Date played: March 15th
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10
I finished Valiant Hearts. The last time I cried this much at the ending of a video game was when I played Brothers.
Valiant Hearts' last chapter started with the battle of Vimy, a battle that was won mainly by the Canadian Corps. The American, Freddie, helped fight the German troops by using artillery. There were some pretty cool sequences here where I had to use a viewfinder to determine how to aim the artillery.
Karl made it home in the next chapter, only to find his wife and son on the verge of death due to toxic gas attacks. With some help from Walt, the dog, I made my way through the dangerous gas, solving puzzles and breaking windows to air out some of the gas an increase visibility. Karl finally reached his wife and son, though they only had one gas mask for both of them. His wife was unconscious and his son was crying for help. Karl bravely gave his wife his gas mask and pulled them out of the toxic area, only to collapse under the strength of the poison.
That's when Anna came in to rescue them. She brought them all to the taxi and sped to the nearest town in hopes of finding some medical supplies to save Karl. In a fucking intense sequence, I had to scour the hospital for the right supplies as I saw my patient slowly dying on screen! I made it back to Karl just in time and saved him by completing another timing based minigame. Karl woke up and was overjoyed to see his smiling wife and son.
As if this wasn't emotional enough, it was finally time to wrap up Emile's story... As the war intensified, even wounded soldiers were made to fight by overly eager command staff. In a macabre scene, Emile fought alongside his fellow soldiers in a battlefield that felt more like a mass grave than a combat zone... There were a few intense trench digging moments too, as I had to quickly dig myself out of trouble while avoiding explosives.
Emile reached his limit. As his superior was ordering soldiers to their death, Emile took his shovel and killed his commanding officer... Mutiny. Treason. Desertion. Murder.
Our hero was jailed for his actions and sentenced to execution. The game ends with the narrator reading a letter from Emile to his daughter as the man walks to his own execution. His deep words and the intense piano song made me cry so much...
The closing scene has to be one of the best endings I've played through in a video game. The entire game was amazing and I'm really glad I played it. I hope they take this concept and let me feel what I felt playing Valiant Hearts in different wars, like WWII or even more modern wars. Afghanistan would be good...
Platform: PS4
Session fun rating: 10/10
I finished Valiant Hearts. The last time I cried this much at the ending of a video game was when I played Brothers.
Valiant Hearts' last chapter started with the battle of Vimy, a battle that was won mainly by the Canadian Corps. The American, Freddie, helped fight the German troops by using artillery. There were some pretty cool sequences here where I had to use a viewfinder to determine how to aim the artillery.
Karl made it home in the next chapter, only to find his wife and son on the verge of death due to toxic gas attacks. With some help from Walt, the dog, I made my way through the dangerous gas, solving puzzles and breaking windows to air out some of the gas an increase visibility. Karl finally reached his wife and son, though they only had one gas mask for both of them. His wife was unconscious and his son was crying for help. Karl bravely gave his wife his gas mask and pulled them out of the toxic area, only to collapse under the strength of the poison.
That's when Anna came in to rescue them. She brought them all to the taxi and sped to the nearest town in hopes of finding some medical supplies to save Karl. In a fucking intense sequence, I had to scour the hospital for the right supplies as I saw my patient slowly dying on screen! I made it back to Karl just in time and saved him by completing another timing based minigame. Karl woke up and was overjoyed to see his smiling wife and son.
As if this wasn't emotional enough, it was finally time to wrap up Emile's story... As the war intensified, even wounded soldiers were made to fight by overly eager command staff. In a macabre scene, Emile fought alongside his fellow soldiers in a battlefield that felt more like a mass grave than a combat zone... There were a few intense trench digging moments too, as I had to quickly dig myself out of trouble while avoiding explosives.
Emile reached his limit. As his superior was ordering soldiers to their death, Emile took his shovel and killed his commanding officer... Mutiny. Treason. Desertion. Murder.
Our hero was jailed for his actions and sentenced to execution. The game ends with the narrator reading a letter from Emile to his daughter as the man walks to his own execution. His deep words and the intense piano song made me cry so much...
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| The saddest video game ever made? Maybe. |
