Valley of Shadow fully formed on Steam for Windows PC

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Demo also available for narrative-driven first-person autobiographical puzzler about dealing with trauma and grief

More and more games are moving away from the traditional concept of "fun" as an end in itself, instead using engaging gameplay to explore deeper, more emotional themes in profound ways. Certainly this is true of Valley of Shadow, the newly released autobiographical puzzle-adventure from Synersteel Studio.

Players step into the first-person shoes of Adam, a troubled man working through his issues with help from his therapist, Emma. Through a kind of lucid hypnosis, Adam is regressed back to pivotal times and places from his childhood to rediscover the triggers that affected him and deal with the emotions they wrought. In between real-world environments, Adam must navigate the puzzle-filled rooms and halls of the titular valley, a series of temples representing "the darkness of a broken past." Guided by the voice of Emma but armed only with a magical staff, players must cast various spells of light and colour that will open new paths through "the depth of grief" he feels and hopefully allow him to reach a place where "love and acceptance come together."

If that sounds like an intensely personal experience, you're right, as Valley of Shadow is based on the lives of two brothers on the development team as they take players through memories of their actual "harrowing journey of loss." To that end, as you explore the linear locations in free-roaming, first-person 3D, you'll collect many real mementos such as photos, VHS tapes, and answering machine audio recordings. Collectively these will recount the "fall and redemption of a once broken family" while also establishing the game as "both a treasure and a tomb of nostalgia from the 80s, 90s and the 2000s." But therapy is work, and you'll have your work cut out for you here in the form of a series of puzzles that evolve as you progress, from casting light to activate receptacles to firing "force missiles" to move or destroy targets of your choice, to carving through ice or melting snow with fireballs, and using combinations of all of them to overcome more complex obstacles. 

After six years of development, Valley of Shadow is now ready for download on Steam for Windows PC, with a demo also available for those who'd like a sample session first. 

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