The Great War has been a major playground for a lot of first person shooter franchises and to be honest they’ve all looked and felt the same since decades. Ubisoft’s Valiant Hearts feels the exact opposite of all those other World War games. In fact it is by far the most original and touching take on these dark pages of our history.

When we take The Great War as a subject we all know that the pictures will bring up more emotion than a thousand words. Valiant Hearts gives us just that; a strong artistic visualization of World War I accompanied by a strong score that aims for your heart. Although in-between missions there is a narrator to help us set the next step in history, the game itself doesn’t contain real dialogue. If you listen closely you can actually hear some French, German and English (American) words when helping the many victims of war. But Valiant Hearts prefers to use comical style to give you visual clues of what to do with your bunch of heroes.

One of our favorite moments where the score and gameplay are thrown in a perfect gameplay moment.

Talking about heroes, our protagonists are unwillingly thrown into a fictional, yet plausible, story that will be strangely compelling despite the lack of dialogue. The story starts out in Saint-Mihiel in the Lorraine department of France. A young German named Karl has fathered a beautiful son with his French girlfriend and they are happily living on their farm with his father-in-law Emile. But The Great War forces Karl to join the German side of the quarrel and later Emile is forced into battle as well but on the French side. During the story both will acquire some allies such as Walt; a german dog that will join your side or even an African American soldier called Freddie who is fighting to honor the soul of the wife he loved and lost. Later these heroes will encounter the young Ana, a Belgian girl searching for her father. Each character has it’s own reason to join the war and together they can overcome everything.

Throughout your adventure you will have to use the interaction between these characters to solve puzzles and find clues. Valiant Hearts has a great story and to top that of there is a great historical and educational layer. Just like in one of Ubisoft’s other franchises Assassin’s Creed you will get a bath of educational facts about how life was during World War I and what soldiers used in the trenches, how everyday objects became irreplaceable during conflict. In each level there are several objects you can collect and with every object there is a popup story for you to read. It doesn’t stop the flow of the game and I found some of them very interesting and surprising. The game also gives you information and great real life pictures of the war. Ranging from the first use of gas in Ypres to the use of Zeppelins and even more!

The gas attacks were something new in terms of warfare and many died without knowing why or what hit them…

The game really distances itself from FPS games and you won’t be throwing dynamite at germans to kill them, instead you will throw grenades and dynamite to clear a path or save someone from rubble. Another gameplay element I found increasingly challenging towards the end was the use of the quick time events.
The game really knows how to increase the difficulty in a subtle way so as to keep your wits at all times!

So we have a great story, a more than original take on The Great War and a veil of facts and history about this event that touched all of humankind. I think Valiant Hearts the Great War deserves a 9/10 for not taking the easy way out and daring something new and refreshing. I would even recommend the game to museums and schools due to its simple button layout, accessible visual style and historical value.

9/10

Tested on Xbox 360