Every Time You Die In Valley, The Countryside Dies Too
Valley-ho!
Everyone knows exoskeletons are the future of warfare. Call of Duty says so. But this game thinks they're the saviour of the environment too. Valley [official site] is a first-person science-fiction adventure from the folks that horrified you with Slender: The Arrival. You're dropped in a mysterious valley hidden among the Rockies and you are encased in the L.E.A.F. suit. This means you can run as fast as wild animals and leap over chasms in a single bound, as the trailer below shows. AND you can bring dead things back to life just by injecting them with a glowing life force (see blue deer above). But should you die and resurrect yourself, the natural world dies too.
The valley itself is home to an ancient artifact called the 'Lifeseed relic', which is some kind of unimaginable murderthing - "a bringer of death on a global scale," says developer Blue Isle Studios. There's also plenty of wildlife, ruins, and creatures, as well as unknown enemies lurking among the trees and rocks. But since your suit has the power to suck the life right out of things and shove it back into dying deer, I'm guessing that won't be a problem for you.
The suit itself will be upgraded as the game goes on, offering new abilities like that grappling hook. Meanwhile, the story seems to be focused on the mystery of the life-leeching relic. Most interesting is the promise that "the more you experience death within the valley, the more the valley will die around you." How this works exactly, we don't know. But there are glimpses of dead trees and blackened grass in that trailer that suggest the environment will need quite a tune-up after you're through with it.
Valley was announced back in April but it now has a Steam release date of August 24.