VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

While VA-11 Hall-A is quite understated due to the nature of its genre and lack of flashy animations or any voice acting, it still does a good job of building its world and characters.

Honestly, the festivities are extremely downplayed in the game, so I wouldn’t say playing it over the Christmas period adds much, but pacing yourself to one day per day does dilute what would otherwise become a repetitive gameplay loop, instead becoming a chill experience to look forward to at the end of every day.

Throw in a great soundtrack and you've got a recipe (pun intended!) for success.

The PC-98 inspired graphics, including the chunky UI, are great, and I love the stylish portraits and character designs.

It's masterful character design work, with a real attention not just to the character's visual design and personality, but also what kind of society makes them who they are.

It works best with mouse and keyboard, but can work pretty well on Steam Deck as well, if you tweak the controlls a little to match some keyboard shortcuts.