A Valley Without Wind is difficult to describe because it shatters any confines of genre. It can be described as rogue-like, or even a platformer. It actually feels like a dungeon crawler, but it simultaneously acts like an adventure game. There’s magic, mining, and exploration and when you try and wrap your head around it...well, you may end up with a headache. All of these influences come together to form a Frankenstein monster of a game that only a certain type of gamer will appreciate.
You begin by choosing a hero and entering a desolate world that has very little activity to begin with. All that is explained is that there is an ominous evil lord who is causing all the trouble and it is up to you to gain enough power to defeat him. Your adventure is all about building your character’s skills so that you are adequate enough to take him out. You will learn to use many different types of magic, ranging from tossing out fireballs to creating a wall of ice. There are dozens of spells available and each has their own use and they can all be levelled up if you find the right materials. It sounds simple enough, but you will spend countless hours searching for the materials necessary to develop your character into a proper hero. Thankfully, Arcen Games has made the game entirely playable with Co-Op so you and as many friends as you want can cure the evil that plagues this enigma of a world.
The art style is unique and open to exploration.
However, don’t get too attached to your character since there is permanent death. Borrowing the rogue saying, ‘once you die, it’s game over’ A Valley Without Wind has no qualms about character death. Straight out of the gate the game notifies you that you will die, and it takes a just one dead hero to grasp this concept. All is not lost, once your character has perished, you do get to keep all of your collected resources and can use these for the next character you select. Each time you die you must choose one of the pre-made characters who all begin at level one, which is just enough of a penalty to make you curse at the screen when you fall.
There is a distinct lack of structure resonating throughout A Valley Without Wind (AVWW). A procedurally generated world makes each experience unique the as a player is thrown into the unknown every game and exploration becomes the driving force. You will run and jump across many different environments in this 2d world and don’t expect to find a walkthrough on GameFAQs, as every player’s world is different. The art style is very distinct, and suits the ‘indie pc-game’ moniker well. The post-apocalyptic style a while to get used to but I grew to love each asset once I could decipher what it was.
Each world is different, with no end to stop your adventure.
I found the game incredibly complicated. There was always something I should be doing but there was no indication of what order to do things in. Should I climb this tower to defeat a boss, or mine a deep dark cave for resources? AVWW doesn’t do a good job of giving you enough information on what to do next. The beauty of this format is that you don’t even have to follow the instructions and can go do your own thing for most of the game. The UI is full of prompts, and the maps tell you how much of the dungeon you have scouted - giving you valuable information about where the valuable supplies are and where the boss monsters live. One aspect I can’t shake is how the random nature of the game could cause me to miss something amazing that the developers put into the game. I honestly only saw a handful of different types of enemies, so I’m sure there is some amazing monster out there just waiting for me to kill it.
I can’t really fault them for leaving things open, and A Valley Without Wind does push the envelope when it comes to procedurally generated environments. The game could have used a little more polish as the whole experience feels archaic. It is an indie PC game, so some is to be expected, but it really does feel like something coming out of the early ‘90’s. There is no mission log, but simply a menu titled; “Things You Should Do,” and I had to frequently look things up in the game’s encyclopedia to figure out what items I should be looking for in order to survive. It is perfect for someone who likes to explore, as there is literally no edge of the map. You can simply keep moving left or right to the next area in hopes of striking gold, and watch the hours melt away as you delve deeper into the crazy world of Environ.
The game feels old, but it is an experience like none other.
The game has been tested for eight co-op players, but I’ve seen servers that could support up to 200 players at once. The game does not change in any way when you have more people playing alongside you, it simply allows you to explore the world with more people. Once you can get a server going (which is a challenge in itself) each player is free to roam, but I highly recommend that you stick together and clear out individual dungeons together. When you level up your characters using found upgrade stones there is some strategy as to how you build your team. It is smart for each member to take a pseudo- MMO style class (tank, DPS, etc...), but it is not required, as a group of well rounded characters will still be able to succeed. All of the resources collected go into a global pool that everyone can pull from, but the upgrade stones are only available to the player that picked them up. There is no trading, so bear this in mind when trying to get that specific stone you needed for your level 3 ball of lightning spell. It is not necessarily a better experience with more people but you are able to explore terrain more quickly, and have someone to share the weird stories that will come from the game.
I have to admit that the game feels half-baked but it is definitely a unique experience. I’m really glad I played it and I would encourage anyone who is interested in something totally different to pick this game up on STEAM. I’m telling you right now it’s weird, and it is a mish mash of every single genre known to man, but that is what makes it totally cool. If you can get past the archaic systems and the less than appealing presentation, you are in for an adventure like none other. You may not be able to comprehend it at first, but that is what makes A Valley Without Wind special.