VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

没有苦大仇深的剧情，没有紧张刺激的游戏，有的只是酒，故事和压抑城市下的一点点人性。 优秀的音乐与精致的像素动画塑造了一种独特的氛围，每个角色的形象塑造都很优秀，还有很多隐藏内容可以深挖，是一个极其值得推荐的好游戏。

While I am biased due to my love of the cyberpunk genre, this is a phenomenal game. I had never played a light novel game before and I am glad this was my first. Immediately when I opened the game and it said "This game is best enjoyed with a drink and some snacks and possibly a blanket" I went and made a tea and grabbed some snacks. This genuinely elevated my experience with a game and I still think about how this game informs you to do that to this day. The story is good and the bar mechanics add a nice level of engagement for the player. Though its strongest point for me personally is the soundtrack, it genuinely has one of the greatest soundtracks I've ever heard in a video game. Not to mention, the fact you get to pick and choose what songs you want to play on the jukebox at the start of each day or "level" was another factor of immersive engagement that I enjoyed.

At first blush, this game has all the essential ingredients of something I'd really like: cozy visual novel, chill soundtrack, nice pixel graphics and art style, cyberpunk setting, Except for one glaring flaw: the WRITING. Holy cow, I was not prepared for such juvenile and cringy writing. It gave me whiplash almost immediately. I wonder if, at the time of this game's release, the reviewers were too charmed by all the other novel elements that they overlooked the most important aspect of a good visual novel. This game feels like it was written by sexually frustrated incels. Most of the characters are extremely creepy for no reason. When they aren't creepy, they're just tedious. The "humor" is painfully unfunny and tries so hard to be edgy. Yikes. Anyway, Coffee Talk Tokyo comes out soon so there's that.

1 адельгид и 9 кармотрина, и получается стопка этилового спирта с ложечкой сахара

Время смешивать напитки и вершить судьбы.

The one good thing about this game is it taught me that I do not like visual novels and I won't be taking any chances on any others. This review is for those who saw an "overwhelmingly positive" score and "cyberpunk bartending action" and might have gotten the wrong idea. There is almost no actual gameplay to speak of in this game, let alone action. You make drinks by combining ingredients from a recipe and that's it. The rest of the game is reading dialogue. I didn't find the story that compelling either, but seems most other reviewers disagree. I guess I just have a cold, dead heart.

十年前的神作，完美预言了当时来看十年后的诸多社会问题