Valiant Hearts sequel finally comes home to PC and consoles

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

HD ports of former Netflix mobile exclusive available now infividually or bundled with original game

Ubisoft’s WWI side-scroller Valiant Hearts: The Great War was a surprise hit when it arrived in 2014, so it was a disappointment to many when its sequel, Coming Home, launched exclusively for Netflix subscribers on mobile devices (albeit free to those people) early last year. Now, however, gamers of all platform stripes can play it as the HD ports have arrived on PC and consoles, though these ones are going to cost you. 

As with its predecessor, Coming Home tells four discrete but partly overlapping stories. Two of the first game's protagonists return in an all-new story set on the Western Front: the kindhearted Belgian nurse Anna, who is one of the playable characters (accompanied by fan-favourite Walt the dog!), and Freddie the courageous infantryman in a supporting role. Standing in for Freddie as a new lead character is his younger brother James, one of the many thousands of African Americans who volunteered to fight, overcoming both racism and the Central Powers to achieve great success as the Harlem Hellfighters. The cast is rounded out by the eccentric British pilot George and a German civilian diver named Ernst, who dares to defy his own government's commands at great risk to himself.

The sequel, while shorter and simpler than The Great War, follows the same basic formula, combining stylish and highly cinematic hand-drawn visuals with (largely) side-scrolling gameplay. Neither is a traditional adventure game, so players can once again expect a mix of light puzzling, stealth and action across a variety of settings, from the snowy Sainte-Ménehould to the muddy trenches near Vimy and the Meuse-Argonne offensive in France, not to mention a sea dive into a sunken wreck destined to get plenty more company before the war is through. There's a welcome educational component too, as more than fifty collectibles found in your travels are expanded upon in an encyclopedia of facts about all aspects of the war and its combatants. 

If you played and enjoyed the first game and just want to charge into the second, you can do so right away on PC (exclusively through Ubisoft), PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo Switch consoles. And if you missed out on Valiant Hearts originally, you can pick up both games from all the same storefronts in a collected bundle. To learn more about Valiant Hearts: Coming Home, be sure to check out our review of the mobile version.

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