1、 The cyberpunk bartender action game VA-11 HALL-A is getting a sequel, and its title is just as weird (and annoying to type) as the original. N1RV ANN-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action will feature the new adventures of a new bartender named Sam, who works at the "most iconic and luxurious bar" in the idyllic upscale paradise of Saint Alicia.
Not all is as it appears, however, and Saint Alicia's glittering facade hides a seedy criminal underbelly, replete with extortion, trafficking, and worse. Sam's partner Leon is hip-deep in it as a member of the Yakuza, which puts a tremendous strain on their relationship. Through it all, you must serve drinks to people who will stop at almost nothing to maintain their lifestyles, not just for yourself but also your eight-year-old son, Tony.
It sounds like N1RV ANN-A will play a lot like VA-11 HALL-A, as lives and stories will change based on which drinks are served to what customers. Relate well to your patrons and you'll unlock secrets and earn better tips that will enable you to build a better life—and maybe put all this cyberpunk bartending business behind you.
“Most games use a big-picture perspective, but what made VA11 HALL-A special was its focus on the characters and their problems,” Sukeban Games co-founder Christopher 'Kiririn51' Ortiz said. "It’s about getting to know people on a personal level, this time with a shiny new location, more options for drink orders, and more ways to relate to customers."
We didn't find VA-11 HALL-A all that terribly engaging, saying in our 2016 review that it tries to do interesting things, but is mainly just boring to play—although we noted that if "you long for a cyberpunk narrative you can really get your teeth into," it might do the trick. For an awful lot of players, it clearly did: User reviews on Steam are "overwhelmingly positive," and people on GOG seem to like it a lot too. N1RV ANN-A is currently expected to be out sometime in 2020.
2、 VA-11 HALL-A sequel N1RV ANN-A announced
Sukeban Games are returning to the cyberpunk world of bartending visual novel RPG doodad VA-11 HALL-A [god, please call it Valhalla -common sense ed.] with a sequel named N1RV ANN-A [oh for… I’ve had enough -former ed.] due in 2020. We’ll play a new bartender behind a new bar in a new city, listening to new people’s woes while mixing them drinks that will surely will bring only comfort and no further woes at all nuh uh. Meet some of the weirdos we’ll be serving in the announcement trailer below.
N1RV ANN-A (once again, the name of the bar) will go down in Saint Alicia, where bartender Sam seems to have plenty of woes of her own between an eight-year-old son and a yakuza boyfriend. But it’s our job to chat with boozehounds and barflies, getting to know them and mixing them drinks through a wee minigame. I did like when the first game had drinkers respond differently to different drinks, sometimes shaping their moods and stories, and of course that returns in the sequel.
After a year sober, I’m so angry at sweet cocktails – and their mocktail counterparts people suggest I drink instead of delicious whisky. It’s 11pm and I’m off my tits on sugar while you’re just about to dig into a new strata of woes and oh god how dare you, pi?a colada. How dare you.
“I like the idea of Valhalla and some presentation gripes aside, I like its execution,” Sin Vega said in our VA-11 HALL-A review in 2016. “It’s no great revelation but a pleasant surprise, and being a mundane bystander going about their day instead of the plot-critical centre of the universe is an under-explored concept. Valhalla made an even smarter decision to pick a setting that most would fill with combat, megalomaniacs, and the usual Heroic Journey guff, and instead populate it with interesting people and that thing we do best but talk about least: alcohol. I mean, friendship.”
Nirvanna is due out via Steam some time in 2020. For now, see its website for more. Ysbyrd Games are publishing this one too, and it’ll be on Switch and PlayStation 4 as well.
Disclosure: Cassandra Khaw, who used to fill our Bargain Bucket column, has worked for Ysbyrd Games but I honestly don’t even know if she still does.