Welcome to Vallhalla where the drinks are sweet
I’ve seen many different takes on the visual novel formula but I haven’t quite had this kind of reaction since Analog: A Hate Story. From what the developers set up in the prologue game that they put out 2 years ago I knew this was my kind of narrative. No one has quite tackled being a bartender in a video game before. It is the future where corporations are running the world. In no other place is this more prevalent than Glitch city. A city of the future that lets AI’s named Lilims have their own rights while still suppressing them in other ways. The city’s protectors the White Knights try to keep the peace but no organization is perfect with some of its followers being corrupt too. A little bar named VA-11 HA11-A may be inconspicuous to most passersby but it hosts a bartender named Jill. She has her own issues while still having a great rapport with anyone who comes in to order a drink.
As Jill the player will mainly need to mix whatever drinks the client wants. Sometimes they aren’t that obvious so it becomes a puzzle that requires some thought to figure out. Other than a few points where it could give you different ending the mixing drinks angle is just to give you something to do between lines of dialogue. I’m not saying that is a bad thing either since the dialogue between characters is why you should play this. The drinks you end up selling can change that dialogue too depending on if you get the client drunk or not. Between the alternate dialogue and endings it does give the game some replay value.
With the characters being so diverse I should bring up a few to show you why this game might be for you. I might as well mention the most overt one first Dorthy. Who happens to be a Lilim sex worker. She has no issues parading what she does wherever she goes which might be quite surprising when you see she still looks like a cute girl. Yup this game has no issues with talking about sex which is quite refreshing compared to most games that seems to use it as a reward instead of a topic of conversation. Other characters include a White Knight named Sei who is all about helping people, Jamie a assassin who isn’t that bad after you get to know him, Gillian a fellow bartender with a mysterious past and many more interesting characters throughout the 3 week journey.
The game does a great job of getting the player to care about the diverse cast of patrons. So by the end you’ll be worried about them or happy that they are having a good day. At the same time it builds an intriguing mystery about a girl who only be seen by Jill along with a very relatable backstory that gets explored the closer you get to the end. Overall the general mood of the game is humorous but it does a good job of going between something silly and serious. I’m sure the expertly done translation has something to do with why I enjoyed this so much.
In the end this is a hard game to recommend to someone. It isn’t like I can tell what kind of humor you like or if the kinds of conversations are the ones you might enjoy. So all I can say is that I really enjoyed it till the end. I did not want to put this down till I saw the credits roll. If what I’ve typed here sounds like a good time to you then pick up a copy from your local digital retailer now.
