Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 297 sampled Steam reviews (269 positive / 28 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
- Story & writing38% mention it
- Visuals & art12% mention it
- Music & audio7% mention it
What negative reviews complain about
- Story & writing25% mention it
- Visuals & art14% mention it
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
66%
56 reviews
5-15h
96%
215 reviews
15-40h
100%
22 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 80 | 23 |
| Creator reviews (2 tracked) | – | 70 | 1 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 96% | 90 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 87 | 34 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 96% | 92 | 30 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Acclaim gate: the raw blend lands at 89.3, but scores above 88 must be earned in front of a mass audience; this verdict rests on 28,428 player reviews, a largely self-selected fanbase. As more players weigh in, the ceiling rises (full scale unlocks at 100,000 reviews).
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 84 reviews sampled · 85 total reviews in window · weighted 61.1 up / 2.3 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (100)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 60
“And yet, even in its current state, you still have a game that aims to be more than just a jingoistic, us-versus-them shooter, and Valiant Hearts comes off as a blessed gasp of fresh air as a result.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Valiant Hearts: The Great War is an elegant mix of 2D adventuring, simple logic-based conundrums, and effective storytelling. Its puzzles are a little uninspired, while the game's QTE segments can grow rather tiresome. But Ubisoft Montpellier has told a poignant story with real spirit and invention, and that makes this an easy one to recommend.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Valiant Hearts: The Great War offers a fresh perspective on a theme that has been done to death in the gaming industry: war. Poignant and melancholic, the game's primary focus is to portray the devastating impact war has on people's lives. And it succeeds brilliantly, delivering an experience that is incredibly rich in historical facts.”
read full review ↗ - 87
“Valiant Hearts: The Great War is one of the best graphical adventures you can find nowadays. Its beautiful visuals provided by UbiArt engine was already known as a good choice, so the surprise comes with the amazing story it manages to unfold. ”
read full review ↗ - 100
“Valiant Hearts gets most of it right. In the end, it's just an incredible relief, if a decidedly un-American sentiment, to play a memorable war game that isn't some Rambo-inspired revenge fantasy. Well, that's not exactly right. It's a memorable game that just happens to be set during a war. And that makes all the difference.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“Valiant Hearts: The Great War is an extremely linear, extremely easy, and extremely… okay adventure game that deals with the real, non-romanticised side of the first World War. Sadly while a product that's deeply engrossing, technically flawless, and simply beautiful to look at, its core, the story and characters, doesn't manage to ever become the riveting war drama that it is supposed to.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“The five hours or so of gameplay that you'll get from a single playthrough are rewarding and memorable, with that fantastic storyline backing up some great puzzling action. Some may find themselves frustrated when bugs occur, but we think most will be forgiving of them once the end credits roll. As a package, we're sure that Valiant Hearts is something that you'll never forget. And you should indeed never forget.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“A touching and bold portrayal of World War One in wonderful animated style, Ubisoft Montpellier's Valiant Hearts shows that videogaming doesn't have to be an Anthem for Doomed Youth.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a poignant and powerful reminder of the significant human toll borne of the wars that we so often act out in our favourite video games.”
read full review ↗ - 65
“This game feels like a well intended failure. Its puzzles are too simple and easy to solve, the action parts are diluted minigames and the animations feel cheap. However, the historical context is interesting and the visual style is amazing. In the end, sadly, Valiant Hearts is unable to overcome its weaknesses.”
read full review ↗ - 50
“I give Ubisoft Montpellier a lot of credit for taking a level-headed look at a period of history that usually gets overshadowed, but the gameplay didn't get nearly as much attention as the aesthetics. If the puzzles had been more unique or interesting they could've propped up the story instead of dragging it down to mediocrity. Instead Valiant Heart turns one of the greatest conflicts in human history into a dull, repetitive chore.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“There's not many video games that treat war with the respect its participants deserve. Metal Gear is too preachy and ham-fisted while Call of Duty & Medal of Honour are bombastic dude-fests disinterested in reality. Valiant Hearts, by using the war as a backdrop and avoiding too much direct conflict, pays tribute to the 16 million that perished in The Great War 100 years ago and does it with humour, pathos and melancholy.”
read full review ↗
Slant Magazine
Nintendo Life
Portal E7
The A.V. Club
Cubed3
Pure Xbox
PC Invasion
Push Square
LevelUp
NintendoWorldReport
GameWatcher…and 88 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
No patch announcements found on Steam yet.