Valiant Hearts: The Great war is 2D puzzle adventure game by Ubisoft Montpellier. If the title wasn’t a dead giveaway, then Valiant Hearts: The Great War is about World War I, and claims to be inspired by the various letters that were written during the war. As I stated earlier, Valiant Hearts is a puzzle adventure game, so pretty much all do in Valiant Hearts is solve puzzles, and this is unfortunately Valiant Hearts’ biggest problem. The puzzles in Valiant Hearts are almost mind-numbingly easy and requite no thought or effort at all. They also often feel out of place and break up the pacing in the game’s story, which is a shame because the story is without a doubt the best part of the game.
The basic premise of the story is that war sucks. When you start the game, you see a married couple, Karl and Marie, with their son Victor, just having a normal day enjoying life, when all of the sudden Karl (who is German) is deported back to Germany, where he he is drafted for the Army. Soon afterwards, Marie’s father, Emilie, is drafted into the French Army. I can’t go too much further into story without giving away some spoilers, but I can honestly say that it was one of the most emotional games I’ve played in a long time. Two of the other things that Valiant Hearts: The Great War does right is it’s art style, and it’s sound track. The art style that Valiant Hearts: The Great War uses is absolutely beautiful, and the soundtrack fits perfectly with each moment, whether it be an wide variety of instruments playing while you march into battle, or just a soft piano playing during one of the game’s emotional moments.
So while the gameplay is pretty mediocre, the story, art, and music more than make-up for it, and Valiant Hearts: The Great War is definitely worth getting just for these things alone.
