VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action, or Valhalla for short, often succeeds in spite of itself. The game is actually an incredibly interesting and engrossing visual novel, that parades itself around as some sort of "waifu" or otome game. The achievements reference "endings" for certain girls, the save files are named "Record of the Waifu Wars," the official site is called "Waifu Bartending." Nothing about this game has you "picking best girl" or even making any really meaningful difference in the story based on any of your actions. You simply get a little vignette about each character after you finish the game.

Now don't misunderstand me here. I really, REALLY, enjoyed the story and the characters in this game. I loved the Cyberpunk setting and the atmosphere of the bar and the people you encounter along the way. The story is interesting and compelling and deals with the real world concept and acceptance, loss, regret, and trying to find your purpose in life. It occasionally even touches on questions of reality and our perception of the world around us. While the game contains humanlike androids called "Lilim," it rarely touches any sort of deep questions about their existence, or their stuggles with their existance. These Lilim simply exist as part of the story. In some ways, this can be refreshing because so many pieces of media love to dwell on the subject. But this could be considered a detriment to some that this topic is avoided.

Beyond this, the gameplay is simple and extremely basic. It's neither amazing nor is it awful. It simply exists. Some tips if you do end up playing the game. QWERT corresponds to the drink ingredients, AS corresponds to drink modifiers, Space moves text forward and begins the mixing of drinks according to context, and Ctrl jumps you through text at high speed, for when you are going back to nab all of those achievements and "endings."

It might seem like I spent a lot of time harping on the game's weaknesses, but thats beause Valhalla is infuratingly close to perfection. It makes its flaws all the more obvious for this. It is an excellent game told in an interesting and compelling way that left me desperate for more information about every character I met along the way. It is truely a fantastic game, and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who has even the slightest interest in the Cyberpunk genre.