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pauraqueIn this visual novel by Venezuelan studio Sukeban, life in an oppressive cyberpunk dystopia is explored on a small, intimate, human(oid) scale. The protagonist, Jill, is no big hero, just a bartender whose top priorities are making it to her next cigarette break, making rent, and keeping herself distracted from her regrets about the girl who got away. As the game opens, she learns that the shady corporation that owns the bar where she works is about to shut them down—but why? And what the hell is she supposed to do next?
Though the stakes are always personal, a lot of worldbuilding comes across through Jill's conversations with her customers and co-workers. This is a clever storytelling technique, allowing us to naturally meet a diverse cross-section of the people who inhabit this future world, many of whom the protagonist would probably never interact with outside work. There's an android sex worker, a beautiful white-hat hacker, a naive young cop, a cheapskate private investigator, a literal brain in a jar, a misogynistic jerk who runs a scuzzy tabloid, a pack of talking dogs, and more! You never know who's going to walk through the door.
The primary way you interact with people is by mixing drinks in a UI where you click and drag ingredients into a tumbler. This is usually easy—you can refer to recipes—but sometimes customers don't know exactly what they want or expect you to remember what they had last time, and if Jill gets too preoccupied with her own problems she can be slower on the uptake and the UI will provide less information. If you mess up orders, it affects the trajectory of conversations and relationships, as well as losing you badly-needed tips.
The structure and pacing of the game create a pretty effective customer service simulator, which can be a double-edged sword at times. Mixing the same drinks can get repetitive after a while, and you really feel the pain of dealing with customers who suck—but you also feel the relief when someone comes in who you actually like, and when you get to go home and hang out with your cat and waste time on your phone for a while.
Jill is a strongly written character who felt unique and realistic to me. She is guarded, but she's not cold, she earnestly cares about people. She just isn't performing sociability the way women are often expected to—you know she gets a lot of obnoxious men telling her to "smile!"—and there are some interesting points made about how people project their assumptions onto her. (She's also bi, and you know I'm always here for a queer protagonist. There are lots of other queer characters too!)
My only real quibble is that I would have liked a bit more interactivity. I get that it's a visual novel and that the drink-mixing is the primary mechanic, but never being able to choose dialogue options felt a little restrictive to me. There are a few special events that change up the gameplay, but I think it could have used maybe one or two more. Other than that, I enjoyed the game and the story. One playthrough took me 8.5 hours, but there are other endings to discover (which I will admit I watched on Youtube because there are now over 250 games on my to-play list lolsob).
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action is available on Steam and GOG for $14.99 USD. One to check out if you like queer VNs!
Though the stakes are always personal, a lot of worldbuilding comes across through Jill's conversations with her customers and co-workers. This is a clever storytelling technique, allowing us to naturally meet a diverse cross-section of the people who inhabit this future world, many of whom the protagonist would probably never interact with outside work. There's an android sex worker, a beautiful white-hat hacker, a naive young cop, a cheapskate private investigator, a literal brain in a jar, a misogynistic jerk who runs a scuzzy tabloid, a pack of talking dogs, and more! You never know who's going to walk through the door.
The primary way you interact with people is by mixing drinks in a UI where you click and drag ingredients into a tumbler. This is usually easy—you can refer to recipes—but sometimes customers don't know exactly what they want or expect you to remember what they had last time, and if Jill gets too preoccupied with her own problems she can be slower on the uptake and the UI will provide less information. If you mess up orders, it affects the trajectory of conversations and relationships, as well as losing you badly-needed tips.
The structure and pacing of the game create a pretty effective customer service simulator, which can be a double-edged sword at times. Mixing the same drinks can get repetitive after a while, and you really feel the pain of dealing with customers who suck—but you also feel the relief when someone comes in who you actually like, and when you get to go home and hang out with your cat and waste time on your phone for a while.
Jill is a strongly written character who felt unique and realistic to me. She is guarded, but she's not cold, she earnestly cares about people. She just isn't performing sociability the way women are often expected to—you know she gets a lot of obnoxious men telling her to "smile!"—and there are some interesting points made about how people project their assumptions onto her. (She's also bi, and you know I'm always here for a queer protagonist. There are lots of other queer characters too!)
My only real quibble is that I would have liked a bit more interactivity. I get that it's a visual novel and that the drink-mixing is the primary mechanic, but never being able to choose dialogue options felt a little restrictive to me. There are a few special events that change up the gameplay, but I think it could have used maybe one or two more. Other than that, I enjoyed the game and the story. One playthrough took me 8.5 hours, but there are other endings to discover (which I will admit I watched on Youtube because there are now over 250 games on my to-play list lolsob).
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action is available on Steam and GOG for $14.99 USD. One to check out if you like queer VNs!
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Date: 6 Sep 2024 10:52 pm (UTC)I really enjoyed this game, and was so intrigued by the world-building that I investigated whether there was a sequel or an off-shoot or anything else and from what I remember, there was a sequel planned but it never happened, much to my disappointment. I badly wanted to leave the bar and just walk around, but I did appreciate how much info you got from chatting with customers and all of the phone apps and what not. Did you ever buy the game for Jill? I had fun playing that too, lol.
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Date: 7 Sep 2024 12:38 am (UTC)It's funny you say you wanted to walk around, because when I was writing this I was thinking about how it's like a reverse exploration game since you can't go anywhere and have to wait for things to come to you. It's a very passive style of game, almost like you're an NPC the other characters come to talk to as they choose where to go on their own journeys. It's not something I would want all the time but it was an interesting change of perspective. I did see that the planned sequel appears to be indefinitely postponed, which is too bad.
I don't think I bought the minigame because I was worried about running out of money, which of course I did anyway. :P
But the real question is now that I have become a cyberpunk bartender, will you become a mighty pirate?!
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Date: 8 Sep 2024 01:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 Sep 2024 01:31 pm (UTC)