The Vale is a game like no other game I played before, because you see it through the eyes of a blind woman. Meaning you won’t see shit. Instead you rely on your ears to navigate and fight. The game was developed based around the thought to create a video game for blind people. This meant that at minimum a stereo speaker system (so at least a headset) is necessary, since the attacks will come from left, center or right. You have to block and counter them with the correct timing by listening to the sounds your enemies are producing. Menues are also visually presented in addition to being read by a narrator, so that you don’t need to select each option in order to know it, if you are not visually impaired.
According to the comments on steam, a lot of people directly refuse this game, just because it has no visuals. Which is a shame, because when I played it and closed my eyes, I was strongly immersed in the game world after a few minutes. The voice actors of the two main characters, Alex (a blind princess who got attacked by foreign enemies and wants to travel back to the capital as fast as possible in order to warn her brother, the king) and Shepherd (a shepherd who found Alex after her entourage got killed by an ambush and helps Alex get back & is her eyes) do a wonderful job of bringing those characters to life. When Alex gets another bad case of CHS (chronical helper syndrom) while Shepherd gives off cynical quips as answer, but helps nonetheless, it shows the nice dynamic between these two. Since there are no visuals, the whole game happens in your head. Which was a great experience, because it made it pretty easy to imagine to be the protagonist. Listen to your right, don’t your hear the laughing of playing children? And on the left your companion is murmering to finally continue on and not just stand in the village square.
You also orientate yourself on the village maps by sound (e.g. go to the hammer hitting the amboss for a smith, a merchant will cry out their good wares, the pub will have laughing and music, etc.), but I couldn`t translate that into a mind map. But luckily the village maps were not complicated, but mostly on a central plaza, meaning everything was around you and nothing was in your way. The fights are of course not on a dark souls level, but I still lost some times, because I wasn’t paying attention.
For me I could immerse myself best into the game by playing with closed eyes. But since my brain was not used to all that navigating by ear, I played it in 30-60 min bursts, because I got mental fatigue from it. If you have a blindfold to put over your eyes, it will make it easier, since you can relax your eyes and can also play with opened eyes while not being distracted by your real surrounding.
The main highlight of the game are the two main characters, but I still liked the world and the immersion it offered. And playing a game blind was an experience I didn’t had yet, so the novelty factor was also there. The game is not very deep mechnically, but I hope the developers will learn from this beginner step and build more complex and even better games for the blind, because I enjoyed this one. If you want to try this game, there is a demo on steam as well.
It’s awesome that you enjoyed it that much!
The gameplay mechanics and basic concepts are very well established in the audiogame space, so this game was by no means revolutionary within the blind community.
What’s really cool about it is that it’s approachable for sighted players, such as yourself, and the voice acting is pretty good indeed.
I also really like that the main character is a strong disabled female lead. A lot of things just happen to her, but she still *does * a lot.
Ah, interesting to hear that it was not really ground breaking. Because from what I heard from the media around it, it sounded like that. Now I have a new key word to check. Thanks!
Think of it as an indie album that went mainstream. The people in the scene weren’t exactly mesmerized, but it’s still a big deal.
A fine comparison.
And I only now saw your name and instance. Do you have any recommendations regarding audio games that in your opinion deserve a mention?
Who’s blind now!? Hehehe.
I personally don’t, because I still play mainstream games and have been lucky with accessibility improvements to a lot of the ones I’m interested in. The Last of Us parts I and II are incredibly accessible, for example.
Then again… I think A Hero’s Call is relatively well regarded, as something that’s also on Steam.
You could check out audiogames.net to get a broader selection, but be mindful that a lot of the discussions get quite unsavory. I don’t frequent it.
Thank you, will do!
What an interesting concept for a game! Reminds me of Before Your Eyes, in which you have to keep your eyes open - but quite the opposite in this case.
Will check this one out.
TYSM for bringing this game into attention. After hours of staring at the screen everyday, last thing I want to do is to stare some more. I love playing video games and this sounds like a good compromise compared to listening to audiobooks.
