The Valiant
by Aethyna
Oct 23, 2022 |
1
Votes |
52
Played |
0
Reviews
8
rate
Genres:
StrategyGraphics:
3DLabels:
Co-op , Real Time , Medieval Age , Player vs Player (PvP)Platforms:
Publishers:
THQ Nordic Join Theo, an ex-crusader, who's determined to stop his ex-brother-in-arms, Ulrich, from murdering innocents in his blind obsession over collecting all three pieces of a mysterious ancient relic while under the corrupting influence of the very same relic (the first piece at least) that they've found during the Holy War! Play Now Similar Games Played
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Summary
The Valiant is a squad-based RTS game where you follow the adventures of Theoderich, an ex-crusader who returned from the Holy War. He, along with his brother-in-arms, Ulrich, found a fragment of mysterious relic hidden in an underground chamber, but unbeknownst to them, the relic has a dark past, corrupting Ulrich even as he returned to his homeland.
Upon knowing the Ulrich will stop at nothing to reunite all three pieces of the relic, Theo couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. Help him navigate the perilous journey to gather all these relic parts and hopefully, put an end to Ulrich’s wanton savagery!
Plotline
Both Theoderich and Ulrich are brothers-in-arms; crusaders who ventured to the middle east to take on the ruthless Caliph and the Saracens in the Holy War. They happened upon a fragment of mysterious relic hidden in an underground chamber during their time there.
However, unbeknownst to them, the relic has a dark past. Within just days, the relic exerted its malevolent influence onto Ulrich, turning him into a bloodthirsty crusader with a sadistic streak. This corruption persists even after he returned to his homeland.
One day, a monk arrived at Theo’s doorstep. He told Theo that he has reason to believe Ulrich will stop at nothing to – not even murdering innocent people – to reunite all three pieces of the relic. Theo, being a knight, couldn’t just stand by and let his ex-comrade murder innocents. He has, after all, seen how cruel Ulrich has become when he butchered civilians and literally signed the death sentence (figuratively) for the locals who have helped them defeat the caliph in the first place.
Together with the monk, as well as various allies he recruited to his cause along the way, he is determined to put a stop to Ulrich’s wanton savagery and stop him from getting all three fragments of the powerful yet corrupting relic.
The game is filled with cutscenes that progresses the story as you play. They can pop up during a mission, mostly as dialogues between characters, but you’ll more regularly see them after a mission has been completed. You can always rewatch the cutscenes, the ones that are played after a successful mission, via the main mission map.
Gameplay
Before you start, you can choose between three game modes – the story-driven Campaign; Competitive, the PvP mode where you can test your mettle against up to 4 players, and Last Man Standing, the co-op mode where you’ll, alongside two allies, defend 3 supply wagons from waves of attack.
In terms of the campaign, which was what I focused on and will be focusing here in my review, The Valiant has a story-driven RTS-style gameplay that resembles the one used in Starship Troopers: Terran Command, Ancestors Legacy, or other squad-based RTS titles. You can only recruit a limited number of units per mission – the type you get depends on your unit loadout prior to entering a new mission - and that’s including the compulsory hero units that you have to bring along.
Each unit type has their own unique ability that only they can use. Cavalry, for example, can charge their enemies while archers can lay suppressive fire via their Volley ability. However, you can’t just spam the abilities willy-nilly since using them requires Vigor and it’ll eventually run out unless you use it conservatively, i.e. only when necessary.
Hero units are special versions of the normal unit types you get. Each hero is associated with a unit type, such as your trusty hunter friend, Konrad, with his unit of archers, but unlike normal units, hero units can have additional abilities that are conferred to them via skills unlocked in their respective skill trees. Note that your heroes gain 1 skill point every time they level up and to level up, they will need to accumulate experience points by defeating enemies.
Hero units can also change their “default ability” by simply changing the weapon they equip. With a sword, Theo plays the role of the “buffer”, providing units within its area of effect with hastened Fortitude regeneration, but with a mace, Theo’s unit became a “tank”, helping to protect weaker units from melee foes by stunning them.
