Virginia

 PlayStation 4
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 119 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 119
  2. Mixed: 38 out of 119
  3. Negative: 39 out of 119

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  1. Ashbelthor
    Jun 22, 2019
    1
    Zero game play. Unnecessary collectibles that put a strain on an already incoherent, self gratuitous narrative. Honestly, just skip this.
  2. Julesasi
    Dec 22, 2022
    2
    No gaming skills needed. Very confusing and senseless "story". The context of the story was simply incomprehensible. Very boring and tedious game, although the playing time is only about 2.5 hours.
  3. Spidor
    Nov 28, 2016
    2
    I knew what I was in for when I got it - a plot driven interactive experience, or rather a walking simulator like the haters call them. I like walking simulators; I enjoyed Firewatch, Everyone's Gone to the Rapture, Gone Home, and SOMA, which is essentially a walking simulator with a couple of scary hide-and-seek bits interspersed, is one of my favorite games of all times. No, that's notI knew what I was in for when I got it - a plot driven interactive experience, or rather a walking simulator like the haters call them. I like walking simulators; I enjoyed Firewatch, Everyone's Gone to the Rapture, Gone Home, and SOMA, which is essentially a walking simulator with a couple of scary hide-and-seek bits interspersed, is one of my favorite games of all times. No, that's not the problem with this game.

    Its problem is that it's just cheap "evocative" imagery, ugly animation, on-the-nose musical cues to let you know how to feel in lieu of an actual connection to any of it and first and foremost - an incoherent style of story-telling. Characters lack character, not just because they look like annoyed Miis but because they just don't interact right at all. It's easy to lose track of what's going on because this game hates transitions, it's just jump cut after jump cut. Mish-mash of dream and reality are very David Lynch, but even those lack a certain element of coherence or mystery. It doesn't just feel weird; it feels disjointed and try-hard.

    Look, I'm not saying I got it and didn't like it. Maybe I didn't get it, maybe I lost the plot, maybe I was too busy trying to understand who's who from identical looking characters with slightly different hairstyles, perspectives switching and repetition. I personally feel like Virginia is a massive miss in terms of characters, story and emotions. If you like a good mystery, Virginia ain't.    … Expand
  4. KamenRiderDark
    Sep 28, 2016
    0
    Speaking as a movie lover, Virginia is a pretty fascinating story. Imagine if David Lynch directed the pilot episode of The X-Files. It has some great visuals and a soild score. It's worth it to at least watch a stream if you're into this kind of story.

    As a gamer, and as someone who loves "walking sims" and artistic games, there is no reason that this should have been told as a game    Speaking as a movie lover, Virginia is a pretty fascinating story. Imagine if David Lynch directed the pilot episode of The X-Files. It has some great visuals and a soild score. It's worth it to at least watch a stream if you're into this kind of story.

    As a gamer, and as someone who loves "walking sims" and artistic games, there is no reason that this should have been told as a game instead of movie. You have no agency, there is no sense of exploration, you can't affect any outcome, and you never have any option to choose. You pretty much walk through a series of very linear levels with usually only one object to interact with at any given time.    … Expand
  5. Trunkis
    Sep 28, 2016
    0
    Atari's ET 2600 has more narrative falling down a pixelated well than this mess.

