Ludography
69/100
Players11 ratings
62/100
Critics1 review
Player reviews
69% positive1,924 reviews
Steam Deck
Verified
Runs on
Windows
Price
US$14.99

Where to get it

Rue Valley cover

2025 · Adventure · Indie

Rue Valley

A highly emotional RPG with Personality System and Mind Map Mechanics. Survive the unjust psychotherapy, lift yourself from rock bottom and uncover the mystery of the time anomaly that keeps the world stuck in 47 minutes.

Released
11 November 2025
Platforms
Nintendo SwitchPlayStation 4PlayStation 5WindowsXbox OneXbox Series X/S
Genres
AdventureIndiePuzzleRole-playingStrategy
Developers
—
Publishers
—
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Themes
DramaMystery
Age ratings
PEGI 12ESRB T
Languages
Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Russian
Time to beat
8hmain story10hwith extras12hcompletionist

About

Rue Valley is a 2025 role-playing video game developed by Serbia-based Emotion Spark Studio and published by Owlcat Games. It follows Eugene Harrow, who is stuck in a 47 minute time loop in the desert town Rue Valley. It was released on 11 November 2025 on PC via Steam, as well as on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. The game received mixed reviews from critics.

›Story

A narrative adventure about Eugene Harrow, a man trapped in a time loop, surrounded by a colorful cast with complex emotional stories, each hiding unexpected secrets. Dealing with mental challenges, Harrow must delve into the anomaly to uncover its enigmatic origins.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player starts the game by assigning the protagonist's personality points across three different spectrums: decisional, social, and emotional, making Eugene impulsive, short-tempered or anxious that allows or locks dialogue options. Inspiration points can be acquired to activate "intentions", which serve as quests, and as Harrow's mental health he can also acquire willpower, which serve as permanent inspiration points that can be reused after an intention is completed.

Story

The game follows Eugene Harrow, who recently arrived at a motel in the desert town Rue Valley, where he meets a therapist through his mental health issues. At 8:47, the entire sky alights and Harrow finds himself back in therapy, realizing that he is stuck in a 47 minute time loop.

Reception

The PC version of Rue Valley received "mixed or average reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received fair approval, being recommended by 39% of critics.

A review in Console Creatures praised the game's writing, time loop mechanics and graphics, although it noted performance issues on Steam Deck. Maddi Chilton in PC Gamer notes the similarities between Rue Valley and Disco Elysium and describes as an "extremely effective metaphor" the time loop as manifestation of depression and surreal happenings as literalization of mental state, but felt that the game failed in its execution and felt that the loop mechanic was sometimes tedious. Rue Valley has been described as a spiritual successor of Disco Elysium.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Nintendo Switch11 November 2025Worldwide
Windows11 November 2025Worldwide
PlayStation 511 November 2025Worldwide
Xbox Series X/S11 November 2025Worldwide
PlayStation 411 November 2025Worldwide
Xbox One11 November 2025Worldwide

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Years

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.