Here's The Thing:
You are Sam, who’s travelling with wife Lisa to God-knows-where when suddenly a freak accident occurs and you crash. A bunch of pale-faced weirdos abduct the missus and yet they leave you be? It’s up to you now to get to the bottom of the truth of Red Valley~



:) THROUGH THICK SKULL AND THIN~
Conjures the sensation of Silent Hill (SH) but in first person and without the migraines’ worth of headaches. A pretty apt example of a similar game would be The Story of Henry Bishop.

I would say that the gameplay isn’t all that, but it gets the job done for the most part! It’s as if you are uncannily reliving an alternate dimension of SH; one where there are no difficulty modes, no complicated plot points and you’re hardly tight on bullets.

With plenty of reasonably spaced out auto saves and surprising boss fights, it should clock you at a little over an hour. Costing you approximately one large fries from mcds and then some, it should satiate your appetite for the lack of development on SH~

TIPS:
1) Did you know you can reload and open the inventory during cutscenes? Go nuts!


:) ASH IF IT’S YER LAST…
The visuals are very SH, that’s right, turned it into an adjective! But only because it’s true, up to a point… And that is, of course, the enemy designs, which are a far cry from the psychosexual “what am I looking at here?” monstrosities by Masahiro Ito. The creatures here are either morbidly obsessed with death bearing their skull and disheveled motifs or so obviously cult-related. But, seeing them for the first time still delivered a jolt or two!

As for the rest of it, couldn’t be more nostalgic! Come on, the decision for a low-poly PS1 aesthetic and downpour of ash? The density of the fog may be thinner than what series lovers have come to expect, but it’s obscuring enough. The states of disuse and vacantness were nailed on the head. Even the bugs, which led me to otherwise unreachable locations screamed of otherworldly vibes and not to forget, shut off from the world.

The engineering of the soundtrack deserves a standing ovation, at times they were indistinguishable from the actual thing! Needless to say, whether you are navigating the inventory or just keeping things to yourself; you will be hit, when you least suspect it, by a familiar tone. Or maybe even a groan that instantly takes you back and leaves you stranded in the ‘90s~
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2849395008


:) CAN YOU VALLEY-IEVE IT!?
The plot significantly and heavily concurrently borrows from several SH entries. Namely, Silent Hill (1999) for the setting and progression. Silent Hill 2 (2001) in terms of the characters. Silent Hill 4 (2004) with regards to the orphanage and maternal figure. Silent Hill Shattered Memories (2009) for flipping the script. I get it, a little homage here and there never hurt anybody. But perhaps the biggest “didn’t see it coming” was when Silent Hill (2006), yeah you heard me- the movie, was added to the lineup.

Speaking of, I personally am a devout fan of the production value, ambiance, casting and above all, the risk-taking and not stubbornly sticking to the source material. The latter of which was something Red Valley should have done well to follow suit, but oh well. Nevertheless, just the originality alone in putting together a story that initially spanned multiple games into one was so tongue-in-cheek that I just had to applaud it! If nothing else, it did bring up fond SH memories and you can’t put a price on that~
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2849395978



:( SAM OLD, SAME OLD… BUT MILES APART.
Isn't it almost a cardinal sin to “rip off” the story from multiple Silent Hill games and the 2006 movie, first stripping them down to their vaguest and trite ideas, before bashing them together. Sure, it worked, but just barely, if one can call it that.

There’s not an ounce of sincerity that went into crafting the lore… It becomes increasingly apparent that the documents and later the dialogue, blatantly and wearily repeat already well-established facts several times over. What most likely happened was that the developer was scrambling for filler but couldn’t come up with anything good. This then spread to the bare designs of areas toward the conclusion as well.

Maybe both could be largely attributable to the half-hearted even careless English localization. Although, it doesn’t explain why a lot of the lines don’t have much soul to them. Feeling as if they were spoken out of turn, yet being devoid of emotion all the same. While we’re on that, I think the most telling missing piece of SH were the ominously nonchalant commentary of everyday objects by the protagonist~
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2849409885


:( PATRICK-ULARLY STIFLING!
The combat is basic, quick to pick up but it’s also the strongest contender and a few steps away from being this title’s weakest link. The ax is your one melee option but it couldn’t quite hack it. What with it performing only as intended half the time. Hits that should have landed make contact with nothing but the air. Blows by the enemies also suffer similar fates but at least they give you a chuckle or two.

