VA-11 Hall-A Developers Announce Surprise Sequel to Cyberpunk Bartending Action Game

VA-11 Hall-A, a visual novel that bears a name that's every style guide's worst nightmare, is getting a surprise sequel. Developed by Venezuela-based Sukeban Games, VA-11 Hall-A (pronounced Valhalla) is one-part bartending simulation, one-part visual novel. It plops you into the shoes of a struggling bartender in the grimy underbelly of Glitch City. But you never see the city, you only experience it through the relationships you build with your regular customers.

I reviewed it ages ago for another website, and fell in love with its excellent worldbuilding for a world you never see with your own two eyes. Its newly announced sequel N1RV-Ann-A (another name sent from hell to agonize style guides everywhere) takes place in a new city called Saint Alicia, with new customers and a new bartender named Sam. Most notably, it has a striking new style too. While it holds onto its cyberpunk aesthetic, there's 2D animation shown in the quick trailer for it, and even more striking pixel art.

In a blog announcing Nirvana, Sukeban Games assures fans that the team is also still working on its previously teased "next game," which is bigger in scope than the follow up to VA-11 Hall-A. "Next Game is our biggest project to date and as such it needs more time to get pretty before we can show you gameplay," writes Sukeban, noting not to worry about the team juggling two projects at once. Luckily, this sequel to VA-11 Hall-A is a standalone game, and won't require you having played its predecessor to dive in. The next installment in Sukeban Games' signature cyberpunk bartender action is due in 2020 for Steam, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4.