The Valiant – Review

Our Score: 8/10

The Valiant is a squad-based RTS set in 13th-century Europe and the Middle East. It invites players to go on a journey of brotherhood and atonement. As you battle through an epic Singleplayer storyline, command and level up your medieval knights. Then, test your mettle in cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes online.

Crusaders Online

You play Theoderich in The Valiant, a former crusader knight who has witnessed one of their comrades perish at the hands of a corrupting artifact that dates back thousands of years. Through a somewhat lengthy solo campaign, you’ll be able to participate in Theoderich’s journey to unravel the mystery of the relic and maybe save his knightly brother from becoming insane.

Players may anticipate finding riches, leveling up their heroes, encountering a diverse cast of characters, adding mercenaries to their warband, and—most importantly—taking part in fast-paced, squad-based, micro-intensive skirmish-style combat à la Company of Heroes throughout the campaign. The creators have included a cooperative mode as well as a multiplayer competitive mode where you may show your tactical prowess against other fans of the period.

Bringing it to Life

Though The Valiant’s premise isn’t very unique, the creators wisely decided to reveal the narrative mostly through in-mission character interactions and gorgeously rendered cutscenes. This strategy works well with the thematic narration provided by the accompanying monk, who hires you at the game’s beginning and reflects on your adventures by essentially writing their book in front of you and illuminating crucial events in exquisitely detailed ink drawings.

With audio design and narrative choices being specific highlights, The Valiant’s presentation does a good job of introducing you to the game’s environment. Even when certain exaggerated accents do enter the speech, the voice acting is lively, distinct, and well-mixed throughout the whole game. The voice acting and theme writing work together to bring the characters to life.

When conflict breaks out in The Valiant, the music kicks into high gear with pounding percussion and suitable melody. It is energetic and effectively portrays the status of the battlefield and the objective at hand. When your forces engage the enemy, weapon sound effects also contribute to the creation of a dynamic soundtrack that captures the atmosphere of a vicious conflict.

Strategy to Victory

The Valiant’s main strengths reside in its tactical combat systems. The micro-focused gameplay that emphasises placement, timing, and precision is intrinsically entertaining since there is always enough to keep you occupied, which is the first advantage. This also means that you may refine your abilities and keep becoming better in both the solo and multiplayer modes because there is a respectably high skill ceiling.

To distinguish tactical responsibilities, the developers included a wide variety of distinctive troops with their own powerful combat skills. The development team is well aware of the main draw of tactics games, where players jockey and manoeuvre to design the best engagements for their troops and triumph over rivals. Though fortunately these occurrences are rare, occasional encounters can devolve into amorphous mosh pits with limited room for interaction and manoeuvre.

Your Hero

Hero units, gear, skill trees, and loot all contribute to The Valiant’s tactical gameplay being improved. While powerful, heroes are sufficiently constrained enough that they don’t appear to be broken super soldier troops that render the majority of others useless. To build a versatile army that can adapt to a variety of threats and circumstances, you’ll need to properly balance the usage of your characters with straightforward mercenary units. Unfortunately, the developers didn’t provide any pre-mission data for you to base your warband on, which does restrict the player’s ability to make strategic decisions.

A totally legitimate strategy for playing the game is to experiment with different unit compositions thanks to the basic equipment and skill point systems, which offer just enough customization choices. You can choose to have your heroes follow a specific route or adopt a more general strategy for a team of multi-talented characters.

Final Verdict

The Valiant is a very solid RTS that will have you wanting to play more of it thanks to its engaging battle system. It might not have the polish of some of the best out there but this game valiantly stands on its own to offer a unique and fun experience.