It is not uncommon for game developers to put a great deal of themselves into their game, and this is especially true of independent passion projects. ButValley of Shadow’screators, developer Synersteel comprised of brothers Anthony and Nick Vaccaro, is taking things a step further by making an autobiographical video game. It is a concept that may seem perplexing at first blush, even amongst eccentricindie titles, but the Vaccaro brothers have a dramatic story to tell, with a vital goal: assuming the role of Anthony, players must heal from their trauma. Players must navigate a fantasy world by solving puzzles and searching for artifacts from their childhood to achieve closure.
By Anthony’s own admission, the game is something of a gambit. It can be misunderstood in any number of ways—written off as a vanity project, dismissed as’just another walking simulator,‘or simply seen as something too personal to have broad appeal. And he had no illusions about its seeming niche appeal. Even if the finished product was poignant and worthwhile, it would not necessarily be sellable. The early reception from fans has been deeply encouraging, however, and nowValley of Shadowis on course to debut in 2023. And if it succeeds, it could kindle interest in a relatively untapped narrative genre for video games.
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Exposure and Closure
Anthony expressed the wish to see more autobiographical video games, from many perspectives and from every walk of life. Thanks to a positive early showing at AwesomeCon in 2019, he now knows that the genre is ‘marketable,’ despite his own cynicism toward economics. Even if the game lacksthe near-universal appeal ofSuper Mario, it is still a viable enterprise. But there is another very good reason why autobiographical games have been vanishingly rare to date:
The other side of that coin is that this is the hardest thing that I and my brother have ever had to do. We’re constantly kind of re-living the grief to tell the story of that trauma, so I can see why it’s not more common. I always think back to the Ernest Hemingway quote ‘there’s nothing to writing. All I have to do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.’
As a developer, allowing players to look into their childhood and literally explore their home, exhuming personal family memories is an unparalleled act of exposure. In that sense, Anthony’s Hemingway quote couldn’t be more apt. The script for the game is his life story, such that it orbits arounda life-altering traumatic event. Finding a way to make that experience compelling is a challenging balancing act. Synersteel must strike the perfect balancing act between raw realism and palatable escapism, while also weathering the personal toll of dealing with those topics.
Home, Sweet Home
Like many games,Valley of Shadowschanged drastically throughout its development. Beginning as a colorful open-world fantasy game, Anthony realized that the things he was bringing to the game were shaped by his trauma, and his attempts to reconcile his grief.
Over time we began whittling down this massive open-world game into a more realistic, deeper, and more internal look at what games can even do. But how do I do that? How do I creatively build a world that is looking internally? So, I decided to start with a hub."
The hub he settled on was a 3D model of his family’s childhood home. It serves as not only a mooring, but a lens for the way the player approaches the game. As Anthony, players will need to explore the eponymous valley, retrieving artifacts from his actual past (clips from actual VHS tapes, photographs, and more), which help structure the story. While manygames use collectibles to deliver lore,Valley of Shadowmay be the first digital title to incorporate real-life autobiographical content via artifacts.
Childhood Magic
It is also important to note that just because the game is rooted in reality doesn’t mean there is no room for magic. The game tasks players with solving puzzles in a frosty, perilous valley using magic. Players have a number of magic spells at their disposal that will be familiar toany fan ofDungeons& Dragonsspell-casting.
Valley of Shadow’s fantasy setting may seem like an awkward choice in an autobiographical, serious game. But tropes of magic and heroism are a major part of growing up,particularly in the 80s(D&D, Ghost Busters), 90s (Power Rangers, Sailor Moon, Pokemon), and 2000s (Harry Potter,LOTR films). The fanciful environment inValley of Shadowstands in for those cultural touchstones and guiding forces; it is the escapism that the Vaccaro brothers grew up on. The setting explicitly covers the aspects of childhood that the artifacts cannot.
Valley of Shadowis currently projected to launch in 2023 for PC.
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