What this wrenching, beautiful little game tells us about modern war

Valiant Hearts is an excellent memorial for Armistice Day

Valiant Hearts
(Image credit: (ValiantHearts.ubi.com))

In the United States, today is Veterans Day. But in the rest of the world, it's Armistice Day, to commemorate the end of World War I. This is an excellent reason to brush off a game from earlier this year, the rare title with a morally serious treatment of war.

It is called Valiant Hearts, and unlike the vast majority of military-themed games, it's not a first-person shooter. It takes place in World War I, which only a handful of games have done, especially compared to the hundreds of World War II titles. In fact, while you do fire some artillery on a couple occasions, you never pick up or use a standard firearm. It's a notable absence for a game about war.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.