''A Valley Without Wind'' is an
action-adventure
An action-adventure game is a video game genre, video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres.
Definition
An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements f ...
and
indie game
An indie video game or indie game (short for independent video game) is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A ...
developed by
Arcen Games
Arcen Games is a small video game company founded in 2009 by Chris McElligott Park. The company launched their first product, '' AI War: Fleet Command'', in mid 2009 for Windows PCs.
The company became one of the early notable examples of heavy ...
. The game was released on April 24, 2012 for the operating systems
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
and
Mac OS X
macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
on
Steam
Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
. Players play as a random survivor in an unforgiving world that is shaped by the choices the player makes. The setting of the game is a post-ice-age world in the distant future. On February 18, 2013, a sequel to ''A Valley Without Wind'' was released called ''A Valley Without Wind 2''.
Gameplay
''A Valley Without Wind'' is 2-D sidescroller that lets players explore a vast
procedurally generated
In computing, procedural generation is a method of creating data algorithmically as opposed to manually, typically through a combination of human-generated content and algorithms coupled with computer-generated randomness and processing power. I ...
world. Unlike other procedurally generated games the difficulty has a logical progression and there are a checklist and tips to assist the player. The main goal is to defeat the Overlord and save the continent. The player can choose how they want to prepare for the Overlord. They can do missions to gain new spells and roam the environment to find secret missions and stashes of magical crafting loot. The player can customize their character with different enchants and spells to fit their play style. Also the player can rescue people and make them part of the player's settlement, which allows the player to send them on dispatch missions. Once the player saves a continent from the Overlord a new bigger continent appears. The game adapts to how the player plays, such as the monsters and missions upgrading accordingly to the user's proficiencies. Death of a character in this game is permanent, but all of the inventory, enchants, and general progress are saved.
Reception
''A Valley Without Wind'' received mixed reviews. The game holds a score of 54/100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
based on 12 reviews.
[
Leif Johnson of ]IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
rated the game a "mediocre" 5.5 out of 10 and stated, "The appeal of its randomly generated settings wears off quickly, the procedural level generation voids much sense of having an impact on the world, and the absence of any kind of compelling story or brilliantly designed levels eventually renders exploration a slog". However, Johnson praised the sheer number of spells and customizations the user has.
Tom McShea of GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
had similar complaints about the map design. He called the map design confusing and poorly designed, which made it easy to get lost.
References
External links
*
Official soundtrack
at Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valley Without Wind, A
2012 video games
Action-adventure games
Arcen Games games
Indie games
Linux games
MacOS games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Post-apocalyptic video games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games using procedural generation
Windows games