Rue Valley is a gorgeous time loop mystery, and one of the most interesting RPG prospects since Disco Elysium

GamesRPGRue Valley is a gorgeous time loop mystery, and one of the most interesting RPG prospects since Disco ElysiumWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Owlcat Games)

Standing next to the motel sign

I am yet to grow tired of grabbing my sword and spell tome and setting off on some fantastical RPG adventure, but I still feel relieved when a new RPG drops and it offers something different. Rue Valley is a break from epic journeys and goblin-slaying: a contemporary RPG set around a desert motel, featuring a protagonist who’s the product of their personality, not a bunch of ability scores.

Developer Emotion Spark Studio and publisher Owlcat Games—known for its massive, numbers-heavy RPGs like Pathfinder and Rogue Trader—had me right away with their pitch of Disco Elysium-meets-Groundhog Day. But playing it reveals that, for all that it shares with its inspirations, there’s just as much that makes it distinct: an RPG that is very much doing its own thing.

Within these tracks are traits, unlocked after you’ve put a number of your 10 allotted personality points into the system. If you put two points into the calculated personality, you unlock the paranoid trait, but if you’d prefer the second trait in this row, indecisive, you are free to switch them. These traits will then lock and unlock different actions and dialogue options.

Narcissist that I am, I create myself. Very impulsive, pretty extraverted, and a bit sensitive. My traits are reckless, impatient, nosy and dramatic. Yep, that’s me. Sorry, I’m working on it.

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(Image credit: Owlcat Games)

Character creation

It’s 8 pm and I’m in therapy. The narrator sets the scene, describing the sound of an alarm and the stale air of the motel room in which I find myself in. It’s not just a therapy session, it’s a therapy retreat. Like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Disco Elysium, the narrator is not just a casual observer. He prods, mocks and provides insight into my mental state, simultaneously making him feel like an adversary and very close friend.

What’s immediately obvious, even in this nondescript motel room, is that Rue Valley is uncommonly striking.

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This potent comic book aesthetic extends to the text boxes that accompany the voice acting—the quality of which is currently a bit inconsistent—as well as some static art that allows the game to show off scenes from more than the standard isometric perspective. The result is that conversations feel surprisingly lively, even when you’re just sitting on a couch trying to avoid talking about your feelings.

(Image credit: Owlcat Games)

Sitting in a motel room

Speaking of which, my choice of traits quickly has an impact. My therapist wants me to acknowledge my “condition”, whatever it is. One possible response is to shrug it off and lie about feeling fine. I can’t do this, however, because pretending everything is OK isn’t very dramatic. I just pick another lie. “I’ll try,” I tell him.

This currently enigmatic condition has cursed me with an unfortunate status effect: a total lack of motivation. This locks me out of all but the most essential interactions, so when I automatically leave the motel room at the end of my therapy session, I’m unable to strike up a chat with the woman beating the crap out of a vending machine outside. My nosy trait does allow me to hang around studying her, though.

I need to check in at reception next, but the receptionist is on the phone. Earlier, when the developer showed me a quick playthrough, they were able to get her attention and get the motel room keycard with no fuss. Because of my personality, though, I just manage to annoy her, prolonging the wait and forcing me to read leaflets and steal a pen—an epic heist only made possible thanks to my impulsiveness.

(Image credit: Owlcat Games)

Motel reception

Throughout this incredibly long phone call, I keep having to find ways to pass the time. If I didn’t have the impatient trait, I’d just be able to wait, but my busy brain won’t let me chill. I read, play on my phone, stare out the window, make art out of smudges and get way too inside my own head. I’ve certainly gone through this routine in my real life plenty of times and feel far too perceived.

Eventually I get to my room, and after refusing to unpack and fiddling with my phone for a while, I fall asleep. It’s while sleeping that I’m able to go through the events of the day. This menu does become accessible when you’re awake, but not until later. After navigating my most recent memories, I go deeper. Vague recollections of my past, old half-remembered traumas. These memories then become connected to what Rue Valley calls an intention—its take on quests. I can commit to this intention and explore the memories more, but that requires a lot of willpower. I currently have none.

(Image credit: Owlcat Games)

Throwing up in a bathroom

A car wakes me up, and I now have a second status effect: thirsty. I head to the bathroom, but there’s a problem with the plumbing and the tap is spitting out some murky, foul-smelling water. In the developer playthrough, they smartly avoided drinking this gruesome ichor, instead going outside to hit up the vending machine. But my reckless trait forces me to throw all sense out the window and quench my thirst with poison. I throw up. I am still thirsty.

Breath no doubt stinking of puke, I finally head to the vending machine. The car that woke me up smashes into a transformer and then peels off, but that’s a mystery for another day. I’m too parched to care. I gulp down an entire bottle of water, and then, unexpectedly, I get to witness the end of the world. I don’t even have time to enjoy my thirst being quenched before the sky turns red—an apocalyptic anomaly instilling me with dread. How do I stop it? The narrator gives me a simple answer: I stop being me. And the loop begins again. It’s 8 pm and my therapist is trying to get my attention.

Do-over

(Image credit: Owlcat Games)

A bright light engulfs the motel

There are a lot of opportunities to alter traits and push the personality tracks in different directions. Splashing water on my face calms me down, and taking a glug of whisky from a bottle I find makes me more extraverted. The loop structure gives you a chance to experiment, see the results, and then either repeat or avoid the action on the next run. I really wanted to see what taking the purple pill with the whisky would do, but because I’d just calmed myself with the water, I temporarily lost the reckless trait, stopping me from risking my health.

(Image credit: Owlcat Games)

The memory menu

I’m a sucker for time loops, but Rue Valley is compelling beyond its primary conceit.

So I now have a purpose. I go outside and find evidence that the car has come and gone, leaving shards on the ground next to the transformer. And then the sky turns red. I confirm the time, 8:47 pm, and accept my fate. It’s 8 pm again. I’m in therapy. Again. But I’m making progress—now I know it wasn’t just a fantasy. With this intention complete, I realise I’m stuck in a time loop. And now that I’m not lacking in motivation or filled with anxiety, I can start to unravel the mystery. Unfortunately, this is where the demo ends.

I’m a sucker for time loops, but Rue Valley is compelling beyond its primary conceit. Unlike most RPGs and adventure games, it wants you to solve people—not epic quests or tricky conundrums. You’ll need to figure yourself out, as well as the people staying at the motel and the denizens of the desert beyond it.

(Image credit: Owlcat Games)

Sitting on a bed

I’m actually frustrated that I can’t play any further. Especially now that I can actually interact with people. And that road out of the motel beckons. What will I find in the desert? I’ve played through twice now and might jump back in for round three, even though its big mysteries will remain locked. That’s really the best result for a demo: making you ravenous for the full thing.

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