Developer: Tub Club
Platforms: Mac, PC (Reviewed), Switch
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle, Platformer
Publisher: Those Awesome Guys
Valley Peaks is a first-person platformer. The game was developed by Tub Club and published by Those Awesome Guys, Graffiti Games. Valley Peaks follows a similar gameplay style to games such as Only Up! Or Getting Over it with Bennett Foddy. This review was done for the PC, but the game is for Mac and Switch.
Valley Peaks is a single-player game where you play as a frog who has been asked to place radio towers on the top of the various mountains found in Valley Peaks. You take this trip and learn more about your father, the job itself and how the radio towers came to be. Upon embarking on this journey, you get to interact with other frog NPCs who give you additional tasks to carry out whilst climbing the main 11 mountains. The main aim of the game is to create a cosy, relaxing environment through climbing mountains that vary in difficulty.
The controls for Valley Peaks are extremely easy to use and get a handoff. First, when loading into the game, you start with a little in-game tutorial guide that helps the player understand mechanics and keybinds. The main buttons to use are shift and WASD, and then to simulate the climbing, they would be LMB/RMB. The interactable crosshair is very handy in this game as it lights up green when you can hold onto something; otherwise, it stays transparent. This allows for the player to stay consistent with the climbing. The game’s perspective is in first-person, making the climbing feel more surreal. At first, it may seem like the climb is just simulating switching the LMB/RMB, but later, you start to incorporate timely jumps that will help you succeed in the climb. As you play more of the game, you can unlock items that can be used for your trip, which have their specific keybinds shown on the screen. Not that many controls are used for this game, making it a relaxing title indeed.
The visuals of this game are quirky but in a pleasant way. It almost resembles a colouring scrapbook feel where you can explore the vastness that Valley Peaks has to offer. A pastel palette of colour that brightens the landscape and is filled with unique NPCS. The visuals seem so effortlessly simple with minimalism that does not overdue in adding many little details but focuses more on the personality and charm of Valley Peaks. From going mountain to mountain, you can come across many intriguing places that can be explored to find hidden items. The game has a tone and vibrantness that sets a calming atmosphere to the game. With its graphics and reaching the top of the mountain, you can truly take in the beauty that the game has to offer, which enriches your climbing experience. Accompanying the graphics is the calming soundtrack that is filled with mellow guitar melodies that add to the charm of the game. Interactable sound effects are really nice as well, for example, when petting the goose, which lets out a quack noise.
Valley Peaks is a game I found much fun and one that I would get back into right away when I wanted something relaxing to play. The game has an addictive feeling to it where once you start climbing mountains, you want to do nothing more but progress to the next to collect stamp cards and place radio towers. Personally, the difficulty between the mountains was spaced quite nicely, and I loved the additional climbing obstacles that each mountain incorporated. For instance, traffic light rocks, moving minecarts to crumbling rocks. This added to the difficulty of the mountain but also kept it so that the climb would not just be simple right-left clicks. The game has a relaxing factor to it as there are no deaths as the frog takes no fall damage, so taking upon a mountain is not as stressful as one would think. The main objective of the game was to place 11 radio towers on top of the mountains, which took me about 3 hours to do without including the side quests. Besides just the climbing, the game invites the player to explore Valley Peaks, where you can find juice boxes, nuts and bolts, mushrooms, and Polaroid photos that fill up your memory. Your handy dandy journal helps you keep track of the mountains you have completed, the tasks you need to do and the items you possess. Something I found to be quite interesting was the collection of stamp cards. Upon climbing mountains, if you touch a specific number of colour-coded stumps, you collect a stamp. Once three stamps are collected, you can exchange them with the frog vendor who gives you upgrades. You can also get additional stamp cards from the mushrooms you collected. These upgrades are quite useful as the first was a stopwatch that would slow down time for jumps; you can unlock a drone, a glider and a few more. Not only would these items help on your expedition, but they are fun items that you can use to explore Valley Peaks. Overall, the game has a cosy nature, and it’s fun to dive back into when wanting something relaxing to play. Some mountains are not as difficult as deemed, but it’s fun to explore the mountains with the various paths it has to offer. I enjoyed Valley Peaks quite a lot.
If you’re looking for a game that offers a relaxing climbing experience with distinctive visuals and a calming atmosphere, then this game is just for you. Valley Peaks puts you in the perspective of a climber frog who has to place radio towers on top of various mountains. Delve into the bright world of Valley Peaks, where you can collect stamp cards, unlock upgrades, carry out side quests and interact with NPCS to enjoy a soothing trip. Be sure to check out Valley Peaks!
Overall: 8.5/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
