Last night I stayed up late to finish Valiant Hearts. Spoilers below!

The fourth and final chapter of this game was simply fantastic. The way it built to the climax at the end worked brilliantly. In particular, Emile's scene at the battle of Chemin des Dames was so astounding. As you're charging through the area, you see more and more bodies, nearly dying to enemy gunfire repeatedly. Members of your squad die one by one as they help you make it through, the game slowing down to focus on each of their deaths.

If you try to turn around and go back, an officer approaches and screams at you, waving a gun and stabbing at you with a saber. If you try to pass him, he shoots you dead. So you keep going, pushing forward as all of your comrades are dying.

Once almost everyone else is dead, as the remains of your squad run directly into enemy gunfire, the last two members of the squad pause, unwilling to go on. The officer charges up to them and screams, threatening them with death if they don't go on.

At that moment, I regained control of Emile and didn't hesitate: I hit that officer over the head with my shovel and knocked him out.

The game immediately informed me that I had accidentally killed the officer.

I made a point of reading all the little informational screens in the game because I enjoyed learning things I didn't know about World War I.

At the start of the last scene of the game, a ping about a new piece of information popped up. It talked about how the French had tried, by this point in the war, to reduce the number of capital punishments they delivered. Still, it said, 50 mutineers were executed after Chemin des Dames.

Emile was in chains and reading a letter from his daughter.

A guard showed up and called to Emile. And I, as Emile, stood up and walked out of the cell, following the soldier.

After about ten seconds of walking, as Emile, that's when I realized he was walking to his death.

What an amazing scene, and an amazing lead up to it.

Valiant Hearts was a decent puzzle platformer with lovely art and fantastic music, but it was the way it respectfully treated the Great War and put together a touching, interesting story without even really resorting to a unified language or explanations for everything that went on in the game that really made it such a masterpiece.

I closed my eyes during that final segment. I couldn't handle it. Those final sequences are so profound and impactful and I was amazed how well this game pulled it off.

Just finished the game a couple minutes ago, came here to see what people were saying about the ending.

I may have ruined the ending for myself. I stopped right after I had saved Karl to take a short break. Little did I know that it led right into the final scene of the game! I had no tension going into the final scene.

The first thing I did when I gained control was to read the note about military executions (I always did this when I entered a new area). Once I saw Emile had shackles on his legs, I realized that he was going to be one of the executions because he had killed an officer.

EDIT: I felt like a missed the continuity going into the final scene. I just played the last chapter again start to finish. Hot damn, that ending has a lot of impact.

Made me tear up, goddamnit.

And if Valiant Hearts brought up interest in World War I for any of you, you should all check out Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast episodes where he talks about it. I know you all can stand listening to podcasts go on for 3 hours or more, so this one shouldn't turn you off!

Start here for the first episode in the five part series. Lots of great in-depth analyses on the background leading up to the war, the important battles and events that took place throughout the war including the ones Valiant Hearts covers like the Marne, Ypres and Verdun, the psychological toll on both a large and small scale on the participants and the countries affected by it, the advances in technology, and all that good stuff Hardcore History tackles.

Gotta ask Drew to check out the podcast, too.

It was definitely a strong ending. I gave myself a little accidental bonus by taking a few steps outside then pausing (the walk, not the game) to take a glance at something else, and just a step after I resumed walking was when the camera began to pull out from his feet to show his whole body again. It couldn't have been more than 5-10 seconds but it gave the scene a super human element to it that was by accident, like he hesitated for a brief moment and then consigned himself to his fate.

There's a specific point in that series where he talks about the execution of a french soldier who tried to abandon his post in fear. The description of the exchange between the soldier, terrified of execution, and the officer responsible for calling the execution, who is convincing the kid that his execution is a morale booster to other troops, is so powerful. At the end of the exchange, it is said that the soldier accepts his fate proudly and sees the execution as a victory for his country because it'll teach other soldiers discipline, and how the once seemingly confident and brass officer was actually shaken by having to make that call.