A hugely missed opportunity is that there should have been a quick-swapping of weapons or better yet, hotkeys! What we got was awkwardly mouse-clicking and fumbling around in the real-time inventory instead… Luckily, I discovered a real swell workaround for it, in fact you should know of it too by now, since you managed to read this far~


x One warehouse-building can be phased through all four steel doors, which then lead off the map…
x Hovering over the shotgun and “red key” icons will have them highlighted but cannot be interacted with. Unless it’s at the exact spot!
x Touching or trying to go through the corpses of hostiles will have your camera stuttering.
x Same applies for some of the terrain and environment!


~ The really jumping fight theme made it even less scary. But it grows on you…
~ Weapons automatically get holstered when you talk to an NPC or enter into a cutscene!
~ Aiming down sight and hip-firing make no difference…
~ Map is so inconspicuous; I’d rather players have a shortcut for it. Like, say pressing “M” or something
~ Dialogue and script weren’t proofread.
~ The tips/hints/tutorials aren’t all that helpful. For instance, the one that tells you “health restores out of combat”. Well, it does, but only up to a point AND only when less than 50 hp!
~ Health items are consumed even when your health is full…



Last Words?
Call a spade a spade, it’s more “Silent Hill-derived” than inspired. From reminiscent sounds, narrative chunks, everything really... While it came through in the end, it wasn’t without its red flags~

