Valiant Hearts: The Great War Preview – The war to end all wars

By Mike de Leon Posted on April 24, 2014

At the Ubisoft booth at PAX East 2014, I got a chance to go hands-on with Valiant Hearts: The Great War, the much awaited title developed by Ubisoft Montpellier. The story of the game is about a time when the world seems so horrifying and grim. The game follows five unique characters from various countries, showing the devastating that was the First World War. All five and the faithful canine work together, suffering through the trenches to reunite a young German soldier and his love. Valiant Hearts is a side-scrolling adventure game with an emphasis on puzzles. Each of the stages are catered for the current character, as you’ll be switching on and off between the characters.

On the show floor I was able to play as two of the characters; Emilie, a French prisoner of war and Freddie, the American volunteer. The first part of the demo put me in the shoes of Emilie peeling potatoes for the German army. After the German encampment got bombarded, I had to safely escape with my now faithful canine companion that I rescued from the rubble. Most of the roadblocks the game throw my way involved using the dog to help trigger obstacles to bypass, as well as a couple of physics based puzzles.

The second character played entirely different than Emilie. Instead, Freddie uses wire cutters to make his way through barbed wire fences and using explosives to blow up a German fortified bridge. Enemy guards must be avoided at all cost, as being sighted leads to a quick death. Initially I tossed a grenade at a guard, but escaped from the blast each time. Tossing a simple brick over the guard’s head, forcing him to investigate the noise, I was able to sneak past to accomplish the mission.

The stylized artwork in Valiant Hearts: The Great War is simply stunning. The game is being built using the UbiArt Framework engine (the same engine that was used for Rayman Legends).

The game is expected to ship in later this year for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.