I was looking to play something short and sweet and hey! Turned out this game fit the bill splendidly. I had actually gotten and tried this VN one year ago and didn’t really get into it, but I’ve enjoyed it a lot more now that I’ve given it a second opportunity
Story
VA-11 Hall-A mostly focuses on developing the stories and backgrounds of different characters who come to the bar through dialogue between them and the protagonist, Jill. The game describes a cyberpunk setting where Lilims and humans coexist (and capitalism has successfully ruined everyone’s lives)
I didn’t expect to grow so fond of the cast, but the game really successes at making you feel attached to its characters and the relationships between them.
The gameplay aspect of it is actually quite nice, since it doesn’t interrupt the flow of the visual novel elements and is quite interesting when it comes to the more cryptic orders. Just short and sweet bits, like the game itself. When it comes to the art direction, I absolutely loved the pixel art and animations, they were super charismatic
The game itself has a very relaxing and calm vibe and I found it great to play little by little each day. Getting through each day was nice and rewarding and I found the game in general to be a very pleasant experience
Ending spoilers alert!
The ending sequence was nice, very heartwarming and I really liked Jill and Gaby’s talk during the end. They were able to make up and they have a very sisterly bond between them and it’s just so nice to see Jill being able to get over her regrets and take care of Gaby
The extra endings are sweet, but I wish they were longer or implied a bigger reward, since most of them require you to go out of your way to get them. Nevertheless, I really liked them, most of them were very heartwarming
Characters
Overall, I grew very attached to the cast and I like most of the characters a lot. The designs were generally super good and lovely. Oh and all the LGTB rep? I’m fucking living for it, I LOVED so much the fact that so many of these characters were openly LGTB
Jill was a great protagonist, she had lots of very funny gigs and dialogue and I loved seeing her interact with the clients and finding out more about her past. I have to confess, I was rooting for Jill and Dana as girlfriends during the whole game… and I still believe in them❤️
Dana was one of my faves too, but I wish she had gotten more screentime throughout the game. However, that little scene of her supporting Jill and letting her vent was so cute, I absolutely loved it and it lives rent free in my head
Stella and Sei… holy f*ck please just kiss already I love them so much. They complemented each other so well and I was so happy to see how their relationship developed further in the game. And I love Stella’s design SO much, she looks so good
Gaby was also one of the cases where I thought that she should have had more screentime but I can’t help but love how she was introduced and the fact that the game started getting more serious from that point on. I really liked her and her new-found bond with Jill is heartwarming, I’m a sucker for found families
Dorothy… She’s funny and has a good heart but I have never understood why people were so obsessed with her😭 Mostly all the content from this game I had been exposed to before playing was reaction pictures of her, I swear to god y’all weird. It definitely doesn’t sit well with me that a character that looks underaged on purpose is a sex worker but sadly it actually fits the cyberpunk setting of the story but, still, ew
Regarding other characters like Alma, Gil or Miki, I enjoyed them a lot and I appreciate them but there’s not much I can find to say about them. There are, of course, other minor characters such as Norma, Betty, Kim, etc… which had little characters arcs that I liked
I wish the game was longer so they could expand more upon characters such as Dana, Gil, Jamie… etc, but I was happy with how everything concluded regardless. But, Anna? That was such a weird case, I thought they were going to tell us much more about her but it was all very abruptly concluded in Dorothy’s ending
Fuck Donovan though, what an asshole
Music
The music was very nice but I wish they didn’t let you choose what to play in the jukebox since it makes it so hard to associate tracks with moments of the game, which is something I usually need in order not to forget certain tracks exist. Though, I found some songs I really liked at least, but I wish I could associate them with a specific scene or vibe that the game itself purposefully delivers
My completion
Hehe. Hehehehehe. I was able to 100% it! Not an outstanding achievement taking on account that we are talking about a visual novel here but I was very happy to achieve it nonetheless. There’s only one achievement that can fuck a person up and that’s the one related to the Model Warrior Julianne’s minigame. It isn’t really that hard and I managed to get it after a few tries thanks to some guides but it’s definitely tedious as f*ck since you have to repeat the same stuff each try. I’m not even good at bullet-hell games but seems that Touhou and Sans have both raised me well
Silvy 