With your canine helper, try to survive the trenches of the Western Front and reunite two lovers.
Ubisoft’s latest project – built on the UbiArt framework of Rayman fame – is a Great War minimalist puzzle game, Valiant Hearts. Its beauty will captivate you, but the story’s where this one really shines. You take on the role of several different characters – Emile, a French POW, Lucky Freddie the American, Ana the Rose of the Trenches, George the Brit who may or may not know how to fly, and Karl, the German whose love affair with Ana drives the plot – each trying to survive the bloody battlefields of the Western Front. Your helper here is a German dog, separated from its owner during an artillery barrage, which not only tries to keep you breathing but also guides you during action and puzzle sequences. Or maybe you could just play fetch. That works too, if you happen to have a bone handy.
The ten-strong development team wants to introduce a younger generation to this period in history, soon to reach its 100 year anniversary. Part of the plot involves letters sent by soldiers serving at the Front, some of which were written by producer Yoan Fanise’s great-grandfather; and several other members of the ream have personal connections to the War. The art style deliberately invokes this, making the battlefields and personalities stylized representations of the originals. Fanise has put his heart, soul, and grandfather’s dogtags into this one, and it shows; the characters may be drawn as caricatures, but their stories aren’t.
Valiant Hearts is due for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, PS3 and PS4 in 2014.
Source: PlayStation Blog
