Home / News / Time loops, mental distress, and isometric play, here’s Emotion Spark Studio’s Rue Valley

Time loops, mental distress, and isometric play, here’s Emotion Spark Studio’s Rue Valley

A role-playing game with some potentially heavy topics included, OwlCat Games and Emotion Spark Studio’s Rue Valley debuts.

He’s feeling a little loopy

Meet Mr. Harrow. He’s not quite feeling himself, having gone through something traumatic and being overloaded with complex emotions in the fallout. Whatever it was that happened to him… that’s to say. That course of events isn’t overly clear from the new trailer for Rue Valley, from publisher OwlCat Games and Emotion Spark Studio. Still, it’s easy to see Harrow is not well, and when you add to that that he’s also caught in a time loop of some kind, well he’s just not having a great time overall.

As they dig into that story, players will be able to craft their own Harrow, by way of those time loops. Each one will present players with the ability to play the game’s events differently. Want to be a “cold-hearted loner”? Sure. How about a “melodramatic loudmouth”? Yep, you can do that too.

Don’t worry though, because while there is a certain implied re-playability because of the game’s narrative, it’s all working towards a conclusion. Players will store up their memories between runs at the title’s loops (unlocking unique interactions), and eventually have to solve the over-arching mystery of just what the heck happened in… Rue Valley.

As the players navigate the world and deal with the tough emotions of the main character, they’ll need to understand the true nature of what’s happening in Rue Valley. Each character players encounter has their own complex emotional story, including the main character who must rise from the depths of his own struggles to uncover the secrets behind the anomaly causing the time loop.

OwlCat Games press release

Look for much more to come on Rue Valley, which will be revealed in short order. The game will be appearing at the Gamescom show, and hopefully it’ll be packing a release date announcement as well.

About Jason Micciche

Jason's been knee deep in videogames since he was but a lad. Cutting his teeth on the pixely glory that was the Atari 2600, he's been hack'n'slashing and shoot'em'uping ever since. Mainly an FPS and action guy, Jason enjoys the occasional well crafted title from every genre.

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