{"id":279,"date":"2026-01-11T17:28:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T17:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jz15n24\/?p=279"},"modified":"2026-01-11T17:28:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T17:28:01","slug":"rue-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jz15n24\/2026\/01\/11\/rue-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Rue Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I didn’t experience Rue Valley in its entirety, and my progress didn’t progress much more than it did during the demo. But even in the early playthrough, it already gave me a clear reference to the structure. Unlike Disco Elysium, where the world unfolds through a lot of branching and inner dialogue, Rue Valley feels more like an experience of constant confinement: players make choices that don’t really open up new ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Rue Valley, the density of choices is much greater than the number of endings. Players are frequently asked to make judgments, but these judgments are more about adjusting the path to the same ending than changing the ending itself. This structure made me realize that choice is not always about freedom, and sometimes it is more of a constant pressure that forces the player to keep moving within the boundaries set by the system. Even if the player chooses those options that are “incorrect” in the systemic sense, the game will still give an ending, only that ending often appears rushed or scribbled. This is not a reward for the player, but more of a confirmation: the system acknowledges your actions, but does not extend the world for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Player’s review from Rue Valley Steam page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the early days of Rue Valley’s release, many media outlets used “Disco Elysium-like” as its core promotional label. However, this analogy does not seem entirely valid in actual experience. Although there are similarities in visual style and the presentation of a large number of inner monologues, their structural differences in narrative freedom are obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Disco Elysium, players are always playing as a version of Harry. The characters themselves have clear backgrounds and limitations, but the player’s choices can continue to change the narrative direction and character state within this framework. Freedom does not come from “who I am”, but from “how I became this person”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, Rue Valley allows players to customize the protagonist’s traits and make choices along the way, but these choices don’t really change the end of the story. The narrative is strongly confined to a limited ending, resulting in character customization staying more at the level of expression than at the level of structure. This gap also explains the dissatisfaction of some players: while encouraging players to make personalized judgments, the system does not respond to the narrative results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This kind of feedback also prompted me to deal with the “boundaries of choice” more explicitly in my own projects. If the ending is predetermined, then this premise should be presented frankly by design, rather than creating the illusion of freedom through a large number of choices. Players can deviate from system expectations, but the way the system responds needs to be honest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My project focuses more on the sense of advancement brought about by the choice itself than on branching narratives. My game also has a limited endgame, and the large number of choices is more about creating an experience of being forced to the end. Even if the player deliberately deviates from the path the system wants, the game will continue to move towards the ending, only in a more hasty way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is highly relevant to my own project. Rather than building complex branching narratives, I was more concerned with choosing how to structurally force the player forward. A limited ending is not a limitation, but a boundary; A plethora of choices exist within this boundary, creating constant decision-making pressure rather than true liberation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I didn’t experience Rue Valley in its entirety, and my progress didn’t progress much more than it did during the demo. But even in the early playthrough, it already gave me a clear reference to the structure. Unlike Disco Elysium, where the world unfolds through a lot of branching and inner dialogue, Rue Valley feels […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jz15n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jz15n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jz15n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jz15n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jz15n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jz15n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jz15n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions\/284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jz15n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jz15n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wsagames.com\/jz15n24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}