Rue Valley Review: Time-Loop Adventure Isn't Quite Disco Elysium
Following the success of Disco Elysium, many studios have been trying its hand at the peculiar take on gaming with these titles more dedicated to conversation than action and feature isometric map designs, a stylised art style and just so happens to follow a character who is pretty down in the dumps if we put it lightly.
This is the case for Rue Valley, a single-player narrative adventure which follows Eugene Harrow, a man who finds himself stuck in a motel in the middle of nowhere with mandatory therapy sessions being the highlight of each day.
At the start of the game, we don’t know why Eugene finds himself at this sand-bitten motel complete with broken vending machines, a non-committal receptionist and eager-to-please therapist but from his mental state, we can assume that he is undergoing some mental anguish.
To make matters even worse, Eugene soon finds himself stuck in a timeloop, reliving the same 47-minutes and if he wishes to escape this curse, he will have to use the allotted time to explore his surroundings, solve puzzles, interact with the locals, and finally uncover the secret of the loop itself.
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The premise for Rue Valley is pretty simple and its gameplay is even simpler: interact with the environment, talk to any NPC you see, and deal with the obstacles that stand in your way.
The obstacles in question are mainly your own mental state, which you can determine at the start of the game. Much like Disco Elysium’s (I use Disco Elysium as a comparison here as you only need to see screenshots taken from Rue Valley to see the similarities, not to mention its game-style) ability to pick Harry’s stats, Rue Valley allows you to adjust Eugene’s.
Players can slide between introverted and extroverted, impulse and calculated, and sensitive and indifferent, choosing to be one or the other or a steady mix of all.
Although this took me quite some time to decide AND I went back to change it very early on into the game, it does not affect the story itself.
However, it does have a major impact on any conversation you have as certain options will be greyed out if you do not fit the criteria. As a result, you feel as though you are missing out on quite a bit of context which can be annoying but I guess it would encourage future playthroughs.
I can appreciate the ability to customise Eugene’s personality and with this being the first thing you do in Rue Valley, it seems pretty important. However, you soon discover that no matter what personality you give Eugene, it will not make a lot of difference to how the story plays out. As a result, the tweaking seems a bit redundant and the conversation could perhaps benefit from just multiple options of dialogue as opposed to greying some out.
This is just one example of why Rue Valley does not feel as impactful as other choice-based games as you feel as though the game is predetermined from the beginning.
One mechanic I did enjoy is how Eugene’s mental state can affect what he can and cannot do. Eugene starts out the game having no willpower and so many actions are locked to him. However, as you progress through the game, his state will gradually change and how he is feeling will have a direct consequence on the game.
For example, the more inspired Eugene feels, the more that will unlock to you as the player, allowing you to activate “intentions”.
In the 47-minute timeloops, you are encouraged to go out and explore the world, fitting as much into this time-frame as physically possible. However, getting from A to B can be pretty tedious and a lot of the world’s inhabitants are more likely to pile heaps of information on you rather than offer any precious knowledge.
You should be clear going into Rue Valley that you will be doing a whole lot of reading but this is made clear from the on-set and is not something I have an issue with. When a game is well-written, it is the same as reading a virtual novel and I take pleasure in immersing myself in the fictional world I’m being presented with.
However, a lot of Rue Valley’s dialogue can verge into the “info-dump” category, telling us rather than showing us. As a result, my eyes would often blur when apprehended with large chunks of text, especially if it had no correlation to the task at hand.
Nevertheless, if there is one thing that Rue Valley should be praised on, it is its representation of depression.
As somebody who has lived with depression for almost half of my life, I know exactly what it feels like to be stuck in a metaphorical time-loop, feeling that everyday is the same and I am stuck in a perpetual cycle of emptiness and despair.
I felt Eugene’s emptiness and despair and it quite literally affects his every move and thought throughout the story of Rue Valley. The world feels bleak, the characters Eugene meets feel unknown and untouchable, and you really do feel trapped, especially when he is faced with moral dilemmas which test his very psyche.
Yes, I have issues with Rue Valley’s pacing, occasions of info-dumping, and lack of fine-tuning when it comes to its character customisation, but I cannot take away from the fact that its depiction of the bottomless pit of depression is realistic and respectfully portrayed.
A time-loop being a representation of depression? Kind of genius if you ask me.
With Disco Elysium being one of my all-time favourite games, I was eager to check out Rue Valley with all of its similarities and although it does not stand side-by-side with it, it does have its own merits.
As such, I encourage you to give it a go and see how you can make your 47-minute time-loops make a difference in a town filled with drama, looming corporations, family feuds, and even a possible alien or two.
Pros: Accurate depiction of mental illness, beautiful art-style
Cons: Repetitive game mechanics, instances of info-dumping, character customisation has no affect on story
For fans of: Disco Elysium
6/10: Good
Rue Valley is available to play on PC (version tested) now. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.