Calum Petrie reviews Grit and Valor – 1949…
Grit and Valor – 1949 is a roguelite alternate history WWII game developed by Milky Tea Studios and published by Megabit Publishing. If that sounds a tad strange then strap in, because this game is not just strange – it is wonderful and addictive in a refreshing way.
The premise is of the game is that you are the Allied forces, making a last stand in the Hebridean Isles off the coast of Scotland. Our role is to make the last attempt to gain a foothold on the mainland by attacking key installations of the enemy forces. How do we attack the enemy forces? Well naturally using stolen mecha units created by the Axis.
This bizarre concept sounds like it is straight out of a Wolfenstein game, but let me assure you it really is not.
The game has different stages, the first being the British Isles. Levels are split up into waves of enemies; you have four waves per level to fight off to gain control of that level and progress down the map.
Levels are made up of a multi-levelled battlefield where your unit can gain high ground advantage for extra range and fire power over certain enemy types. The enemy types are laid out in a triangle formula of superiority. You have infantry (bullet icon), this is strong against the flamer units (flame icon), which in turn are good against the artillery units (grenade icon), and they are good against infantry. Pretty straight forward, and your mecha units are tied to the same formula – the strategy being that you have to have a good balance on your team if you want to go all the way to the end of the run.
Once you complete the first stage you move onto the Scandinavian Isles. Now where most roguelikes – I am looking at you Hades – will kick you all the way back to the beginning for failing, Grit and Valor will allow you to select to start at the beginning of the stage for a new run rather than put you all the way back to the very beginning.
When you do fail a run, you keep all your Scrap, Blueprints and Valor to upgrade your pilots and your mech units. The ability to trade in Blueprints for new mech designs is also nice, allowing for different standards of units going into a fight. While progressing the game you will also complete objectives for research allowing you to unlock a third mech unit to come along on your run and give you even more fire power.
Another thing to look at is there is different pilots that can be swapped like upgrades for your vehicle. Pilots come with their own unique ability, such as self-heals or dropping mines onto the battle field. These provide a good tactical advantage but you have to be careful of cooldown timers and the number of uses left on an ability.
The game works off a system where you are expected to fail until you win, which is very much a roguelike standard. There might be some people out there who are still not familiar with the concept and know that failure is part of the game and just helps you develop character and new curse words to insult your enemies with.
Grit and Valor – 1949 does contain a token story, given at intervals throughout your run, though it is the same on every run, so don’t be expecting a branching narrative with multiple choices. The game relies very heavily on its core gameplay loop, which feels both challenging and enjoyable.
I have enjoyed my time with Grit and Valor – 1949, and can see me returning to it and hopefully one day liberating all of the European countries from the tyrannical rule of the Mecha Axis occupation.
If I had to describe one word to summarise my time with this game, I would have to go with “plucky” – you get that overwhelming underdog sensation that probably comes from self-deprecating British humour. I feel this word describes the experience of this game and the never say die attitude that comes with being a roguelike fan.
Rating – 7/10
Calum Petrie – You can follow me on X – @Cetrie
