Yesterday I played Virginia, a 2016 game by developer Variable State and published by 505 Games. I played it on Steam, where the game is advertised as 12+ (PEGI 12) and further targeted at those who enjoy “thrillers” and walking-sim like games. The game is about a FBI agent undergoing an investigation in small-town Virginia, where she finds some… strange occurrences.
Virginia is both a game about a mystery and a mystery of a game. It’s framed as a mystery game about an FBI investigation, but throughout the game, there is more and more surreal imagery that emerges as part of the narrative. This creates an effect where, although the gameplay itself lacks puzzles, the game still does have puzzles in the form of figuring out and interpreting the narrative. This is what I meant when I said Virginia is a mystery of a game, The puzzle for the player is interpreting all the symbolism and imagery the game delivers throughout the narrative.
A notable example of strange imagery/symbolism in the game
This form of puzzle doesn’t fit the definition of a puzzle as described by Scott Kim, as interpreting Virginia’s narrative has no right answer, all interpretations of the game are valid. It still works well for the game, because picking up on the various details and recurring symbols in the game to form an interpretation is very in line with the idea of solving a mystery. This dynamic enhances the narrative aesthetic by putting you in the shoes of the POV character, as both you and her are in some way solving a mystery. Relating to that, many detractors of this game(and walking sims in general) argue why not make it a movie or another format, given the games lack of traditional gameplay. I would argue that the format of a first person video game better serves to immerse the player into the POV of the character you play as, and without that format, the story would be lacking in that aspect.
If I were to offer criticism of Virginia, it would be in relation to the fact that I, like many others, didn’t really “get” Virginia after I first finished the game. The surreal imagery was confusing to me, especially as it only really comes in during the late stages of the game. The abstract elements they introduced really threw off my view of the game, as going into a game about an FBI investigation, I expected there to be a concrete answer to the mystery at the end, whatever that mystery may be. As I thought more about the game, I started to understand what they were actually going for, and the game made a lot more sense(in some ways at least). I think that while the game achieves what it set out to do, it could do a better job of setting expectations of what that is they were going for. For me, and many other players, I had very different expectations of what the game was about vs. what it was actually about, and that contrast, if not examined, can really hurt a player’s experience. I think the game very much benefits from being examined and replayed in order to gain a further understanding of the game’s narrative and themes.
The game received mixed reviews because of its confusing narrative
Overall Virginia is a great game, dragged down by expectations of what the game “should” be. If you know what you’re getting into, both with the narrative and the lack of conventional gameplay, the game is a great experience. However so many people, including myself to some degree, came in expecting something different than what the game had to offer. Nonetheless what the game does have to offer is quite intriguing. I would recommend anyone who chooses to play this game should take the time to fully examine the game, and even go back and replay the game at least once, this way you can fully understand the unique narrative of Virginia.
Ethics:
Potential accessibility barriers for the game include text legibility and possibly motion sickness. Virginia has a feature to mitigate the text legibility issue, as it provides a highly visible overlay for text that might be difficult to read. Motion sickness could be a concern given the games first person perspective(which can move around very fast during certain scenes) and the games sudden ‘cuts’ or scene transitions, and the game doesn’t provide any features to mitigate this potential problem. Because of the game’s nature of being dialogueless, it’s quite accessible to people with hearing problems. The game also chooses to go above and beyond by adding subtitles for the little audio there is(music and SFX). Overall Virginia is quite accessible, although the lack of any dedicated accessibility settings(eg. colorblind or text size options) does mean it’s lacking in some regards.
Text overlay to assist with legibility
