Ontwikkelaar Valiant Hearts legt uit waarom spelers niemand kunnen doden

Valiant Hearts: The Great War is een artistieke game die zich afspeelt tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog, waarin spelers een aantal verschillende soldaten onder de knoppen zullen nemen. Maar, vergis je niet: als soldaat zul je niemand omleggen in de oorlog van Valiant Hearts. De game- en level-ontwerper Simon Chocquet-Bottani van Ubisoft Montpellier verklaart tegenover de PlayStation Blog:

In order to focus on the more ‘humanised’ side of the war, we were very careful not to have the characters kill anyone.

The war kills people, but none of the characters do. We really thought that enabling players to kill someone would lead to a break in the bond between player and the character and would confuse the game’s overall message.

Even while performing an indirect action, such as destroying a bridge, we made sure to show the player that the soldiers on the bridge escape before the explosion.

Er is dus opzettelijk gekozen om de personages in Valiant Hearts vredelievend te laten, opdat de moraal van het verhaal beter over kan komen.

Later in de blogpost vertelt Cocquet-Bottani over de verschillende personages aan hun relatie met geweld. Weliswaar is de ene protagonist wat agressiever dan de ander, maar geen van de vier hoofdpersonages zal iemand doden over de verloop van het verhaal.

Emile is older, wiser, and slower than the other characters. He does not want to fight, and so most of his maps will be puzzle-oriented, though he will be confronted with other diverse situations in the game, such as digging through the ground to avoid direct combat.

Freddie is more aggressive and action-oriented because of his back story and will very often be close to the action.

Anna has a particular healing gameplay which is based on a rhythmic game. This gameplay is meant to make you feel the urgency of saving someone’s life by having to react quickly while at the same time remaining precise and accurate.

Karl is also an unwilling fighter and he really wants to solve things peacefully, so his ability is being able to disguise himself in order to get out of difficult situations without having to enter into any conflict. The levels in which you play Karl are mostly stealth-based

Vanaf morgen kunnen we allemaal aan de slag met onze vredelievende helden in Valiant Hearts: The Great War. Doet het gebrek aan moorden je anders denken over de artistieke game van Ubisoft? Laat het ons weten…