Valley

I don’t know what I expected with Valley, but this was not it. I was not prepared to find an exploration game with a powerful story, fun exploration mechanics, a unique twist on death, beautiful artwork, and one of the best video game soundtracks in the industry.

A walking simulator that's very much worth playing, Valley sports wonderful environments, intuitive gameplay and a brilliant soundtrack. To top it all of, this game's story is memorable almost to a fault.

Despite a few missteps, Valley is an overall rush of an experience. Taking cues from BioShock with some Fern Gully on the side, there are few games that can claim to put players into the metal legs of an interdimensional necromantic freerunner, and be bloody infatuating while it does so.

There are layers here, and it all meshes wonderfully; the story, playing out like a radio drama as you explore the locations in which it took place; the Valley as this beautiful, vulnerable, and magical location; and the themes, which explore life, death, and purpose with surprising nuance.

Despite a cliché story, unnecessary combat and some borrowed elements, Valley delivers a well-paced, beautifully scored, and engaging first-person adventure. At times it achieves an extraordinary sense of majestic isolation, but more peaks and less valleys would have helped this adventure truly soar.

Valley is a surprisingly smart and fun adventure game with fluid movement and intuitive controls, although it doesn’t last long.

Valley is a mish mash of other games before it, but still retains a unique feeling all to itself and my time with it was pleasantly surprising with it.

Vibration from the controller and the sheer speed and sense of losing control feels great and makes you believe you are in a powerful suit.

Valley feels like a good first act. Despite obstacles that tend to abruptly kill your momentum, running and bounding through wilderness remained exciting. The world's history is so intriguing that I left wanting to know more. I didn't want the adventure to end, and like a jogger who's forced to slow down in the middle of a run, I was frustrated that Valley had to end so soon after it began.

Valley's heart is most definitely in the right place, and for the most part it succeeds in the execution of its gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately, the game's technical faults can't be ignored. The sloppy framerate in particular damages the experience far too much, and has held back what would otherwise be a great game.

Valley has a really good start, but it quickly fades into monotony. There are good ideas behind it, but it doesn't make the most of them throughout the adventure.

Valley’s answer to one of its main mysteries doesn’t quite satiate the curiosity it taunts, though it wisely leaves others unsolved.

It is unfortunate that the game is a rehash of almost every popular indie game from 2012 onwards, because it starts off fairly well.