Valley Reviews
Explore gorgeous lands, revive the dying valley, and discover a sentimental story while you run and jump through the vast worlds to find collectables to learn more about the lore that Valley has to offer.
The game features a full trophy count with a Platinum. As long as you explore everywhere to find all collectibles and make sure that you finish the game without ever letting the valley die, you should get your Platinum trophy at the end of the road. Overall, you’re looking at around 6-8 hours to get all trophies in the game, unless you mess up and don’t get all collectibles. In that case, you might spend an additional handful of hours doing cleanup since, unfortunately, you won’t know which collectibles you’re missing until you find them.
The trouble with Valley is that it has to employ various design decisions in order for both the story and game to function. It wants to have adventurous aspects, but it also wants threats that players must combat. Being able to run fast and jump incredibly far is an awesome and satisfying experience, but it never grows to be anything more than that. The boss encounter towards the end is remarkable, yet also completely out of place. It's emblematic of a game that lacks a cohesive vision. A video game that involves superhuman exoskeleton suits, the ability to manipulate life, and takes place in and around a forgotten WW2 weapons research facility isn't something that can be neatly wrapped up in a five-hour long adventure. The music and graphics are quite excellent, though.
Despite its rough edges (and it does have quite a lot), Valley is still a very worthwhile experience.
As a total experience Valley was pretty satisfying and, overall, exceeded my expectations throughout its run time...
Valley is a walking simulator of between three or four hours long with many adventurous overtones. An interesting argument, and powerful mechanics, are its premise, which unfortunately we will soon see diluted due to some design decisions, some forgettable passages of combat, and no difficulties of the puzzles that are presented to us. Anyway, the mechanics granted by the L.E.A.F. suit are interesting enough to test if the game is within range. Fortunately, the game performs very well in audiovisual terms, making our stay in Valley more bearable.
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Despite the lackluster narrative, the stretches of running fast and swinging around are wonderful, which are unfortunately buried by choppy visuals and frame-rate drops.
Legitimately, throughout the entire last three or so areas, I kept having to repeat to myself “Why in the name of all that is even remotely holy would you even CONSIDER designing something this way”. Extremely poor design/engineering practices aside, I did have fun going through the last few areas, despite my dwindling sanity, and the game as a whole just felt really good to run, jump, climb, explore, and swing through.
Valley is also a bit misleading in its design. Although you’re in the great outdoors for much of the game, the path is surprisingly linear. Every little side path leads to a discovery, whether it’s a note or upgradeable materials. The game keeps you in line by running you up against rock walls, cliffs or water. There’s really no reason to explore once you’ve figured this out.
The visual stimulation is stunning, especially in the earlier portions of the game. Coupled with the enhanced movement abilities the L.E.A.F. suit affords, Valley is not altogether unenjoyable. The game had the potential to be quite impactful, making its failure to do so all the more disappointing. There are many good elements, but they’re too shallow and loosely tied together. The game fails to relate to anything the player could care about, leaving it immemorable beyond some impressive visuals and high-intensity maneuvering – hardly justifying its $20 sticker price.
Valley’s run and jump gameplay is a huge amount of fun when you’re going fast, but the moment it slows you down the gameplay becomes annoying and bland.
Valley is never going to be on anyone’s “Game of the Year” list, but it does have loads of potential. With a little more time in the oven and perhaps a bigger budget this could have been something special. Instead we are faced with a linear game that feels the need to offer value without committing to delivery.
The story from start to finish holds up very well and keeps you interested. The mixture of nature and a darker 60s era industrialism creates a very unusual theme. The level design could have been better, but the time you spend running around in the L.E.A.F suit is so much fun that getting lost is not so bad. The moral aspects of the game stand out very strong and will keep this game in your mind long after you have completed it.
Considering Blue Isle Studios previous game was Slender: The Arrival, this isn't what I was expecting from this game
A smart, smooth, satisfying shooter – This is one Valley you need to explore.
Valley ticks all the boxes - gorgeous visuals, soothing sounds and tight controls. A solid narrative is just the icing on the cake. Despite being low on the difficulty scale, Valley adds enough original features to make it a worthwhile addition to the collection of any budding archaeologists out there!
Valley is a game of strong fundamentals that is mired by the execution of its grander ideas. Though it never comes together into a cohesive whole, it sometimes rises above the sum of its parts. I enjoyed playing it despite its issues, and I believe that Blue Isle Studios has a wonderful game in their future.
Valley is a game that packs a solid story and a good amount of gameplay length.