Virginia

The main menu of Virginia says “Press Enter to Take a Trip”. That is about as perfect a way to describe the game as I can: “A Trip”. This is like if David Lynch made a game. The whole thing feels like an acid trip of sorts. There is no dialogue at all so the game depends on facial reactions; music; and visual clues to make sure you can figure out what is going on. Luckily for Virginia those three things were the game’s strong points. The music was especially fantastic throughout the game. The graphics weren't stunning but had a very simplistic quality that managed to be more detailed than I expected in it’s own way. I won’t pretend I understood the whole game but I understood enough to appreciate the story and the ability of the developers to intertwine various stories to all flow together without using voice acting. Gameplay wise it is mostly a walking sim as you are finding what objects to interact with.
I played Virginia on Linux using Valve’s Proton. It never crashed on me and I didn’t notice any glitches. The game only has options for resolution; motion blur and a toggle for AA. There is a frame limiter but it only had options for 30 and 60 FPS. I would have preferred a Vsync option. I left it at unlimited rather than 30 or 60. The game has an auto save system but it never tells you exactly when it’s saving so the one time I exited the game and reloaded my game I was further back then expected. I would have preferred a manual save system. Alt-Tab Works. The game’s performance was flawless.
Game Engine: Unity
Save System: Auto
Disk Space Used: 4.04 GB
Input Used: Keyboard + Mouse
Details Used: 1080P; AA on; Motion Blur Off
GPU Usage: 77-100 %
VRAM Usage: 1498-2053 MB
CPU Usage: 35-60 %
RAM Usage: 3.1-3.6 GB
Frame Rate: 79-228 FPS
If you enjoy things like Twin Peaks; X-Files; or games such as Off-Peak or Brothers than you should try Virginia. It has a great story and music. It’s a bit out there sometimes and can be hard to figure out some details but this is one time it works in favour of the game in my opinion. I finished the game in ninety nine minutes and it felt like a natural length for the game, not rushed or dragged out. I paid $1.09 for Virginia on Steam, and full price for it on GOG. It is worth it’s current full price of $10.99 CAD.
My Score: 8/10
My System:
AMD FX-6100 | 16GB DDR3-1333 | MSI RX 580 8GB Gaming X | Mesa 20.3.4 | Samsung 870 QVO 1TB | Manjaro 20.2.1 | Mate 1.24.1 | Kernel 5.10.15-1-MANJARO | Proton 5.13-6

If you're expecting a mystical Lynchian experience - don't. In its trippier moments Virginia is not surreal but allegorical. This is a game full of drama and objective narrative that is only obscured by absence of character speech and fast Thirty Flights of Loving-style montage. It's just a dramatic police-buddy story. However, telling a tale using exclusively animations and environmental setpieces is a challenge of its own - one that was succsessfully overcome in this game.
Music, though... It almost never ceases. Which is detrimental both to rhythm and tension.
It's a good and almost unique game with a lot of effort put into it. It's also short and cheap, especially on sale, so give it a go, why not?
PS
But if you are still looking for a mystical Lynchian experience, play Paratopic.

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reminds me of David Lynch's films
aka "I don't understand what it's telling me about, but it is creepy and I like it."

Very much a matter of taste. Some people will walk away from this game liking it. Others will consider it a waste of time.
If you like a relatively calm mindtrip, this game is for you.
One big warning is that this has no voice acting or dialogue. The characters, their movements, occasional articles and photos, and travel and locations carry the story 100%. This is a very different experience. In many ways, this is like a silent film.

Virginia is a really short and interesting walking simulator. It is told all without any dialog but a beautiful score. and utilizes a lot of film making techniques. such as hard cuts. The score is beautiful the art style is great and it has a very dreamlike quality to it.

If you are looking at reviews you would probably be confused about the mixed score Virginia currently has on Steam and i will try my best to give an honest and spoiler free review to better help fellow players wheter to buy and play this game or not.
First of all Virginia is an interactive story lasting from 1.30h to 2 hours long in the first playthrough, so this is the first thing to consider. Is it worth the full price? No. Grab it during a sale
Be sure to play this game with a good pair of headphones, a great audio set or just something to appreciate the soundtrack because because the music is simply wonderful. It can be depressing, empowering or simply stunning and beautiful. It times perfeclty with the actions your character does. It is a work of art worth the price alone in my opinion. It copes for the total lack of dialogues in an way which is astonishingly.Absolutely great.
How does Virginia play? Well, it's more complex than a walking simulator but the interactions with the environment are minimal at best. You can move and only interact with objects which make the story progress or that give out achievements if you care for those. It works though, i felt totally immersed in most of the chapters.
The game basically plays by itself so if you are looking for an interactive story with different options Virginia is not for you.
What Virginia excels at in my opinion is telling a story and speculating. And this might be confusing because while the game plays by itself, the story does not. It is entirely up to the player to make a sense out of certain chapters. Some people might see metaphors while others just dreams, some reality while others flashbacks. Go and see what you make of this story, i personally reccomend this one.