Weapon drops, however, are pre-determined since they are already added to each mission in the game. You can only get a fixed number of weapons per mission and if you didn’t find them all – they are typically scattered throughout the map but sometimes, you can get them as drops from defeating story-linked elites, you can always redo the mission just to find them. The weapons also come in different quality or grades. Weapons with green-colored backgrounds, for instance, are uncommon weapons with typically superior stats. Sometimes, you may even come across a weapon – a throwing ax – that will grant your unit an additional yet limited ability if they picked it up.
You’ll start off with only two hero units, Theo and Konrad, but during your adventures, you’ll encounter and recruit new heroes along the way, such as the noble knight and his cavalry unit, Gascoigne, as well as the Lord of Kempten who leads a band of axe men (not X-men), Reinhard.
Combat is pretty straightforward here, especially if you’re familiar with RTS games. You’ll be expected to respond to your enemy’s attacks in real-time, such as moving your unit so as to avoid getting trampled by the enemy’s cavalry. You’ll also want to match the correct “counter” unit for the correct enemy, such as having your cavalry take on the archers in the distance or having your archers focus on attacking the spearmen, just to get an upper hand.
There are some advantages that you can give to your units prior to a battle too. For instance, you can conceal your units in patches of tall grasses and even in the forest. However, for forests, it can come with some penalties since 1. Forests are generally harder to traverse, especially for cavalry and 2. Archers can’t see their targets as clearly – line of sight and all - and will obviously suffer a penalty.
You can also call for a strategic retreat if necessary, allowing your units to return to a safe distance away to restore their Fortitude (a.k.a. “shield”). As mentioned, some of your heroes’ abilities can also restore Fortitude too. However, to restore health, you’ll need to get your units over to a camp you’ve captured. Note that camps are also the place where you can recruit new units to fill up your ranks. Depending on what you need, you can also disband units you’ve already recruited just so you can get another unit type that you need.
Unlike healing a unit, recruiting new units costs coins and you can only get them from specific stashes around the map. This is why you’ll want to rescue your soldiers from death by using the retreat option as much as possible. After all, money can sometimes be hard to come by.
Although there are no base-building, or resource collecting or managing here unlike in iconic RTS games like Warcraft or Age of Empires, from time to time, you’ll be given the option to construct defensive structures while you’re trying to hold an area. You can build a tower so as to better position your archers, away from immediate danger of getting charged by the enemy and extending their range of attack, which is always a useful thing to have if you’re trying to defend an area. However, to do so, you’ll need to collect the material stashes that you may come across as you go about completing the objectives you’re given.
As mentioned, the game is mission-based and they are typically set in different locations across the map. Most missions take between 30 minutes to slightly over an hour to complete, which is the perfect for games of this type and format.
However, as fun as I had here, the game just doesn’t have that kind of spark that differentiate it from other games of the same type, nor the kind of polish that makes it better than what us fans of the genre can currently enjoy.
Community
The Valiant features both multiplayer PvP and co-op modes for players who are looking for more. As pointed out before, the PvP mode pits you against up to 4 other players where you’ll get to choose which hero unit to use. The goal is, naturally, to win the fight by defeating all your opponents. The co-op mode, Last Man Standing, features an escort-based endless mission where you and your allies need to defend three supply wagons from being destroyed by waves after waves of enemies.
Graphics/ Sound
The graphics here are absolutely breathtaking! Since most of the missions take place during daytime, you’ll get to feast your eyes on vibrant colors, complete with impressive shadow and lighting effects. In terms of sound, one of the highlights of the game is its fully voice-acted cutscenes and narrated story. Having both of these combined really helps to immerse the players into its brilliantly-written story, allowing the players to warm up to the heroes and empathize with their cause.
Conclusion
The Valiant may not have a gameplay that can help it stand out within its genre, but it has an incredibly intriguing storyline set in and around the Holy War with characters that you can empathize with. The voice acting is perfect here, giving life to both the characters and, via narration, the stories it tells. Although the animations could be more realistic and less sloppily done, the graphics look great here, overall.
So, all in all, The Valiant is a decent title and a solid addition to the squad-based RTS genre. Fans of the genre should definitely give this a try, especially if they want to enjoy a gameplay that’s generally “more of the same”.
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