Valiant Hearts is a side-scrolling, puzzle-based, adventure video game which takes place during World War I. Players assume the role of four characters: Frenchman Emile, his German son-in-law Karl, American soldier Freddie, and Belgian nurse Anna.
The game comprises four chapters split into several sections. Each section requires the player to clear an objective to progress through the story. Most of these involve solving puzzles by obtaining certain items needed for the situation. Other sections include wartime segments requiring the player to survive heavy gunfire, stealth sections where the player must avoid being detected by enemies, and rhythmic car chase sections set to classic songs. Each character is able to interact with objects, perform a melee attack to knock out guards or smash through debris, and throw projectiles. There are also some traits unique to each character. Emile has a shovel which lets him dig through soft ground, Freddie can cut through barbed wire, and Anna is able to treat patients for injuries, which requires the player to time button presses.
Players can issue various commands to a dog named Walt, who is able to squeeze into small areas, hold on to and fetch certain items, activate switches, and move around without being suspected by the enemy. The game features optional collectible items hidden in each segment, facts about the war that are unlocked as the game progresses, and a hint system the player can use if they are stuck on a section after a certain amount of time.
Plot
The story begins in the year 1914. The Austro-Hungarian Empire declares war on Serbia following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Through established alliances, Russia declares war on Austria-Hungary leading Germany to declare war on Russia in response. Anticipating war, France begins deporting German citizens. Karl, one of the deported Germans, is separated from his wife Marie and their son Victor, and drafted into the German army. Likewise, Marie's father and Karl's father-in-law Emile is drafted into the French army. After completing his training, Emile is thrown into combat during the Battle of the Frontiers. His unit is wiped out, and he is wounded, captured, and forced to cook for the Germans. His captor is the infamous Baron Von Dorf, a parody of Field Martial August von Mackensen, who uses many advanced weapons like chlorine gas and zeppelins to defeat his foes. Karl recognizes Emile while serving under Von Dorf, but the Allies attack Von Dorf's camp and Karl is forced to flee. After he is rescued from the rubble by Walt, a German Army Doberman Pinscher, Emile escapes in the confusion and meets Freddie, an American who volunteered to join the French army after his wife was killed in a German bombing raid led by Von Dorf.
Freddie and Emile meet Anna, a Belgian veterinary student who doubles as a battlefield nurse. She is tracking Von Dorf since he is forcing her father to develop advanced war machines. The three chase Von Dorf's zeppelin from Ypres to Reims. When it crashes, Von Dorf escapes with Anna's father in a biplane. Karl survives the crash and is captured and taken as a prisoner of war. Anna accompanies Karl to the prison to make sure he recovers from his wounds.
Emile and Freddie continue their pursuit to exact revenge on Von Dorf and rescue Anna's father. They assault Fort Douaumont at Verdun where Von Dorf is hiding and capture his newest war machine, a large armoured tank. Although they rescue Anna's father, Von Dorf escapes again. While Emile is separated, Freddie continues his pursuit and finally corners Von Dorf during the Battle of the Somme, defeating him in a fist fight atop his ruined tank. Despite his desire for revenge, Freddie realizes he will not gain anything by killing Von Dorf and spares his life. For his repeated failures, Von Dorf is demoted and sent away from the front lines, a fate worse than death for the status-obsessed man.
Meanwhile, in a French prisoner of war camp, Karl learns his son is ill. Determined to reunite with his family, Karl escapes the camp. Emile believes he was killed while trying to escape. Karl encounters Anna, who helps drive him back to his farm at occupied Saint-Mihiel, but they are both captured by the Germans. Karl escapes when the Allies stage another assault that reaches his farm. He discovers it has been shelled with chlorine gas. Karl saves Marie's life by giving her his gas mask, but he succumbs to the gas. Anna arrives and saves Karl's life. When he recovers, Karl is finally reunited with his wife and son after three years of war and exile.
Back on the front lines, Emile is forced into the bloody and suicidal Nivelle Offensive. As his commanding officer constantly forces his troops into the line of fire and to their deaths, Emile finally reaches his breaking point and strikes the officer with his shovel, inadvertently killing him. He is court-martialed and sentenced to death by firing squad. In his final letter to Marie, Emile expresses his hatred of war, his grief at Karl's apparent death, and hopes that she and her family can find happiness. Emile is executed, and some time later, Karl and his family (with the newly adopted Walt in tow) visit his grave to mourn him. The story ends in 1917 when the United States officially enters the war and sends its army to Europe to fight on the Western Front.
