For the 100th Anniversary of WWI, Consider Maybe a Video Game

Saturday marks 100 years since Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand
was assassinated. His death exacerbated conflicts in Europe that
lead to World War I a month later.

This week, as this anniversary approaches, top France-based game
company Ubisoft has released Valiant
Hearts, a video game that shows the experiences of those
caught up in the extremely bloody struggle. As you can see by the
trailer below, this game is not Call of Duty. It’s not a
shooter-style war game with players running around ducking behind
walls and shooting down hordes of anonymous enemies or fellow
gamers:

The game puts players in control of four different people with
different backgrounds and nationalities (and an adorable dog) in a
point-and-click style adventure/puzzle game. In addition to the
mood established by the trailer above, the game highlights
significant amounts of accurate historical information about World
War I. Various knick-knacks the player picks up, from toys to
tools, describe their historical contexts. Players will find actual
letters written by those participating in or affected by the war.
The gameplay is fairly simple, perhaps too simple for some
critics. I haven’t played the game yet (I plan to pick it up
this weekend), but from watching others play online it seems clear
to me that Valiant Hearts is really an educational
experience gamified enough so that it doesn’t grow dull. It’s not a
game you’re really meant to be able to lose. And its cartoony style
means it’s also potentially a game to be used to introduce children
to some heavy subject matter—particularly useful given how much
less attention World War I gets nowadays (at least here in the
states).

This game has also gotten lots of game media coverage. Though it
has an “indie game” feel to it, the trailer above was actually
highlighted in the recent E3 video game trade conference, a
massive, annual multi-day show of what’s coming in the industry. So
in the midst of video clips from those typical shooting games
everybody recognizes and revealing the latest iteration of
Mortal Kombat, Valiant Hearts also generated
significant buzz. The attention is a reminder that the growth and
diversification of the video game industry has created markets for
all different kinds of interactive expressions, not just the
industry equivalent of summer blockbusters.