Valiant Hearts: The Great War Critic Reviews

In a way Valiant Hearts is a challenge to everyone in the industry; it's a challenge to the publishers churning out the same old "war games," and it's a challenge to all the players that continue to buy into these games without really thinking about what they are playing. War isn't fun, and it has a real impact on the people that are involved in it. It's games like this one that, critically, remind us that there is a human side to war.

This game made me shed more tears than any game I have ever played before, and I find that I am not alone in that sentiment. I even think this game communicated parts of WWI so well that it could be used as an educational tool, though the characters’ story is fiction.

Ubisoft did it again. After Child of Light there is again a unique downloadable game. Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a compelling puzzle game, a must have. It has a funny look but it's actually a game with many layers.

Valiant Hearts tackles the harsh realities of what this war did to regular families. It tore people apart and, conversely, brought strangers closer together. It’s a beautiful tale of love and woe, with a consideration for the chilling realism of war.

Valiant Hearts is a masterpiece, a game that combines gameplay and narration so well that it should be an example for every game designer. And it can teach you a thing or two about the Great War and the human nature. You should really play this game.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a poignant and powerful reminder of the significant human toll borne of the wars that we so often act out in our favourite video games.

Valiant Hearts is quite a peculiar title: behind a simple (and even questionable) videogame lies a stunning experience than will warm your heart while teaching you actual history. If everyone played it, the world would surely become a better place.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War delivers a moving story that will surely leave an impression on you. The UbiART engine delivers another great artistic showpiece telling a story through animation, a powerful and harrowing musical score and documentary-like narration. Valiant Hearts doesn't depict what war may have been like, it makes you feel it.

Overall, I couldn’t have been more pleased with Valiant Hearts: The Great War. Beautiful art, moving music and a compelling story that has a heart wrenching and unexpected ending with plenty of subtext for you to chew on, it was an absolute treat to play.

Compelling and respectful in a way few games can match.

It offers an appreciation of the smaller struggles during The Great War while exposing its horrors. The characters are charming, the gameplay is interesting, the storyline is gripping, and the visuals are full of heart.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War is one of the best graphical adventures you can find nowadays. Its beautiful visuals provided by UbiArt engine was already known as a good choice, so the surprise comes with the amazing story it manages to unfold.

So in the end, Valiant Hearts is something of a flawed masterpiece. But it’s a masterpiece nonetheless. This is a game that definitely won’t be for everyone, but it’s something that the videogame industry has been in dire of need of.

Hearts has been a total surprise, first for its historic fidelity and then for its gorgeous comic visuals. A master class not to be missed.

After Child of Light, Valiant Hearts is another great game from Ubisoft on the UbiART Framework engine. And it proves the publisher can make something great, even with a tiny budget. Even with its WWI background, Valiant Hearts isn't just an historic documentary: it's really a story-driven title, which focuses on characters and successfully displays quite classic gameplay.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War is inspired by letters written during the Great War and has four characters on the battlefield. They sneak across enemy lines and solve puzzles to fight for their survival. The artwork looks amazing and is complemented by the game’s soundtrack.

A very unique experience, which mixes delicate graphics to the gritty storytelling of the worst war the world has come to know. When it tries to be anything less than tragic, it might lack some of that energy, but it's still a game anyone should at least give a try.

Valiant Hearts’s low barrier of entry difficulty-wise makes it a perfect gateway game for those who don’t usually enjoy the genre. While the puzzles are simplistic, they’re also fun to solve and never get in the way of the interesting storyline going on.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a history lesson as you have not experienced it, ever. The story is full of touching moments, small pieces of joy and at the same time it shows the horrific impacts of war. The gameplay remains varied, although the puzzles are a bit repetitive.

While it can be completed in less than six hours, it perfectly explores themes and concepts that triple-A titles still have difficulty grasping: gray morality, a poignant, thought-provoking storyline, and appealing gameplay that isn't based on killing everything in sight.