Shoutout to

Indie Gems,

for GEMME-ing a key! Follow them here right now for more well, y’know~

[code]Curator page here-->[url=https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/37670120/] DaRevieweD #187 [/url]<-- [i]New review every Weekend[/i][/code] [h1]"A NEW LISA ON LIFE!!"[/h1] [u] Here's The Thing:[/u] You are Sam, who’s travelling with wife Lisa to God-knows-where when suddenly a freak accident occurs and you crash. A bunch of pale-faced weirdos abduct the missus and yet they leave you be? It’s up to you now to get to the bottom of the truth of Red Valley~ [h1][+] PROS;[/h1] [b]:) THROUGH THICK SKULL AND THIN~[/b] Conjures the sensation of Silent Hill (SH) but in first person and without the migraines’ worth of headaches. A pretty apt example of a similar game would be [url=https://steamproxy.com/id/DeadeGuard98/recommended/1116230/] The Story of Henry Bishop[/url]. I would say that the gameplay isn’t all that, but it gets the job done for the most part! It’s as if you are uncannily reliving an alternate dimension of SH; one where there are no difficulty modes, no complicated plot points and you’re hardly tight on bullets. With plenty of reasonably spaced out auto saves and surprising boss fights, it should clock you at a little over an hour. Costing you approximately one large fries from mcds and then some, it should satiate your appetite for the lack of development on SH~ [u]TIPS:[/u] 1) Did you know you can reload and open the inventory during cutscenes? Go nuts! [b]:) ASH IF IT’S YER LAST…[/b] The visuals are very SH, that’s right, turned it into an adjective! But only because it’s true, up to a point… And that is, of course, the enemy designs, which are a far cry from the psychosexual “what am I looking at here?” monstrosities by Masahiro Ito. The creatures here are either morbidly obsessed with death bearing their skull and disheveled motifs or so obviously cult-related. But, seeing them for the first time still delivered a jolt or two! As for the rest of it, couldn’t be more nostalgic! Come on, the decision for a low-poly PS1 aesthetic and downpour of ash? The density of the fog may be thinner than what series lovers have come to expect, but it’s obscuring enough. The states of disuse and vacantness were nailed on the head. Even the bugs, which led me to otherwise unreachable locations screamed of otherworldly vibes and not to forget, shut off from the world. The engineering of the soundtrack deserves a standing ovation, at times they were indistinguishable from the actual thing! Needless to say, whether you are navigating the inventory or just keeping things to yourself; you will be hit, when you least suspect it, by a familiar tone. Or maybe even a groan that instantly takes you back and leaves you stranded in the ‘90s~ https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2849395008 [b]:) CAN YOU VALLEY-IEVE IT!?[/b] The plot significantly and heavily concurrently borrows from several SH entries. Namely, [i]Silent Hill (1999)[/i] for the setting and progression. [i]Silent Hill 2 (2001)[/i] in terms of the characters. [i]Silent Hill 4 (2004)[/i] with regards to the orphanage and maternal figure. [i]Silent Hill Shattered Memories (2009)[/i] for flipping the script. I get it, a little homage here and there never hurt anybody. But perhaps the biggest “didn’t see it coming” was when [i]Silent Hill (2006)[/i], yeah you heard me- the movie, was added to the lineup. Speaking of, I personally am a devout fan of the production value, ambiance, casting and above all, the risk-taking and not stubbornly sticking to the source material. The latter of which was something Red Valley should have done well to follow suit, but oh well. Nevertheless, just the originality alone in putting together a story that initially spanned multiple games into one was so tongue-in-cheek that I just had to applaud it! If nothing else, it did bring up fond SH memories and you can’t put a price on that~ https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2849395978 [h1][-] CONS;[/h1] [b]:( SAM OLD, SAME OLD… BUT MILES APART.[/b] Isn't it almost a cardinal sin to “rip off” the story from multiple Silent Hill games and the 2006 movie, first stripping them down to their vaguest and trite ideas, before bashing them together. Sure, it worked, but just barely, if one can call it that. There’s not an ounce of sincerity that went into crafting the lore… It becomes increasingly apparent that the documents and later the dialogue, blatantly and wearily repeat already well-established facts several times over. What most likely happened was that the developer was scrambling for filler but couldn’t come up with anything good. This then spread to the bare designs of areas toward the conclusion as well. Maybe both could be largely attributable to the half-hearted even careless English localization. Although, it doesn’t explain why a lot of the lines don’t have much soul to them. Feeling as if they were spoken out of turn, yet being devoid of emotion all the same. While we’re on that, I think the most telling missing piece of SH were the ominously nonchalant commentary of everyday objects by the protagonist~ https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2849409885 [b]:( PATRICK-ULARLY STIFLING![/b] The combat is basic, quick to pick up but it’s also the strongest contender and a few steps away from being this title’s weakest link. The ax is your one melee option but it couldn’t quite hack it. What with it performing only as intended half the time. Hits that should have landed make contact with nothing but the air. Blows by the enemies also suffer similar fates but at least they give you a chuckle or two. A hugely missed opportunity is that there should have been a quick-swapping of weapons or better yet, hotkeys! What we got was awkwardly mouse-clicking and fumbling around in the real-time inventory instead… Luckily, I discovered a real swell workaround for it, in fact you should know of it too by now, since you managed to read this far~ [h1]BUGS:[/h1] x One warehouse-building can be phased through all four steel doors, which then lead off the map… x Hovering over the shotgun and “red key” icons will have them highlighted but cannot be interacted with. Unless it’s at the exact spot! x Touching or trying to go through the corpses of hostiles will have your camera stuttering. x Same applies for some of the terrain and environment! [h1]NITPICKS:[/h1] ~ The really jumping fight theme made it even less scary. But it grows on you… ~ Weapons automatically get holstered when you talk to an NPC or enter into a cutscene! ~ Aiming down sight and hip-firing make no difference… ~ Map is so inconspicuous; I’d rather players have a shortcut for it. Like, say pressing “M” or something ~ Dialogue and script weren’t proofread. ~ The tips/hints/tutorials aren’t all that helpful. For instance, the one that tells you “health restores out of combat”. Well, it does, but only up to a point AND only when less than 50 hp! ~ Health items are consumed even when your health is full… [h1]"NOT BAD FOR WHAT IT IS. BUT COULD'VE BEEN ‘RAD’ VALLEY~"[/h1] [u]Last Words?[/u] Call a spade a spade, it’s more “Silent Hill-derived” than inspired. From reminiscent sounds, narrative chunks, everything really... While it came through in the end, it wasn’t without its red flags~ [h1]7.4 / 10[/h1] [code]Don't forget to follow my curator [url=https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/37670120/] DaRevieweD[/url] for more games!![/code] [quote]Shoutout to [code][url=https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/32732116/]Indie Gems,[/url][/code] for GEMME-ing a key! Follow them here right now for more well, y’know~[/quote]