As I’ve come of age and passed the legal drinking barrier here in the United States, I’ve had my fair share of ridiculous drinking stories. I believe that any young person should drink their faces off at least once in their young-adult life, and just let the chaos and fun that follows just happen – but don’t take that as a recommendation to throw all your inhibitions away.
Despite the misunderstanding of drinking alcohol, so long as you know your limits as a person, you can generally have a good time, enjoying your favorite drink. You know who get a ridiculous number of drinking stories? Bartenders, that’s who.
Sukeban Games are working on a very unique and stylish bartending simulator game dubbed VA-11 HALL-A, or “Valhalla” as the denizens of the near future Earth call it. Featured above, you can view a teaser trailer for the game itself, rife with nostalgic visuals and sounds.
The game sports a very PC-98 reminiscent style, and the game world is set within a dystopian, cyberpunk future where humans, androids, and artificial intelligences coalesce together in society. Is the cyberpunk future ever not a dystopian one?
If that title screen doesn’t get your robot heart going, I dunno what will.
I’m a huge fan of cyberpunk fiction, and I feel like the genre is severely neglected if not mishandled in the gaming industry. The team at Sukeban Games seem to really be paying close attention to everything they possibly can within their game’s fiction, and it shines through even in this early form.
The soundtrack for the game is basically already finished (for more or less), and you can listen to it in its glorious entirety here, courtesy of composer Garoad:
https://soundcloud.com/garoadmusic/sets/va-11-hall-a-prologue-ost
The owner of the eponymous VA-11 HALL-A bar is Gillian, the bartender who must serve up the proper drinks to each of his customers. As you become a more experienced bartender, you’ll be able to shift the conversations of those patrons who might have a wild story to tell, and maybe even reveal shocking truths to boot.
While the game is still being developed, you can pre-order the full game for $5 dollars, and get instant access to the prologue to VA-11 HALL-A. The full release isn’t going to arrive until sometime in December at the earliest, but for now you can peruse the game’s official website here, and follow the Sukeban Games development blog here.
