Virginia (video game)
Virginia is a 2016 first-person mystery adventure video game developed by Variable State and published by 505 Games. The game follows graduate FBI special agent Anne Tarver as she investigates her first case: the disappearance of a boy in rural Virginia. The game was directed by Jonathan Burroughs and Terry Kenny, with music composed by Lyndon Holland. Burroughs, Kenny and Holland co-wrote the script. The game was first announced in July 2014 and originally slated for release in 2015. A game prototype was showcased at the 2014 Future of StoryTelling summit and at the EGX Leftfield Collection that year. On August 30, 2016, it was announced that video game publisher 505 Games would be publishing the game. A game demo was released on Steam to coincide with the announcement. Virginia released on September 22, 2016 for macOS, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. Gameplay Virginia is a first-person mystery thriller adventure game that takes place in a fictionalised Virginia in 1992. Players take on the role of Anne Tarver, a graduate FBI special agent who is assigned a partner, special agent Maria Halperin. Much of the game involves the player, as Tarver, in the company of the non-playable Halperin, travelling between locations, interacting with other characters and with objects in the environments. Scenes transition using real-time cinematic editing, with cuts and dissolves occurring as dictated by the story, to propel events forward and to juxtapose moments for dramatic effect. Premise Set in the last days of summer 1992, the player takes the role of Anne Tarver, a rookie FBI special agent. She is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a missing boy, Lucas Fairfax, in the fictional town of Kingdom, Virginia, paired with Maria Halperin, an experienced but discredited agent. Anne's supervisor instructs her to secretly monitor Maria for any signs of distrustfulness. Anne finds Lucas had an interest in photography and finds a nearby cave where he may have hung out. After the two narrowly escape a minor cave-in, they return to the site the next day when Maria is accosted by a young teen who takes a locket she wears containing a photo of her mother, Judith Ortega, who had also been an FBI agent. They arrest the teen, and among his possessions include some LSD, which Anne keeps a small sample for herself. As they continue to investigate, they find some of Lucas's photos that point to the abandoned observatory in town seems to be a focal point, and are denied entry when forces from the local Air Force base arrive to block access while other townspeople, including Lucas' father and the mayor arrive. Back at FBI headquarters, Anne investigates Judith and learns she had been discredited by the agency for unusual investigation methods, similar to Maria. As they are getting gas, Maria inadvertently tips over Anne's bag and finds the secret files on her. She drives off, leaving Anne to fend for herself. She decides to search for Maria's locket, then returns to her apartment. With