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Why aren't there more audio-only adventures like The Vale?

Falling Squirrel's debut game sets a new benchmark for accessibility

Artwork for The Vale: Shadow Of The Crown, showing a female warrior shrouded in darkness against a red, mountainous landscape

As awards season approaches and I start to compile a list of all the great games I missed this year, there's one game I really regret not covering in more detail at RPS around the time it came out. That game is The Vale: Shadow Of The Crown, an audio-only RPG about a blind princess fighting to save her kingdom. You may have seen it nominated in the Innovation in Accessibility category of The Game Awards this year, and frankly if it doesn't win then a great disservice will have been done. A stark contrast to the other, all very AAA nominees in its category, The Vale doesn't rely on flashy visuals to tell its story. In fact, it barely has any graphics at all. Instead, it conjures its world - and tense fighting sequences - from sound alone, creating an experience like nothing else I've ever played.

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Katharine Castle avatar
Katharine Castle: Katharine was RPS' editor-in-chief from 2021 to 2024. She first joined the team in 2017 as their hardware editor, and she continues to play pretty much anything she can get her hands on. She's very partial to JRPGs and the fetching of quests, but also loves strategy and turn-based tactics games and will never say no to a good Metroidvania.
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