point he's become such a fixture in any given night's service that it makes sense for him to HAVE a usual order.
The characters and the conversations are the real star of the show here and the bartending is just a means of breaking up the conversations. It never feels like busywork, but the bartending is your gate to the rest of the conversation. As the orders get more vague there comes the challenge of either maintaining your flawless service bonus or just messing up and going with the flow. It's never fully unclear what people ask for, but there's just enough vagueness that pouring over the menu a few times is required. Getting the order right will continue the conversation as normal and these conversations are both well written and interesting enough that it provides a natural reason to WANT to get them right.
At the end of a night there's a brief intermission that takes place in Jill's apartment. There you can flip through various apps on her phone to get more insight into the makings of the world, browse an internet forum, and go shopping. The shopping will change the apartment: buying a poster will put that poster on the wall, buying a video game machine and a video game will unlock a little mini game, etc. Sometimes Jill will want to buy something specific, like a fan, and if you buy it before going into work Jill will provide more clues when customers order something vague. The trick is balancing your purchases while still having enough to pay your various bills on the week-to-week basis.
Nothing in the game is ever difficult and that's by design.
Of course there's conflict to be had, but it's never conflict that you're directly part of. An early example is learning about rumors of terrorists targeting a bank that grows and develops in the background as various customers mention and discuss the bank and the rumors. When this thread reaches its climax it has consequences for certain characters that by now you (and Jill) have come to care for, so when one of them comes in depressed and down you really want to cheer them up by perhaps making their usual order or offering an ear for them to vent their problems.
There's a word for a game like VA-11 and that word is 'charming'. It's charming as all hell. The conversations you engage in range from high concept topics such as implanting your memories in a virtual body and essentially making another you out there, to whether or not Lilum (this game's version of essentially robots) and A.I. are people, to more lighthearted topics such as concerts by Hatsune Miku parallels and romance or the lack thereof. The characters are just as varied, from a literal brain in a jar to talking dogs in business suits and everything inbetween. It's a wonderful mixture of just about everything that falls under the 'cyberpunk' umbrella.
When a brain in a jar attempts to pick up a hacker that falls in and out of love in the span of hours, it's genuinely humorous and when that same hacker discovers that speaking hacker jargon to Lilum has arousing attributes to the Lilum it's a good gag.
Not every bit of writing and humor is a hit, but there's so much charm and genuine moments of comedy to off set the more lowkey moments of introspection that there's bound to be something in there that resonates with people. VA-11 lets its characters grow naturally over time to the point where I was smiling when one of my favorites showed up.
Everything you do in the game feels important, or at least meaningful. Obviously serving drinks and having those lead to different conversation paths and endings is the main thing, but something as simple as what songs go in the jukebox will have characters commenting on it. The music is wonderful, which is great since you'll be hearing a lot of it over the course of the game. At the start of the night and after each break you can select twelve songs to put in the jukebox and those will color the mood of a conversation. When I had more heavier stuff playing one night, a grumpy customer mentioned that at least the music was good, and when I played a song by an in-game celebrity a fan of hers perked up. When a rather upsetting event happened in game, I filled the jukebox with more uplifting songs in order to help raise spirits. It probably didn't have any actual in game benefits, but it made me feel good and like I was being a better bartender.
It's clear that VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action is meant for more casual play sessions. Much like a bar it's a game where you go to relax, unwind, and maybe meet some interesting people. It may not have a lot to offer for those looking for depth, but it's got heart and it's got soul. I purchased VA-11 Hall-A in the midst of the Steam sale purely on a whim and I'm glad I did. It's nearly July and VA-11 is one of the most memorable games I've played all year. It's certainly one of the best.
Pull up a chair, grab a beer, and immerse yourself in the world of Cyberpunk Bartender Action. It's worth the time. It's fifteen dollars and absolutely worth checking out.
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