Virgina: A Story of Silence

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I looked in the mirror and adjusted the FBI badge on my character's jacket as she looked back at herself with a sullen look on her face. As I made my way through her house, I went from location to location like I was in scenes from a movie. I walked in the main character's shoes for a week and experienced her story told through her eyes, in video game form. As an FBI agent I took a case and within that case, there was another case with even more on the line for her. The entire story of this game is being told from her perspective with no dialogue at all. As the story continued, the transitions, the scenery, and the feel of Virginia captivated me. I found myself swept up in the story of this FBI agent and I couldn’t wait to see how the story would end.

(The main character of Virginia)

As I followed the path of the story through flashbacks, dreams, and present experiences, I found that even without words the story was told so well. The first big moment was the flashback of your induction into the FBI. You are then transported to the office of the assistant director, who gives you a case file - a task to monitor someone else in the FBI. Shortly afterwards I was transported to a dream state, where for some reason I was standing in my bedroom with the woman I was just playing as laying in bed sleeping. I wasn’t really sure what to think of this. As the game progressed there were several dream states that would help to point me in the direction to uncovering the truth about each case.

(Time to join the FBI!)

One piece of information that I had forgotten about entirely was a broken key, which my character always seemed to have on her person. As I made my way to the initial case location with my partner, the person who I was supposed to be monitoring, I saw the sign of the town of Kingdom, Virginia in front of me. I couldn’t help but wonder if my character had some secret that hadn’t been revealed to me yet. I knew that something wasn’t quite right with the in house case and the mystery of her original case was about to reveal itself.

(Arriving in Kingdom)

After skipping through several scenes, we finally arrived at the main location, the home of a missing child. There were several police officers there, as well as the family who was talking to my partner. I decided to make my way through the house and attempt to find any clues that might lead us to determining what exactly had happened to the lost boy. After looking through several rooms, I finally came to the room of the missing kid. I went in and after searching and finding a few small bits of information, I discovered a piece of the wall that wasn’t quite right. After further inspection, I managed to slide the piece of the wall to the side and I was blown away by what was inside. Within was a hidden room that had been converted into a dark room for photography. Now things were getting interesting, I thought. I wondered if his family had known about this secret room, as I looked from photo to photo and eventually found what seemed to be his journal. On my first visit I had found a great clue - inside the journal there were several drawings that would lead me to my next destination.

(The Secret Dark Room)

The journal lead me to a clearing, next to which was a small cave. As I walked through the clearing I couldn’t help but wonder what exactly my partner had done to be investigated. She seemed to genuinely care about the family we had just met and their missing son, but there was still so much I didn’t know. When I finally reached the end of the cave there was a strange sound emanating from behind some boards. Upon further inspection I could see there was a cardinal in a cage. I began to rip the boards from their posts and after I had cleared the path, I picked up the cardinal. It was incredibly friendly and it didn’t even try to fly away. I then handed it to my partner, and shortly afterwards one of the support beams in the cave collapsed, hitting her and crushing the cardinal as it crashed down upon them.

(The Legendary Cardinal)

My partner ended up in the hospital but was going to be fine; the cardinal however was not so lucky. After visiting her in the hospital I was quickly sent in the future to a morgue, with the cardinal on a gurney. As I approached it, the bird suddenly came back to life. I wasn’t sure if I was in a dream state again, or what exactly was going on. As I turned to look back at the entrance, the assistant director stood there and quickly turned and left. I didn’t know what was going on, nothing made any sense. This would be a common theme in Virginia, and there were even more crazy things that would make me question everything about the game.

(What's so important about this key?)

I was completely unsure of what to expect from Virginia when I started playing. It took me on a journey told without words, yet everything that happened in the story was still told so well. I found that as I played, the way the game was made and how it progressed had me constantly wanting to know what was waiting around the next corner. I would later find that there was much more going on than meets the eye. I enjoyed how innovatively the story of Virginia was told and I think it’s a great playthrough for anyone who likes an intriguing story and unique art styles in video games.