Cyberpunk, Bartending and Action: Welcome to ‘VA-11 Hall-A’

Time to mix drinks and change lives. That’s the motto of VA-11 Hall-A (pronounced Valhalla), a cozy little bar tucked away in the corner of Glitch City in 207X AD. Glitch City – like any city in a cyberpunk setting – paints a grim, dystopian picture of our future. It’s a city run by corporations and criminals. The humans that live there are infected with nanomachines to keep them subjugated and White Knights ensure that no one steps out of line. Most of the people are just trying to get by and live out their life.

And that’s where VA-11 Hall-A comes in, to add a dash of color in an otherwise bleak city.

Unlike most cyberpunk games, in VA-11 Hall-A, you aren’t in the center of the action. You don’t pull the trigger. You don’t hack into the mainframe of a corpo. You don’t initiate a quickhack. You don’t make earth-shattering decisions that decide the fate of the world.

You pour drinks.

You watch.

You listen.

You experience the events that shake the very foundations of Glitch City unfold around you like reverse origami.

You take your place behind the bar counter, and get ready for your shift at VA-11 Hall-A – a haven for the lost, tired souls of Glitch City looking for a quick escape, which often ends at the bottom of a glass. You are Jill Stingray, a bartender at VA-11 Hall-A who, like everyone else in the city, is struggling to make ends meet.

One could describe VA-11 Hall-A as a casual slice-of-life game that takes place in a dystopian future where you step into the shoes of an NPC. NPCs are non-player characters that one encounters in video games. They are the quest givers, the innkeepers, the item shop merchants and, you guessed it, also the bartenders. They are the characters that populate the world you explore; you walk among them but are not one of them. NPCs are, however, an important plot device. What VA-11 Hall-A does is that it lets you experience what it feels like to play as someone who is not changing the world but rather one who is a necessary catalyst. Being on the fringe of all the events happening, Jill makes a difference in Glitch City by making a difference in the lives of its citizens.     

Despite it being a tiny hole in the wall, VA-11 Hall-A attracts an impressive crowd. Regulars from different walks of life find themselves pouring their heart out to Jill, as she in return pours them their pick of poison.

The Clientele? Alma Armas – a professional hacker and a close friend of Jill’s; private eye Art von Delay (who is a subtle nod to George Costanza from Seinfeld); and Donovan D. Dawson, C.E.O. of digital news source The Augmented Eye. There’s even a White Knight, Sei Asagiri – best friend of the heiress Stella Hoshii who is a cat boomer. (Side note: a cat boomer is one who has been treated for nanomachine rejection as a fetus.) And there’s also Taylor, a brain in a jar. (Business is business, after all; you get paid to get patrons drunk, not ask questions as to how they’re going to ingest it.)

VA-11 Hall-A’s customers aren’t just restricted to the humans of Glitch City. There are a number of Lilim (humanoid robots that are regulars at VA-11 Hall-A) –  *Kira* Miki, an idol who believes that the sacrifice of her identity is a good bargain if it means making her fans happy; Dorothy Haze, a cheerful Lolitaesque lilim; and the shiba inu, Nacho Tumbleweed Jr. who is the boss of the Canine Independent Rescue Association.

Jill’s coworkers are as interesting as her customers. There’s Dana Zane, VA-11 Hall-A’s proprietor, Gillian, a fellow bartender who has taken on the identity of an ex-employee, and part-time bartender/part-time patron Rad Shiba who threatens, “You’ll pet me sooner or later. They all do.” An unfortunate spoiler – you, in fact, don’t get to pat him. 

Jill lives in a matchbox apartment in Glitch City that she (rather you) crams with knick-knacks and the like to prevent her from getting distracted at work the next day. She scrolls through the news forums (The Augmented Eye’s reports vary depending on how drunk Donovan gets), checks the game’s equivalent of 4chan, called DANGEROUS OPINIONS. She changes her décor and relaxes with her cat Fore until it’s time for her shift at the bar.

Make no mistake, like all games, VA-11 Hall-A does have an end goal. Jill needs to have enough money in her bank account to pay her rent! The best way to rake up that dough is work, work, work and make tips. The bigger the tip, the fatter the bank account. That means knowing what drinks your customers want. You also decide how (excuse my French) shit-faced you want your customers to get. The amount of alcohol content in the drinks will result in different dialogue choices. Experimenting with what you have could land you with a drink that’s not on the menu. Serving certain drinks on particular days unlocks secret patrons. This game has six endings and all of them are unlocked depending on what drink you served when.      

VA-11 Hall-A is a visual novel and heavy on dialogue and images. It’s a game that tells a story through conversations. The world-building is done via interactions with the customers and Jill’s observations of the world around her.

There’s not much to do in VA-11 Hall-A in terms of gameplay. With the exception of the optional bullet-hell video game (which is the most frustrating part if you want to max out all your achievements), there’s no button-mashing, quick-time events, press CTRL to crouch. It is a game that requires you to pace yourself, take things one day at a time, much like Jill herself. Mixing drinks, no matter how much fun it might sound, might be a little repetitive.

Despite its pixel-style graphics inspired by the visuals of Japanese PC-98 games, VA-11 Hall-A manages to pull off a distinct style with a cyberpunk color palette and funky soundtrack. Part of your job involves curating the playlist for the night and the OST does not disappoint. The synth-wave tracks perfectly complement the vibes of the bar and set the mood for the long shift ahead of you. The amalgamation of all this and the conversations you have make for a cozy atmosphere, something that’s rare to come by in the cyberpunk genre.

It’s perfect for a wind-down hour. The best way to enjoy VA-11 Hall-A is to play it at night with the lights on low, drink on the side (even a steaming cup of hot chocolate will do), and relax and get lost in the lives you’re about to meet.

VA-11 Hall-A released in 2016 (developed by Sukeban games), so you must be wondering why there’s a game that’s six years old being talked about in 2022? What makes this year so special?

The game itself takes place over the month of December, stretching all the way to the New Year. Nearly everyone who plays VA-11 Hall-A does a yearly playthrough as a much-needed R&R from the chaotic year that flew by. The Prologue takes place on Friday, December 9th, and this year, December 9th falls on a Friday! Going forward, playing one day at a time, you can sync up the in-game days with your own. It’s special because this coincidence will not happen again until 2033.

So, sit back, relax, pour yourself one on the house, preferably with extra Karmotrine.

Welcome to VA-11 Hall-A.

It’s where we mix drinks and change lives.