Developers these days are always looking for a unique game mechanic or method of play that innovates gameplay, pushing the industry forward. But what happens when you strip away the visuals of what’s actually going on in-game? In Falling Squirrel’s The Vale: Shadow of the Crown’s case, you’re left with a truly amazing game that has the chance to grab both abled players and players who may be visually impaired.

Story

The Vale’s story centers around a young princess named Alex, who happens to be blind. When her brother becomes king, she’s cast out of her kingdom to watch over the badlands. As she makes her way out though, her carriage is attacked and she is left for dead. Upon waking, she decides to head back home to safety but can’t seem to figure out where she is. It doesn’t take long for her to find some helpful characters as well as danger as she starts her adventure on the road.

I found The Vale’s story extremely vibrant. Each character is brought to life through their personalities and voice actors, making it feel as if you’re actually there. The story has fantasy elements but feels very grounded in its execution. Alex is extremely likable as is her main companion, The Shepard, who helps guide her through her journey.

There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, and the fact that you’re given choices in some scenarios, adds some more roads to go down. I played Alex as a hero but others may decide to play her as someone whose main focus is her own journey. Either way, this story was enjoyable all around.

Gameplay

While there may not be highly polished visuals or characters crowding the screen, it is very much an RPG as you’d expect from any other developer. There’s combat, armor, weapons, the main quest, side quests, and even vendors. There’s a lot going on but luckily it doesn’t get confusing.

Moving around in this title is at most times, an on-rails experience but it will most often let you loose while in villages or on side-quests. Walking is extremely unique as you’ll have to listen for audio cues on where to go. Whether it’d be music from a tavern, a shopkeeper shouting her sales, or a blacksmith beating away at his anvil, you’ll always know where to go if you just listen closely.

This can be said for other things like maneuvering through woods filled with enemies, finding rats in a cellar, or hunting an animal in the woods. Focus on your senses and just be patient. It also helps if you play the game with a decent set of headphones. I tried testing if the game was at all playable without and couldn’t for the life of me figure out sound locations.

Combat is a similar experience as you’ll have to time your attacks. Alex is a defensive fighter so she is calculated. Enemies can attack from your left, right, and front but will always give you a clue as to when they’re striking. This can often be boiled down to cues as easy as an enemy winding up or an animal growling.

While it may sound easy in theory, enemies have unique attacks and weapons that you’ll have to take into consideration. Some may be slower, allowing you to take a few jabs in at a time but others may be quicker and strike multiple times. There’s even the implementation of enemies shooting arrows at you, throwing axes, and even using heavier weapons to bash you.

Alex’s selection of tools to spar with is her sword, shield, and bow. The one I found most important is her shield. This specific item will allow you to figure out your opponent’s fighting pattern and give you the chance to hit them hard. The next important is her sword as this is what you’ll use in order to cut down your enemies.

Weapons you find with traders have different stats and will allow you to react a bit differently in your battles. It was really cool to see so much implemented within the gameplay of The Vale in order to make it a fully-fledged RPG. It takes it further with some pretty cool moments with the bow as well. When it comes to using it, it’s important to listen carefully and pick the precise moment to let the arrow fly.

Overall, I found the combat really fun. Oftentimes, you’ll have multiple enemies coming at you at once and while you think it could be easy, that isn’t the case. Making sure you’re timing attacks and blocks correctly can make or break your battle. Get caught up once and you could open yourself up to an easy death.

Audio and Visuals

Where to begin? I’ve never played a game with such great audio. It’s as if you’re able to play in an audiobook. The sound is crisp, you can always tell what direction a sound is coming from, and the actors are flawless. These characters feel real and they drew me in from the beginning. Being a game with almost no visuals, they really had to nail the audio. Luckily they did.

Visuals are there but are at most times they’re little star-like orbs floating about. As you walk, they move around you like space. It was really cool to see them change colors depending on the time of day and to see them turn to raindrops when a storm was over Alex.

Replayability

Because of its RPG style of gameplay, this is totally worth multiple playthroughs. Take into consideration the hard difficulty that you can switch to and the completely superb characters, you’ll have no qualms going in another time or two.

What It Could Have Done Better

My only complaint is that I would’ve liked the option to disable the text speech in all of the menus. I love the fact that they’re there but I personally found that it would be a bit much sometimes. For example, I paused the game to speak to someone sitting next to me but the game just kept talking. For gamers that need it though, it will serve you greatly as its incredibly well done.

Verdict

The Vale: Shadow of the Crown is a marvel for what is possible when you create a game around being accessible for the community it’s made for. While I may not be visually impaired myself, I could see this being exceptional for gamers in that community. That being said, as a gamer who is not visually impaired, I fell in love with this game and what it had to offer.

The Vale should be the foundation that other devs use in order to create games that are accessible to everyone. I was lucky to have experienced such a great game and be in the shoes of someone like Alex and the community that she was created to reflect.