Valleys Between is a puzzle game that obeys tree-time Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Valleys Between is a puzzle game that obeys tree-time Into the woods. Feature by Christian Donlan Features Editor Updated on 1 Jul 2019 5 comments Valleys Between is the sort of game that's so beautiful I would probably play it even if it wasn't any good. I'd play it just to look at it, listen to it, be around its world and its art. Happily, it is good. Part tactical game, part curious bucolic spin on the endless runner, I have never played anything that combines its various parts in such a way. And there's more. Really though, it is terribly pretty. This is the natural world idealised, with purple skies, distant mountains delivered in simply, dreamy pastels, and woodland of cyan and pink, light green and sandy yellow, all divided into hexes. Your job is to bring water from the ground, by striking a hex and pulling upwards. Water will flood and pool and gloop around, and grass with spring from surrounding hexes. Water feeds the grass, and the grass encourages a fox to travel with you, moving from hex to hex as long as there's something underfoot and taking a turn to make each short journey. Once you have enough grass, you can start to draw trees out of the ground, and then link trees to make forests and link forests to make houses. That's about as far as I've gotten with this stuff so far, although it's sort of a shame to make houses so I try not to do it too often. Then there are dangers - fires which require water to put them out and stop them spreading, obelisks which need a bit of magical nature jazz from the fox to stop them exploding. The more land you make, the more your world becomes a corridor, a conveyor belt, fresh hexes emerging from the bottom of the screen while odd hexes disappear into the distance. What I like most, though, is the rate of change. Valleys Between moves through seasons, but each new layer of hexes, each movement from trees to forest, is measured in years. Years! This is a game that moves to the rhythm of tree-time. It has a slightly inhuman sense of scale, and there is, wonderfully, not much space for us in its vision of nature. And so the fox moves on, the waters pool, the grass turns from green to yellow. I'm still at the very start of this journey, just a few bus-rides with its company so far. There's so much in the trailer even that I haven't yet seen! But Valleys Between is already a bit of a gem: the perfect game to play at this time of year. Make the most of it. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More Features Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. 15 Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Feature What games get wrong about horses And what they could do about it. 34 Feature Shout out to all the Overwatch supports - where would we be without you? Merci. 55 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Sennheiser's legendary HD 599 open-back headphones are just £70 at Amazon in the Prime Early Access Sale Comfortable with neutral sound and a wide sound stage. Preview Football Manager's new Console edition is the best you'll get without a PC Getting Touch-right. 1 Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 61 Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store