Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Publisher: Ubisoft · Studio: Ubisoft Montpellier · Creator: Yoan Fanise, Simon Chocquet-Bottani

🔗Official site

Anecdote

Although devoted to the First World War, Valiant Hearts has become an essential reference in the conversation on the memory of twentieth-century conflicts and naturally finds its place in any broader panorama of war. Developed by Ubisoft Montpellier under the direction of Yoan Fanise and published in June 2014, the title combines 2D adventure puzzles, animated storytelling and extensive historical research. Four characters whose fates are intertwined — Émile, a French peasant called up to fight, Karl, his German son-in-law expelled in 1914, Freddie, an American GI who enlisted as a volunteer, and Anna, a Belgian medical student — traverse the conflict from Charleroi to the Dardanelles, by way of Verdun and the Somme. The studio partnered with the Mission du Centenaire 1914–1918 and historian Pascal Plas to build an educational apparatus embedded in the game, comprising one hundred and four encyclopaedic fact sheets and fifty collectable period artefacts. The graphic style, created by art director Aline Bahuet, draws on the comics of Emmanuel Lepage and the drawings of Otto Dix, and every scene is animated using the UbiArt engine already employed for Rayman Origins. The soundtrack by composer Peter McConnell, punctuated by a poignant use of Massenet's Méditation and period phonograph recordings, accompanies a narrative with no spoken dialogue, conveyed entirely through onomatopoeia and postcards. A full playthrough lasts between six and eight hours. The game was awarded a BAFTA Game award and a Game Award, acclaimed by the world press, and included in French and Belgian school curricula. It spawned a sequel, Valiant Hearts: Coming Home, in 2023, and remains an absolute reference for historical storytelling in video games.

Popularity & reception

Awards — BAFTA – Story (2015) · The Game Awards – Games for Change (2014) · Annie Award – Best Animated Video Game nominated (2015) · Pégases – Best French Game (2015)

🇫🇷 France🇩🇪 Germany🇬🇧 United Kingdom🇧🇪 Belgium🇺🇸 United States