Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Against the mud, gas, and artillery of World War I, a small group of ordinary people fights to hold onto compassion. Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a hand-drawn puzzle adventure that follows intersecting lives across the Western Front, from rural France to devastated trenches and bombed-out cities. Its story balances grim wartime loss with flashes of warmth, humor, and friendship, largely through expressive animation rather than constant dialogue. The result is emotional without becoming a conventional military shooter or a celebration of combat.

Players alternate between several civilians and soldiers, including a French farmer, a German conscript searching for the woman he loves, an American volunteer, a battlefield medic, and their remarkably useful dog companion. Progress usually involves searching environments for tools, solving inventory-based puzzles, sneaking past patrols, avoiding shells, and completing simple action sequences such as driving, operating machinery, or treating wounded soldiers. The dog can crawl through tight spaces, retrieve items, distract enemies, and follow scents to reveal the path forward, making him central to many of the best puzzles. Challenges stay approachable, with forgiving checkpoints and visual hints, while collectible historical facts add real context to the fictional journey.

UbiArt’s illustrated 2D presentation gives every battlefield the look of a moving graphic novel, using exaggerated characters and stark scenery to make the violence readable without chasing realism. Famous locations and major battles—including the Marne and Somme—frame a personal narrative that emphasizes the human cost behind the history. Puzzle veterans may find some solutions straightforward, and the adventure is relatively brief, but its pacing keeps introducing new situations rather than repeating one mechanic too long. Anyone who appreciates the emotional storytelling of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons or the accessible puzzle design of Rayman should find this a memorable, humane take on a devastating war.