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Virginia


DisturbedSwan

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Played and finished this in one sitting earlier today.

 

It's definitely an interesting game and attempts to be an Interactive Film in lots of ways really, got that art style from Firewatch and The Witness about it and its told in a very filmic way with lots of fast cuts between scenes never staying in one place too long, the price (£6.99 on Steam) is very much the kind of price of a film ticket/DVD too and its only 2 hours long.

 

The game has no spoken dialogue and you're left to your observations and readings in first person to put together the plot. You start as a young FBI Agent tasked with locating a missing person in a small Virginia town who's partnered with an older more experienced Agent to show you the ropes and things go on from there.

 

Music is a huge part of the game and helps tell the story in lots of ways, making up for the lack of spoken dialogue, the score is spellbinding, fantastic, incredibly powerful and moving at times and fits the game perfectly.

 

I loved it up to the final third and was following the plot intently, but the last third of the game gets a bit too clever for its own good and becomes too bizarre to make sense of really unfortunately.

 

Would still recommend it though if you're in the mood for a short game or fancy a slightly different film experience.

 

Added a few pics:

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

Played through this today and I think I really enjoyed it. As @Blakey says it's definitely an interactive story, I don't think you get to influence it at all. It's very, very Twin Peaks, it has dream sequences that help solve crimes, the picturesque, quiet American town, even some of the music. 

 

There's 2 stories going on at first. You're character is assigned to a new parter under the instruction of investigating her for internal affairs. As far as I could tell it's never really explicitly explained what she's done, but you get the impression she's a trouble causer. The other story is one your partner is investigating, a missing teenage boy. 

 

Both stories are pretty good, but both get shunted off to the side for the game to go all Kubrick for 40 minutes. I liked it though, I liked the nonsense of it even if not all of it gets grounded 

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Going to have to be the dissenting voice and say that I didn't enjoy this at all. It's interesting that the developers cite Thirty Flights of Loving as a big inspiration at the end, a game that made no impression on me at all really. I guess like That Dragon, Cancer, what you get out of this game will depend on how much the story grabs you, as much like that game, Virginia isn't too interested in being a game (although it is nowhere near as clunky as That Dragon, Cancer). The story has its moments (and some of the repeated scenes are framed really nicely, like the scenes in the diner or the scenes where you are a passenger in the car), but I was never any more than mildly interested.

 

It is only two hours, but in a sense, length is relative, two hours in Virginia will feel a lot longer than two hours playing Pokemon. Also, while the soundtrack has its moments, in the end it drove me mental, it was in constant crescendo.

 

By the way, how many achievements did you guys get? I finished with 4/17.

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  • 10 months later...

I'm in the middle of opinions. My first playthrough yesterday was more confusing than anything. I did enjoy some references to 80's films, there's a definate tribute to the Goonies in two ways, the first is the key with the square holes in the head, the second is a music cue that happened twice if I recall, the first time when your in Lucas's room for the first time and discover the decret in the closet. Then there's the mayors music which is the same as used in Back to the Future. Then the bad playing in the bar, that's got to be a shout to the Twin Peaks theme tune.

 

As per for these types of games, it put me in a weird mood, I seem to be very affected by media with a tone. I woke up this morning and played it thorugh again and enjoyed it much more, understood the final third a little more. Glad I played it, it was an experience.

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  • 7 years later...

Cool that we have a topic for this, was before my time I guess.

 

Saw this is on sale for about 3 bucks on Xbox and Playstation, so in light of recent David Lynch discussions I really can't recommend this enough to people who like his work. Of course that doesn't necessarily guarantee you'll also like an interactive recreation of some of his style and themes, but I can very confidently say that this is one of the most memorable games I have ever played. I do plan on revisiting it in the foreseeable future, just have to find the right 2-hour evening where I'm in the proper mood for it (for everyone who does go in for the first time, I strongly recommend finishing it in one go).

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