{"id":21712,"date":"2018-10-01T12:02:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T17:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=21712"},"modified":"2018-09-29T20:38:32","modified_gmt":"2018-09-30T01:38:32","slug":"va-11-hall-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/entertainment\/2018\/10\/01\/va-11-hall-a\/","title":{"rendered":"VA-11 HALL-A"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cVA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action\u201d (also known simply as Valhalla or VA-11 HALL-A) will be ported to the PS4 and Switch consoles in the first quarter of 2019. Alongside this, the sequel \u201cN1RV ANN-A\u201d has also been announced for 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0This isn\u2019t the first system hop the game has done, however. After its original release on Windows, OS X, and Linux back on June 21, 2016 several delays (and a couple years) later. It also was ported to the PlayStation Vita by the developer Wolf Games and published by Limited Run Games on Nov. 14, 2017 in North America. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0A bartending simulation video game, \u201cVA-11 HALL-A\u201d has several elements of cyberpunk and anime-inspired visuals behind it. It was originally developed for the Cyberpunk Game Jam of 2014, but the Venezuelan studio Sukeban Games enjoyed the game to the extent that they decided to make it into a full game. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The game is exactly as the title implied: a cyberpunk bartender action, though it combines with a visual novel that takes place in a dystopia. True to its name, a majority of the story takes place in the dive bar known as VA-11 HALL-A in a place known as Glitch City where the protagonist, Jill, is a bartender. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Jill, despite receiving an offer to work at a research institute, found herself more suited to the life that we now have in her hands. Described by the website for the game itself, \u201cVA-11 HALL-A\u201d is a game set in the year 207X and acts as \u201ca booze \u2018em up about waifus, technology, and post-dystopia life.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s a world where corporations are the overlord, human life has nanomachines throughout that are designed to specifically oppress them and the force to keep the peace is known as White Knights that are corrupt on a base level.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Despite all of this, the bar attracts people of interesting origins, bringing life to such a dreary future.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The primary focus of the game is to prepare drinks for the patrons of the bar. By following their requests (or maybe adding a bit of extra alcohol in), the story branches and dialogue could change. There are no active dialogue branches; every piece of information learned is by making drink mixes for the clients. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0While creating and serving the cocktails and other beverages, Jill (and by extension, the player) learns about that patron\u2019s life and also of their conditions in this dystopian society.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Drinks can be made with five ingredients only and mistakes are allowed to be made, which results in no tension when you make a mistake. However, you get more tips for items outside of work if the order is done perfectly. Along with that, all the ingredients themselves are fictional even if some concoctions are named and taken from the real world. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0In turn with this, sometimes those that come to the bar will ask for a specific drink or type while truly wanting something else. Making sure Jill\u2019s happy at home will assist the player when doing bartending in order to be more attuned with the customer\u2019s actual wants. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0There\u2019s also a way of adding more dialogue, which comes from adding a little more alcohol or serving the patron more in order to get more information out of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The entirety of \u201cVA-11 HALL-A\u201d isn\u2019t about the bartending and subsequent drinking, however. If deemed necessary, the player can talk to the customer instead of fuelling their alcoholism. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Along with this, as a way to keep the immersion of the game up, the player gets a book of recipes for drinks they can create. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Overall, \u201cVA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action\u201d is a game that can bring someone back to old PC-98 style games while blasting someone right into the future. With so many variables, this game feels like it can stay entertaining for several hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

Erika Brandenburg<\/strong>
\n<\/span>Arts and Entertainment Editor<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cVA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action\u201d (also known simply as Valhalla or VA-11 HALL-A) will be ported to the PS4 and Switch consoles in the first quarter of 2019. Alongside this, the sequel \u201cN1RV ANN-A\u201d has also been announced for 2020. \u00a0 \u00a0This isn\u2019t the first system hop the game has done, however. After its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":21761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2104,2113],"tags":[1486,2100,1414,2430,2750],"class_list":["post-21712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-video-games","tag-arts-entertainment","tag-erika-brandenburg","tag-gaming","tag-ps4","tag-va-11-hall-a"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/vallhalla-glitch-city-te-quiero-caracas-chronicles.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-5Ec","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21712"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21764,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21712\/revisions\/21764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}