Blue Isle Studio's Valley is my kind of game—for the sake of clarity, a judgment I make without having played it—because I can't quite figure out what it's all about. We described it as a “first person action-adventure-type-thing about a guy in a supersuit” in our April announcement post, which is accurate as far as it goes, but the story trailer released today suggests that there's more going on than just acrobatic sightseeing. There is also a release date: Blue Isle announced today that Valley will go live on Steam on August 24.
Not even the description in the launch date press release is very helpful. “The Valley is a magical hidden wonder in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. Filled with a variety of wondrous creatures and beautiful vistas, The Valley also holds the ancient Lifeseed relic, which according to legend is a bringer of death on a global scale,” it says. “The Valley’s predecessors have attempted to harness it before to no avail, and now it's up to the player to explore The Valley while attempting to capture and harness the power of the Lifeseed for good.”
I'm not sure how something that can inflict global annihilation ends up being called the Lifeseed, nor am I any clearer on this whole business about the “unrivaled power to control life and death” promised in the reveal trailer. I do get the feeling that there are going to be some lessons learned over the course of the game, though, maybe something about how great power and great responsibility come together in not-always-pleasant ways. The "unique twist on death" is intriguing, too: "The more you die, the more the valley will die around you." Careful where you step.
Blue Isle's previous game was Slender: The Arrival, based on the popular Slender Man horror meme, which we described in our review as beautiful and atmospheric, with a “nicely constructed” story, but very shallow in terms of actual gameplay. Hopefully Valley can address that shortcoming—the trailers certainly suggest that it will at least be a more “active” experience. More information about Valley can be found on Steam, or at valleythegame.com.
