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Rue Valley
Released On: Nov 11, 2025
70
5.9
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Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 12 Critic Reviews
70
33% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
67% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 12 Critic Reviews
70
33% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
67% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Nov 12, 2025
Rue Valley is an isometric narrative RPG gem that blends a captivating, emotionally-charged story with memorable characters all in one package. Although it has a few technical weaknesses, it doesn't heavily retract from the overall experience. Eugene Harrow's strange journey into the unknown of his own psyche and other people is an intriguing, even relatable, experience.
Nov 10, 2025
Rue Valley is a clever, daring time loop game filled with mental puzzles and meaningful choices. The repetition demands some patience, but its strong story and fresh mechanics make it absolutely worth your time.
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 22 User Ratings
5.9
45% Positive
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
18% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
36% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 22 User Ratings
5.9
45% Positive
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
18% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
36% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
Dec 4, 2025
The games has an amzaing art, plot twist, and I really love the time looop mechanic!
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PC Nov 12, 2025
Rue Valley ends up being a very interesting adventure due to its premise, and it does a good job of subverting and combining its various sources of reference. While the general outlines of the multiple plots are engaging and the possibilities offered by the protagonist's attribute structure contribute to the narrative's diversity, the title sometimes takes on a tiring and unstimulating tone. Even so, although derivative, it's a quite solid product and seems tailor-made for those who constantly think about their own mistakes and imagine having a new opportunity to correct them. It's like a small experiment on the perception of time and regret, whose inconsistent rhythm is responsible for both prolonging and shortening the overall perception of the journey.
Nov 17, 2025
An interesting premise with some really good ideas in an exceptionally deep and well-designed world, which ultimately feels lacking both as an adventure/RPG and as a “Disco Clone”.
Nov 27, 2025
Ultimately, Rue Valley is a frustrating experience, with too many loose ends and unresolved arcs at the end of the game. It’s unable to make the most of its excellent setup, faltering in the mid and late game stages as you’re forced between slow montages and extremely specific puzzle sequences. It’s a game with great writing and some truly fantastic ways of exploring depression and mental health, but it mechanically falls flat.
Nov 17, 2025
A twisting, turning tale told over a repeating 47-minute timeloop, Rue Valley unfortunately crumbles under the weight of its narrative ambition.
Dec 4, 2025
With Disco Elysium being one of my all-time favourite games, I was eager to check out Rue Valley with all of its similarities and although it does not stand side-by-side with it, it does have its own merits. As such, I encourage you to give it a go and see how you can make your 47-minute time-loops make a difference in a town filled with drama, looming corporations, family feuds, and even a possible alien or two.
Nov 18, 2025
The game definetely has some flaws like showing some animations again and again, some story lines just feeling outright boring or in some instances not respecting the players time, and unfortunately the RPG elements not nearly mattering as much as one might think... But nonetheless I genuinely enjoyed it overall. The aspect of "Oh, next time I can try this, and then I can try this and Oh, I could go there and try this as well..." first and foremost but also getting to know all of the different characters. Is the writing always excellent? No, but I also personally didn't find it nearly as bad as some people are making it out to be. I would say that I liked it overall.
At several points in my playthrough I found it difficult to put the game down because I kept wanting to try different things out - I think this moreso than anything else resulted in me given the game a 7/10 - it has its flaws but it's still pretty fun overall imho.
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PC Nov 14, 2025
TL;DR - Identity Crisis This game has a beautiful presentation: a great visual style, pleasant music, and an intriguing premise. But underneath it lies a product with a serious identity crisis, trying to be everything at once and ending up as nothing in particular. The playthrough can be roughly divided into three unequal parts: an intriguing beginning, an unbearably drawn-out middle, and a good, cohesive finale. The problem is that the middle part takes up most of the playtime. Excellent Start and a Decent Finale For the first couple of hours, the game is genuinely captivating. You get a sense of discovery: exploring the world, learning its rules, and immersing yourself in the atmosphere and the time loop mechanic. This part is well done. The finale is just as good. Starting from the moment the story FINALLY picks up steam (when you find Frank's car), the narrative becomes cohesive, logical, and emotionally engaging. It's the ending that slightly softens the overall negative impression. But everything between these two points is a major problem. A Tedious, Padded, and Empty Core You will spend most of your time on minor but mandatory tasks that artificially pad the gameplay. You get the persistent feeling that the game was intentionally bloated to prevent it from being completed too quickly. If you were to cut out about 5 hours of gameplay, the game would only be better for it. Broken Mechanics and the Illusion of Choice The game tries its hardest to be like Disco Elysium but quickly abandons the attempt. Role-playing system. At the beginning, you are asked to create a character by distributing points among stats. This affects the game for literally just the first few cycles. It quickly becomes clear that the system does not encourage role-playing in any way. You just need to find one action (in my case, drinking alcohol) that balances your character, and all skill checks can be passed without issue. Your build becomes completely meaningless. Motivation. An interesting mechanic on paper, where the character needs to find motivation to perform actions. In reality, this turns into running around the map looking for interactive points just to farm points. This creates a dissonance: you're putting in a lot of effort just to find the motivation to put in effort. Gameplay Contrivances. There are frequent situations where you, the player, have already figured everything out and know what to do, but the game won't let you do it until you've met a series of formal conditions. For example, you know which pile of boxes the needed item is in (the game itself shows you), but you can't search for it there until you EXPLICITLY learn that it's in that specific pile of boxes. A Perfunctory Script For a game that relies so heavily on its text, the writing is depressingly weak. Dialogue. Characters don't talk like real people but like exposition-dumping mannequins, created solely to unload lore onto the player. Their lines are unnatural, and their behavior is illogical. You can call a complete stranger, and from the very first second, they'll be ready to pour their heart out to you and share their deepest secrets. Cardboard Characters. Most NPCs are completely flat and uninteresting. Their personal stories, which the game presents with a serious tone, fail to resonate at all because it's impossible to empathize with the characters themselves. Shallow Themes. The game tries to tackle complex themes of loneliness, hope, and self-determination, but does so at the level of a high school essay. The profound idea of a time loop and the cyclical nature of existence is presented so bluntly that it evokes nothing but boredom. Verdict: Who Might Like This? I cannot recommend this game. Not for fans of Disco Elysium: aside from a superficial attempt to copy the skill system, there's nothing in common. The writing and characters aren't even in the same league. Not for fans of time loops: the concept is executed much more interestingly and deeply in other games, like Deathloop. Perhaps the game will find an audience with 14-15-year-olds who might be drawn to its pseudo-philosophical themes. For everyone else, it's likely to be a disappointment. A good beginning and a good end can't justify the ten hours of boredom and sagging gameplay in between.
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PC Nov 25, 2025
There is very few things good about this game, decent ideas but terrible execution. Game feels like a chore. It looks decently good and had no performance issues or crashes. The plot gets somewhat interesting after a little bit but it quickly devolves into some convoluted whocaresaboutit garbage.
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PC Report
PC Summary Break free from a mysterious time loop! Embark on a journey of self-discovery and resilience. Delve into the enigmatic depths of the small godforsaken town: Rue Valley. Each day feels like an uphill battle against the shadows of your own mind. Along the way, you will encounter a captivating ensemble of characters, each wrestling with ...
Platforms:
- PC
- Xbox Series X
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox One
- PlayStation 4
Initial Release Date: Nov 11, 2025
Developer:
- Emotion Spark Studio
Publisher: Owlcat Games
Genres:
