The Valiant Review

May God bless the courageous on this Fine day and Grant Victory to the better Nights let the fight begin One part small-scale isometric sword and Shield skirmishing and one part Continent spanning treasure hunt for a Powerful religious artifact the Valiant Is a medieval squad-based RTS that's as Much clicking as it is Conquering if you Microwaved your copies of kingdom of Heaven and Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade and made a scented candle out of The molten goop you might get a whiff of What developer kite games is going for Here however while the result is a Competent strategy game overall it's Also a bit repetitive and shallow and Subsequently not quite as fun as that Previous Fusion sounds [Music] Really one piece Are you all right brother I What is the place an adequate way to Quickly describe the Valiant might be as A 13th century Company of Heroes a more Accurate parallel however might be 2018's ancestors Legacy thanks to its Broadly comparable Middle Ages setting And its very similar range of unit types They differ considerably in terms of Story though while ancestors Legacy is More overtly inspired by historical Events albeit Loosely the Valiant is a Tale of a retired Crusader Knight

Theodoric Von ackenberg and his search For an ancient and dangerously powerful Relic which is racing against a Dangerous enemy to recover joining Theodoric along the way is a brave band Of medieval Expendables plucked from Several corners of the post-classical World Tread lightly the floor seems cracked And unstable oh don't be such a Worrywarts [Music] The Valiant is the kind of RTS that Takes a more intimate approach to Tactical top-down combat by focusing on Individually managing a handful of units Rather than an enormous Army this Approach brings with it a fair degree of Initial accessibility because juggling The actions of a half dozen or so small Squads is certainly a lot more Straightforward than managing giant Swarms of them in something like Starcraft 2. the Valiant also does quite Well at pacing its 20-hour campaign to Slowly and organically teach us how each Of the units tick rather than handing Over the keys to the castle from the First mission now trying to overwhelm us Fight for God The campaign definitely gets a bit samey In stretches with a lot of identical Encounters staged one after the other But it was engaging to be exposed to

Brand new squads like the healing War Priests even late in the main story Even though certain missions are built Around specific units abilities there's Still some inviting flexibility here in Terms of how we can approach each Mission and that really opens up in the Closing stages of the campaign when all The unit types are unlocked only a Finite selection of the main heroes in The backup mercenary squads can be taken Into each battle which is a smart way to Compel us to find and embrace the Tactics that work for our own style Instead of being tempted to Simply Enlist one of each and toss them all Into the grinder for instance my Playstyle is slow and methodical and Thus I found myself gravitating towards Doubling down on arches whenever I could Your carrots Archer's Dole out piles of damage from Afar but are cut down in any sort of Close Quarters combat so my Approach was To draw the enemy into battle with my Tank-like heroes up front and then rain Down arrows upon them from a distance I Found Cavalry handy too for quick hit And run strikes against enemy archers But mounted units are in turn vulnerable To spearmen and shield bearers I can't Hold out much longer this scissors paper Rock philosophy is obviously typical of The genre but it's something that the

Valiant not only does well but also Communicates clearly in its menu screens However things do become a little more Cumbersome once you layer on the special Abilities and various Supernatural Powers the valiant's heroes possess or Earn as they level up the aggressive Micromanagement required can get a Little boring and exhausting at times And personally I got pretty numb to all The math disguised as magic when success Regularly comes down to fastidiously Spamming special attacks and boosts Watching them cool down and then Spamming them again there are some Keyboard shortcuts that speed it up a Fraction but it can feel like a bit of a Grind them under the banner outside of Combat the need to backtrack Considerable distances to replenish Squads at camps tends to bog things down Too and the lack of a manual save option Is very annoying when you need to replay Lengthy battles that could have easily Had one or two extra checkpoints Lord we Are doomed there's some very basic Base Building in the Valiant but only in a Few Siege missions and it's limited to a Trio of defensive towers and the chance To build catapults and trebuchets these Missions aren't quite as fun as they Seem as they don't seem totally suited To the deliberately constrained Squad Limit of the Valiant that is you need to

Take over resource facilities around the Map in order to build a modest camp and The necessary Siege engines but can't Really protect all your resource Facilities and your camp with your Limited squads you have to traips back And forth retreating to your Camp every Couple of minutes as the castle sends Out an attack Cause the devil take these saracens they Almost killed me there's a decent Variety of locations even if the combat Is all effectively the same whether You're fighting on Snowy Mountains dense Swamps or blazing deserts and they do Look nice at a distance character models Aren't exactly brimming with detail when You zoom in but to be fair they're Mostly designed to be seen at a few Millimeters tall so be it then some of The missions let us tackle objectives in The order we choose but outside of that The Valiant mostly channels us through a Specific linear series of encounters There are 16 story missions and there Are additional challenges you can toggle On When redoing them but there aren't Any I'm desperately Keen to play again Especially following the infuriating Final boss fight this last Clash which Inexplicably strips away every perk buff And weapon the Valiant spends the entire Campaign encouraging you to select and Curate is absolutely awful and

Bafflingly hard it's deeply unsatisfying To suddenly have bog standard enemies Shrugging off blows from the trash Weapons I discarded a dozen missions ago And having all but one of the special Abilities you've earned arbitrarily Removed doesn't just feel anticlimactic The Valiant is outright cheating against You at this point [Music] The final battle lingers like a fart in The suit of armor because I otherwise Enjoyed the story overall there's a fair Bit of filler in the middle and the Valiant has a habit of side tracking Theodoric with the needs of random Royals interrupting his own Quest but The writing is earnest and the voice Acting is very good rest assured you Shall not be disappointed the Valiant Story campaign isn't the only mode Available technically there's also PVP Play for two or four players and a Cooperative PVE horde mode for three Players called Last Man Standing but It's really the only scene at the moment Right now the multiplayer is deader than A medieval Monarch with an ambitious Knife-wielding nephew making it all but Impossible to get much out of it unless You've brought your own opponents Police Prevails again my brother just in time The Valiant is a serviceable squad-based

RTS that serves up some usually Well-balanced sword clanging action for Its Heroes and their small bands of Merry men though it wears a bit thin Once it's evident how repetitive and Backtrack heavy the battles can get There's a sturdy story to drive it Forward though it too is let down at the Last moment by an ill-considered final Battle that renders all of your decision Making throughout the campaign worthless And while the Valiant does have Multiplayer don't count on being able to Find any opponents to clash with online For more medieval moments check out our Review for a plague tale Requiem and for The strategy inclined check out our Verdict on Victoria 3. for everything Else stay on IGN [Music] Foreign [Music]

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