VA-11 Hall-A Cyberpunk Bartender Action is a visual novel set in a dystopian cyberpunk world, in which you play as Jill, a sassy but somewhat insecure bartender, who is working in a small bar downtown, fittingly called „VA-11 Hall-A“ or just Valhalla, trying to make a living off serving drinks and changing lives.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1502758997

It's many things that make VA-11 a masterpiece, for example the beautiful soundtrack
that, in combination with the overall look of this game, creates a soothing and very comfortable experience.

The game is seperated into two parts, one being the bar, that Jill is working in and where she meets all kinds of different characters and the other one being her home in which she manages her expenses and reads about recent happenings in the city. Even though the characters in this game are sometimes a bit exaggerated, they never feel like they're just flat plot devices, used to push Jill's personal development, but rather like unique characters, who all have their own backstories and struggles that define them and let them develop throughout the course of the game. Combine these brilliantly-written characters with a lot of wit and you've got yourself hours of fun, just reading conversations play out.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1502758880
But even after Jill's shifts at the VA-11 bar the fun doesn't stop, since you've got multiple apps on your phone to keep you entertained. For example „the Augmented Eye“, which is a newspaper app, that keeps you up-to-date with all the latest things happening and also a brilliant parody of sensationalist journalism or the bulletin board „danger/u/“, which is a parody of 4chan. It´s actually in these sections of the game where the writing really shines, mixing social criticism and pop-culture references done right.

The gameplay is also seperated into two parts, one being your actual work in the bar, where you have to mix and serve drinks according to your customers wishes and the other one being a management-type gameplay, meaning that you have to keep Jill happy and focused by buying her things she wants, while also keeping enough money to be able to afford essential things like power and rent. Of course, as in every VN, the gameplay isn't the main focus of the game but unlike in other VN's where the gameplay gets stale after a while, VA-11's gameplay manages to stay fun and fresh throughout the entirety of the game.

As I mentioned earlier, the soundtrack of this game is amazing, having a lot of variety in it's tracklist, from pushy, upbeat songs to very emotional tracks while keeping a perfect balance and using this great variety perfectly to make certain scenes feel more powerful.

VA-11 also shines with a great pixelart look, that looks incredibly aesthetic and pleases the eye greatly. The characters all have their unique look that reflects their personalities and the backgrounds have so many minor details put into them, that you may not even notice at first but help the game feel much more vivid and interesting to look at.

The only thing I can really criticise about this game is the fact, that there's one secret that requires you to actually go out of your way and play a totally different game, made by an entirely different developer just to figure it out for yourself (Spoiler warning: I'm talking about the whole Flaming Moai shenanigans ).
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1502758733


All in all, I would totally recommend buying this game, even if you're not that much into VN's since it comes with a really charming artstyle, a great banging soundtrack, lots of likable characters, funny dialogue, great writing and gives you a great, comfy experience.