So, This Vampire Walks Into A Bar Preview

While exploring the demos of Steam Next Fest, I saw a handy-dandy visual novel that looked pretty neat. As a fan of Tavern Talk, I thought I would give So, This Vampire Walks into a Bar a try. It seemed like a fun time, and let me just tell you, it absolutely is.

Unlike some visual novels I’ve played and other games where I play as a bartender/barista, you play as a character who is quite open about who he is. At least, to the player. To everyone else? Jackie’s an enigma. He needs a job, came in for an interview at Frankie’s Lair, and now he’s working as a bartender with zero experience.

But there’s something strange about Jackie, and to some extent, the rest of the customers. See, Jackie hides who he is by wearing a mask, glasses, and a wig. Frankie’s suspicious, but he needs a bartender, and he’s not feeling well today. So, it’s up to you to make him a drink, as per his request. You just need two alcohols, two mixers, and a garnish (or two), and then you can create some kind of Frankendrink.

Frankie is delighted, but then he rushes to the bathroom. He’s definitely not feeling well, and Jackie is immediately faced with his first customer. And so, a vampire walks into a bar…

Naturally, you can tell Livia’s a vampire by the fangs and the occasional glowing red eyes. To appease her, all you need to do is give her a drink with blood in it. It’s easy enough, you don’t need to worry about what you serve it with, just serve her some blood, and she’ll be happy! Livia will tell you about her day, and she’ll leave you a tip, and then head on out.

Left alone with his thoughts, Jackie contemplates his old job. It felt like the perfect deal, aside from the red flags. Whatever happened traumatised him, and he quit several weeks earlier. Personally, I would say that working in any fast food place would be a nightmare, but his boss took it to a whole new level.

However, Jackie is interrupted by the appearance of Vic, who wears a wolf shirt, his hair looks like ears, and he’s blatantly a werewolf. He talks about his job, and it looks like Vic has a short fuse but he dreams of vacation, and so requests a tropical drink. There’s not much to choose from, but if you experiment, you’ll end up with something nice. I just chose something as fruity as possible. And, he was happy.

After Vic leaves, Jackie continues to think about his past, but he keeps being interrupted by customers. Next, we have Kathy. Kathy’s an enigma who’s trying to find out all she can about the other customers, and while I haven’t figured her out quite yet, I hope I can find out more about her in the full release. She asks for a sweet drink, and a sweet drink is what she gets. However, she doesn’t really drink it, and then she ends up leaving. But, nonetheless, Jackie still gets a tip.

Upon Frankie’s return from the bathroom, he assures Jackie that it’s nearly time to close and that he’s been doing a great job. But then, in a shocking twist of events, Jackie’s old boss is the final customer of the evening. We learn what’s happened to Jackie, and the old boss wants you back. If you don’t make his drink correctly, you’ll get the bad ending, which involves him kidnapping you.

However, with the power of Google, I found out how to make a martini. After making the martini, Frankie will banish him from the bar, and Jackie can continue to work in peace. Personally, I appreciated the amount of story we’ve got going on here. I was hooked, and I’d love to play the full release once it’s released! If you’re a fan of visual novels, or games where you get to mix drinks, I’d recommend giving So, This Vampire Walks Into A Bar a go. The art is great, it’s got a distinct style, and a unique plot that I wasn’t expecting.