    This is the problem with hipstery creators... they don't get that they don't get what videogaming is all about.
  6. Drekassn
    Jan 4, 2017
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm not going to rip on this for being "not a game" like so many others are doing. I'm going to rip on this because it's nonsense pretending to be a deep story. I can't stand things like this. A compelling mystery gives you hints throughout and then neatly wraps up at least some, if not all, of these clues. What a compelling mystery does NOT do is hand you some bullcrap symbolism that never gets explained in the slightest and then dumps a bunch of new information on you at the very end that doesn't seem to relate at all to the rest of the story and then ends the whole thing with "Surprise! Aliens did it." It honestly feels like this game took a massive dump on my free time and then expected me to thank them for it. Really not a fan at all.… Expand
  7. fEtas
    Jan 21, 2017
    0
    I think it is the worst game I ever played.
    The graphics is so much under everyone's expecations (ps1 has much more better graphics).
    The sound....there is no sound! Only an orchestra is playing all the time(!). Story...psycho story.. there is no normal line...it is getting you crazy. It was the worst 2 hours I spent my whole life . Fortunatelly it was only cost 5 euros. Nevetheless    I think it is the worst game I ever played.
    The graphics is so much under everyone's expecations (ps1 has much more better graphics).
    The sound....there is no sound! Only an orchestra is playing all the time(!).
    Story...psycho story.. there is no normal line...it is getting you crazy.
    It was the worst 2 hours I spent my whole life . Fortunatelly it was only cost 5 euros. Nevetheless this cost it is much more than this game deserves.    … Expand
  8. Ivan1989
    Jul 2, 2017
    1
    Lets get to point, shall we. We hear the phase, "walking simulator" allot with games like Heavy Rain, etc and others, however I think for the first time, we can actually call this game an actual walking simulator. Unlike the game mentioned above, this game has no goal, no story, no voice acting, no real gameplay, nothing. Its literally just walk to a point and transition to the next scene,Lets get to point, shall we. We hear the phase, "walking simulator" allot with games like Heavy Rain, etc and others, however I think for the first time, we can actually call this game an actual walking simulator. Unlike the game mentioned above, this game has no goal, no story, no voice acting, no real gameplay, nothing. Its literally just walk to a point and transition to the next scene, that's it. Virginia is an ugly mess of game with poorly designed character models, no voice acting or text to explain what the hell is going on, dumb meaningless walking gameplay, with no real story, goal or anything. It literally a game about nothing!!! Terrible, don't even think about buying this so called game, because you want find a game in it.… Expand
  9. Gurdur
    Oct 15, 2016
    4
    Interesting story. But this is not a game. You can't affect whats happening at all, you basically just click and walk your way through cut-scenes of a movie with below par graphics. I was very disappointed and even bored at times. Not worth the time or money. The plot would call for a decent movie though.
  10. RicoC
    Sep 7, 2019
    0
    No gameplay, no plot, literally no dialog (not a single spoken word). Awful game propped up by lying critics because SJW. Avoid.
  11. Havrepuffen
    Aug 14, 2019
    0
    Totally pointless, bad graphics, boring and confusing story. Can’t get it how this game rates so high?!
  12. thegovnah
    Apr 29, 2023
    0
    This type of surreal content is really not for the game medium. even with a worded script, it would have been confusing.
    Kudos to anyone who understood anything and kudos to anyone who had the patient to play it over and over or research the fame, but this was definitely not for me.
    I have to add that the music was specifically a big offender for me, while by itself, a beautiful score,    This type of surreal content is really not for the game medium. even with a worded script, it would have been confusing.
    Kudos to anyone who understood anything and kudos to anyone who had the patient to play it over and over or research the fame, but this was definitely not for me.
    I have to add that the music was specifically a big offender for me, while by itself, a beautiful score, throughout most of the game, the epic tune was constantly playing, as if the whole game was a big continuous climax. I'm sorry, but I think I was just too damn small for the grand vision of the devs!    … Expand
  13. lavandina
    Jun 16, 2023
    1
    Absolutely horrible. I get it, it's artsy and experimental, but it doesn't click as fun. Gameplay is uninteresting, story is incomprehensible. I only went through with it since I know it was short and I was expecting an ending of some sort.

Awards & Rankings

95
#95 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 28
  3. Negative: 3 out of 28
  1. Let's Play Video Games
    Jan 1, 2017
    80
    It was only during my subsequent playthroughs that I was able to catch the game’s quiet understatement, and I’m so frustrated that I missed these the first time around. This is a game to be savored and treasured, but its blunt delivery and liberal use of codes and symbols only serve to sacrifice clarity.
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  2. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    Oct 29, 2016
    80
    All combined, it’s enough to elevate Virginia above PS4’s typical story-led fare, divisive bow-out and all. [December 2016, p74]
  3. PSNStores
    Oct 19, 2016
    40
    It’s clear that Virginia is supposed to be mysterious, the absence of any dialog helps to keep things firmly planted in the unexplainable, but when there’s no payoff to any of the build up – it all starts to feel a bit meaningless.
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