Valley

I bought this game in 2020 in a bundle of two other games. I still think about it five years later sometimes. I saw no reviews, no guides, I bought it for another game in the bundle, and I played it because it was in my library. I went in with no expectations, and it was a short story of 6 hours. I loved the music and the sense of magic, and I feel like it would have suffered a lot if they tried to drag it out. I think in this world we increasingly feel like we have less time, and weirdly we feel like we need games that we can play for hours for it to be worth it.
There are many games I have played for 30+, 70+ hours that I don't think about, or have as much of a soft spot for me as this 6 hour game.

Here i am in 2025 having just purchased and finished this beautiful walking game after 5 hours.

1) Beautiful scenery, relaxed gameplay, run/shoot/collect, not need to worry about dying
2) Run through at great speed, feels amazing
3) Nice little story with "surprise" towards the end

Intuitive linear levels despite feeling like its "open-world" because of the environment. There's no formal tutorials which is great, just enjoy moving through and learning new mechanics as they unlock. You can't get lost as the "puzzles" and progress is linear, a sign the level designers are really good at their craft.

Just a wonderful game.

First things first
Launching Valley for the first time was pretty unwelcoming. The Game started on my second monitor by default and had no ingame menu to change keybinds. It didnt help that the developers have chosen the most obnoxious sound possible whenever you hover over options in the menu. I've googled possible fixes for quite some time before almost giving up. Then i noticed the sticky post in the discussion hub. When you launch the game via steam library instead of the desktop icon, you can select the "Launch Controller Layout Tool" which helped me fix the wrong monitor issue aswell as rebinding my keys. There you can change the resolution aswell. Little advice if you try to remap mouse left- or rightclick, you have to click on the newly opened window for it to register (seems to be a Unity bug). I'm glad i pulled through tho because the game itself was surprisingly fun
Valley
You play as a nameless Archeologist that gets washed ashore on a lonely island. As you delve deeper you'll notice that the place you're at is strange to say the least. Early on, you'll come across a WW2 military vehicle with a chest containing the so called L.E.A.F suit, an experimental body device originally created to revolutionize warfare and create the "super soldier". It's main function besides improved movement is the ability to give and take life with the stored energy of your suit. To fuel your suit, you can run over little orbs/wisps, the lifeforce of the Valley, or drain life from trees or animals you come across, killing them in the process. If you die by falling in the water, you'll be ressurected at the cost of the Valleys lifeforce. Dying too often will destroy the Valley so in order to prevent that from happening you can revive dead trees or animals to restore the Valleys health again. In my opinion a very interesting way to approach the interplay between the player and the environment, it's beautifully connected. The Story is told by old audio tapes from scientists that used to work in the Valley. Additionally you can find notes in chests or scattered around for more Lore
In essence, Valley is a first person platformer. While beeing linear for the most part, there are some areas that invite you to explore. As you progress in the game, you'll find upgrades for your L.E.A.F suit like the ability to double jump, a grappling hook and the Jesus Mod that lets you traverse over water for a short period of time. The leveldesign and the pacing is great as you gradually discover new stuff that builds on top of the games foundation. Controls are sharp and responsive and movement feels great. The music is beautiful and sets the mood perfectly. Graphics are good for a 10y old game and they did a great job at creating some stunning moments when you leave a close and narrow area to be greeted by a beautiful vast open plane. Using the grappling hook sends off strong attack on titan vibes and other levels offer highspeed traversals like in Sonic the hedgehog. In short: the levels are interesting.
Fighting is only a small portion of the game. The few enemies you encounter are starving creatures that you can pacify by giving them life with your suit. Don't let them hit you as it will slowly deplete your suit's energy. Along the way you'll find plenty of chests containing suit energy upgrades, acorns (to open secret doors) and artifacts that are needed to enter the ancient pyramid you'll visit later in the game. Most chests are visible in plain sight, but some require extensive search or revisiting early areas after unlocking suit upgrades.
Expect around 4.5-5h to finish the game, quite short but nontheless a fun experience i wholeheartedly recommend. After beating the game, you can revisit old areas and a message will inform you how many collectibles/upgrades are still up to be claimed. I followed a great steamguide that i highly recommend if you have trouble using the grappling hook or need help discovering remaining chests. It took me more or less 2.5h to revisit and collect everything in order to unlock all achievements.
Finally, the artwork shown in the endcredits is top notch and i can definitly say that:
Yes, Blue Isle Studios, i did really enjoy your little adventure game! :)

I thought this was a fun, shorter game. It looks great for a game released 10 years ago and I found the mechanics to be fun. It isn't challenging, really. But I enjoyed it as more of a casual experience. It was certainly a breath of fresh air for me as I've mostly been jumping from massive open world to massive open world. The game had good progression, kept things fresh and introduced new mechanics frequently and I found the story to be a nice bow to tie everything together and didn't detract from the gameplay at all.

Fun little game. There's a sequence that the music adapts to as you play and I still think about it years later.

Explore the world as a super fast runner. If you like the adrenaline from driving games then you'll probably like this one. There's some puzzles and indoors exploration.
Finished in ~5 hours.

Full Price: 8.5/10
Sale: 9.5/10
I can't stress how much fun this game is for how little money I paid for it. As I'm writing this review, this game has a 88% off sale for a measly 20.000VND (<1USD) and for less than a meal, you get a fantastic minimum 5-7 hours of just fun.
- Story -
In short, you're an adventurer who accidentally washed up and found this exosuit that provides you with superhuman movements and a quest to explore the secrets behind the suit and this valley. Overall, there's not much to praise or criticize with the story and it's delivery methods. It serves the game well enough so you won't get bored or confused but doesn't leave you with any mystery to uncover or deep rooted question or philosophy.
- Gameplay -
Smoother than bread and butter - at most points in the game. And it's *really* smooth on 100% completion, but I'm aware not everyone will seek it out. The enemies are easy enough to combat, except for the final boss. The map design was made for fast movements and sightseeing. There are frustrating areas but those are few and far between many breathtaking scenery that will make you unwilling to put the game down.
- Final Remarks -
I'd highly recommend getting this game on sale and just run around. Fantastic way to get a breath of fresh air.