Fantasy, trauma, and healing. That's just some of the aspects of Valley of Shadow, which Anthony and Nicholas Vaccaro, co-founders and owners of Synersteel Games, have been working on for the last six years. But, according to Anthony, Valley of Shadow is aiming to release a beta before the end of the year, and the full autobiographical game will be released sometime in the middle of next year if all goes as planned.
Anthony and his brother, Nicholas, have been working on video games for about 12 years, but they never went to school for it. Most people who want to make video games either go to school or try to find a way to do it, and the Vaccaro brothers did the latter. For the first two years of Valley of Shadow's development, they didn't even know what the story was going to be. Initially, they wanted to make a colorful fantasy RPG, but that all changed after Anthony was a year into therapy. Valley of Shadow's plot was born out of that. Players will go through a similar cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as Anthony did when he was grieving the loss of his father, who he lost about seven years ago. In a recent interview with Game ZXC, lead narrative designer and artist Anthony gave an update on how the game's mechanics integrate with the storyline, while also opening up on the "dangerous" mental battle he experiences.
The Deeper Meaning Behind The Magic
When Anthony and Nicholas decided what Valley of Shadow's story was going to be, they agreed to utilize a fantasy trope with influences from beloved RPGs like Morrowind and Fable because they wanted players to be interactive and engaged. That trope eventually evolved into the staff that players use throughout the game when casting spells to solve each puzzle room, which he described the staff as the "warmth" in all the "cold."
The staff that you're utilizing, it took me back to a safe space. Like we're just playing a game just like I did when we were kids and I heard my parents arguing a couple of rooms over. Like, 'I'm just playing a game. I'm just going to get lost in video game stuff. Get lost in magic.'
'I'm just going to get lost in Super Nintendo and EarthBound,' and it just really ended up fitting – a lot of it was very serendipitous. This stuff is already inside of us just growing up in the culture that we've grown up in, and it became a scaffolding for the pain that I feel as a human being.
... And hey, it's working. It's working. I'm alive. I'm still alive another day.
In 2022, Anthony revealed that players can use four spells and four crystal mechanics, as well as running, jumping, and activation features. Now, about a year later, those are still the same, but the meaning behind them has changed a bit. Instead of a spell representing an emotion, it symbolizes a person. As players go through puzzle scenarios, they're experiencing Anthony's CBT process, which has patients interact with memories related to their trauma as a way to get closure. In Anthony's and the player's case, he looked back on his childhood, encapsulated in Valley of Shadow through real photographs and videotapes, but as the game approaches his early adulthood. the paradigm shifts.
You also experience part of my early adulthood and what that was like to go into early adulthood, not knowing that I was carrying this baggage and this pain. And that is when the paradigm shifts, you're still casting spells, but you're doing it in a different way and in different scenarios.
The only other character in the Valley of Shadow is Emma, a therapist who is often heard in the game and is voiced by Anthony and Nicholas' sister, Maria. Players will hear references to "warmth" and "cold" when Emma speaks; she'll say, "Find something that's warm," and the player responds, "The staff is warm." Emma replies, "That's good." The staff is needed while working through the Valley of Shadow's puzzles, which symbolizes processing the trauma.
Development Was Part Of Co-Creator's Healing Journey
Anthony previously said that Valley of Shadow causes him to constantly relive the trauma and grief. He's feeling better, but when working on the game's script, there's always a part of him that is reminded of the "darkness" during that time, and he has to constantly pull himself back to the present. Valley of Shadow puts an emphasis on the past, as it focuses on retelling the event as well as uncovering nostalgic mementos like VHS tapes, photographs, and answering machine audios in order to redeem a broken family. Anthony was 32 years old when he lost his father. He didn't go to therapy until a few years later, but admitted that looking back now, he wishes he had gone sooner.
I would've gone to therapy a lot earlier and that would've probably changed the course of the game, but it would've changed the course of my life and some of the relationships that I had that I kind of ruined because of the pain that I was experiencing. I think that the game's development process is so carefully intertwined with my own life experience that, if I went sooner, that would've hastened the development process a bit mechanically.
Video games have almost always been a medium for storytelling, but the search for an autobiographical game can be a tough one. And while there are titles that fall under this category, very few get as personal as Valley of Shadow, so it'll be interesting to see how the beta and 2024 release play out for it.
Valley of Shadow is scheduled to release sometime in 2024.