Virginia is very much a game designed for the auteur, rather than a broader spectrum of the gaming audience. On the one hand, I totally respect this and even admire it as large chunks of the games industry have all but shunned auteurism in gaming, instead opting to create the most bland, homogenized, inoffensive experience as possible. On the other hand though, these sorts of gamingVirginia is very much a game designed for the auteur, rather than a broader spectrum of the gaming audience. On the one hand, I totally respect this and even admire it as large chunks of the games industry have all but shunned auteurism in gaming, instead opting to create the most bland, homogenized, inoffensive experience as possible. On the other hand though, these sorts of gaming experiences are largely lost on me, coming across as overly pretentious or too obscure. Sadly Virginia is the latter, not the former in this case.
Don't expect much in the way of traditional game play. Even by walking sim/interactive storytelling standards, Virginia features barely any game play apart from use left stick to move around and press A to progress the plot. Don't expect to influence the story in anyway and don't expect much in the way of exploration. The game effectively railroads you down a linear story path with not much room for deviation.
The game's plot was tough to nail down at times. From what I loosely gathered, you play as a recent graduate FBI agent Anne Tarver who gets partnered with a more senior agent in Maria Halperin. You're both tasked with solving a missing persons case involving a priest's son Lucas Fairfax. On top of this, the head of the FBI is conducting an internal affairs investigation regarding Maria Halperin and he tasks Anne to keep a close eye on her. As you both travel from one location to another to progress the plot, Anne and Maria begin to develop a stronger, more personal relationship with each other.
Eventually Maria finds out that you're investigating her and she leaves you at a gas station by the side of the road. You attempt to reconcile with her by destroying her case file, but it ultimately lands the both of you in jail and then... This is where the plot really loses me. It proceeds to go off on a bunch of tangential, "trippy" dream sequences that are made all the more confusing by the fact that there's barely, if any form of exposition in the game. No voice acting, no dialogue, no text dumps. After a series of these "trippy" artistic dream sequences, the game ends with both of you finding Lucas Fairfax walking down the side of the road somewhere and then the scene just cuts to black. I was really hoping these dream sequences would coalesce into something significant, but it seem to come across as a bunch of pseudo-artistic scenes.
The games musical score and sound design is where Virginia really shines. The creators knew damn well that if you're not going to give the player any exposition, you better be able to communicate tones and emotions in some other way. The musical score absolutely nails this aspect.
I do wonder if Virginia would've been better served as 90 minute animated movie, rather than being shoe-horned into a game. Between to minimal game play and the artistic expressions the game gives off, I think it would've been much better received as a movie.
Ultimately, Virginia is a game that I can barely recommend. If you're into auteur game design, than go for it. I got it super cheap for a $1.99 CAD, so at that price, I think I can recommend it. In any other case, however, Virginia is not the game for me.… Expand
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