Developer: Blue Isle Studios
Publisher: Blue Isle Studios
Rrp: £14.99 (Steam and
Humblebundle)
Released: 24th August 2016
Available on: Steam and Humblebundle
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 8 hours
You’re running through the lush forests of the valley without a care in the world, whooping with joy with every jump. But then in your excitement you underestimate a jump and plummet into the depths of a river… and then you’re back on the shore. You look around you, the trees are less lush than they were, quite a few have no leaves and look haggard and withered. What’s going on here?
The entire time that I’ve
played Valley I’ve tried over and over to work out what genre it fits
best into. In some ways its a walking simulator but its a little too
involved mechanically to really be classed as one. In other ways its
a first person puzzle game except there aren’t any puzzles, not
really, its more navigational challenges. I suppose it could be
considered a parkour game but again, its not so much parkour as
platforming in a 3D space. As you can see its not been easy to define
as a genre. However all that doesn’t really matter because one thing
I can say about Valley is that it’s fun.
You start the game and it feels like a basic walking simulator. It starts you off in a cave, quite a pretty one actually, and the controls don’t allow you to jump or crouch, the only thing you can really do is walk and run. Assuming that you don’t dawdle, this will last for about three minutes until you find a L.E.A.F (Leap Effortlessly through Air Functionality) suit. This suit allows you to jump long distances, run quickly and give and take away life (more on that later) along with a few other things once you acquire the upgrades for it.
Many of the abilities the L.E.A.F suit has requires energy (which the game calls Amrita energy) which can be gained through picking up the blue glowing orbs that litter the level or by harvesting it from other living things.
Believe it or not you can actually die in this game. That’s right! There’s a failure state that isn’t simply getting bored and quitting the game. The way player death is handled in Valley is unique and interesting, each time you die the L.E.A.F suit brings you back to life. Each time it does this it drains life from the valley itself, killing animals and plants around you. The game calls this ‘Quantum Immortality’ but that’s a misnomer, there is only a finite amount of life around you and once its all gone you stay dead. The draining of the life around you is visible in two ways, one is the valley health meter on your HUD, the other is in the world around you trees will have lost their foliage and animals laying lifeless nearby. Thing is though, you can give life as well as take it away. If you’re willing to use up some of the energy you’ve gathered you can bring the valley back to life and thus ensure your own survival.
As mentioned earlier, the L.E.A.F suit has upgrades which come in three varieties. The first is the most common are energy capacitors which increase the amount of energy your suit can hold, these tend to be scattered around the
levels so some searching will be required if you want to fully upgrade the suit. The second are the ones that grant abilities, these are found as a matter of course as you play, since you’ll need them to progress. Lastly… well, I don’t want to give these away as they are special and require a lot more work to find, lets just say its totally optional late game gear.
As you play you’ll find yourself accumulating acorns and medallions. Both of these collectibles are optional but can unlock areas which will provide more upgrades for your L.E.A.F suit. Once you’ve completed the game you can choose to go back and explore the valley and try to find all the missing medallions and upgrades.
This is going to sound strange but I’m quite impressed with the way that the developers have handled movement and momentum. What do I mean by that? Well, in most games the inclination of the terrain you’re running on makes no
difference to your speed. That isn’t the case with Valley, in fact its one of the core mechanics for the game since running downhill increases your speed and once you hit a ramp or incline you can jump large distances. Surprising how such a small detail can make such a big difference in a game. It’s this smoothness of movement that causes there to be several moments where I’ve not felt such a rush in a long time. I know that in part this is due to the sound design as whomever is responsible for that knew exactly when to add a dramatic beat and when to crescendo.
Well I think its clear that I’m going to be recommend in this one. I think this is a
contender for my end of year list too, if I’m honest. I just had so much fun playing this game. There were several times where I knew full well that I had enough to write the review with and I continued to play because I just wanted all the upgrades and to unlock everything. There aren’t many games that have gotten me as hooked as that.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
