valley of glass

...early spring in the valley of glass, the first of the seven years you promised to the village blacksmith. Your breath clouds in the crisp morning air as you walk the North Road, your borrowed coat wrapped tight against the chill...

Gameplay in valley of glass is brief. You start on a road.

One thing is clear: you have journeyed a long way to where you are now. Traveling in different compass directions from this starting point allows you to sample some of the protagonist’s memories of their journey- but only briefly. Ultimately, the only place for us is south: to a village where we begin the seven years of working for the blacksmith.

It’s easy to overlook this fact, but the game is a snippet borrowed from the “Black Bull of Norroway,” a folk tale from Scotland. Feel free to look it up if you want the full story. (Yes, I crawled to Wikipedia). Here is what I gleaned about the backstory:

The protagonist is female. She is the youngest of three sisters (hinted by the boots’ description), all of which were sent out on a quest to learn about their futures. The fruits we have in our inventory were gifts from a friendly bull.

In the folk tale, she and the bull travel until they reach a place called the “valley of glass.” At one point the bull has business to attend to and gives the girl some instructions. While he was gone, she was not to move. At all. They would continue traveling upon his return. Unfortunately, she flubs these instructions (although it's hard to blame her).

And so, she finds herself stuck in the valley. She cannot escape- it's made of glass. Too slippery, apparently. All she can do is commit to serving a blacksmith in a nearby village for seven years. After seven years, the blacksmith gives her a pair of iron shoes that allow her to climb out of the valley. There’s more to the story, but I’ll stop there.

Having read all this, I found it easier to appreciate the game. It was kind of fun seeing what details in the game are taken from the folk tale. The protagonist’s reason for carrying non-edible fruit now makes sense.

If you’ve not read the folk tale, the game feels disjointed and directionless. It essentially boils down to (Spoiler - click to show)going south and going in (to a house). The end. No character interactions or explanation. You think that’s it? Reading the folk tale in advance provides needed clarity.

I understand that with this game, less is more. I like that it does not try to fit the entire folk tale into the game. But rather than providing a succinct, minimalist experience, it feels under implemented. The default parser response ("as good-looking as ever") for examining oneself also contributes to its sparseness. Guess-the-verb is also an issue when trying to (Spoiler - click to show)enter the blacksmith’s house.

The game needs further development before I can give it a higher rating, but it’s almost there. I encourage the author to deepen the interactivity available to the player and provide a bit more exposition on the protagonist. A post-comp release, maybe?

Ultimately, I like its atmosphere and concept.

You turn your back on the ridgeline, and return to the work ahead.