Editor's Letter: Welcome to the New Kill Screen
Kill Screen relaunches in print with a love letter to strange games, the passionate people who make them and the players who find them.
One of my first articles as an intern for Kill Screen was a roundup of the 2014 Cyberpunk Game Jam, which gave designers 10 days to play with some well-worn tropes. There were a few standouts, but one game showed serious promise even in those early stages: VA-11 Hall-A, a visual novel about a quiet bartender serving up synthetic rotgut in a future-noir city.
VA-11 Hall-A was just released in its final, finished version this June. It’s a delight: the art and writing were sharp to begin with, but designers Sukeban Games have honed everything to perfection. I have a weird affection for this game; it’s sort of been in the background for the past two years, growing alongside me.
