Does it sound weird to say that THQ has a new game? THQ’s newest game, The Valiant, is now available today on PC, via Steam, Epic Games Store, and Good Old Games. The Valiant is also planned for consoles in the future.
The Valiant is a squad based real time strategy game, an interesting genre for newcomer studio Kite Games to bring back. At a time when turn based strategy games like XCOM, Fire Emblem, and Mario x Rabbids are dominating the conversation, a new RTS coming out is a strong assertion of that the genre is still worth going back to after all.
THQ shares this description of the game’s story:
“Follow the story of Theoderich von Akenburg, a former crusader knight who, after becoming disillusioned with the cruelty of war, is called back into action by events set into motion 15 years ago when he and his former brother-in-arms, Ulrich von Grevel, stumble upon a fractured piece of an ancient artifact – the Rod of Aaron. A young monk named Malcom appears at Theoderich’s doorstep, bringing him news that the Rod contains power never meant for mortals, and Ulrich has become obsessed with finding the remaining pieces and unifying the rod, an event that could bring untold evil and suffering to the world.
Theoderich takes on the quest of locating the remaining relics to keep them from Ulrich and begins a journey that will lead him across Europe and the Middle East. Throughout his journey, he’ll meet many other warriors that decide to rally to the cause, from the old, seasoned Reinhard von Kempten of the Teutonic Order to the ambitious young mercenary Grimhild Eidottr and her Raven Company, each joining for different reasons, but slowly forming bonds that will keep through the trails and tribulations to come.”
In our previous coverage, THQ and Kite Games have demonstrated how each member of Theoderich’s party have unique abilities, and more interestingly, that you can level up these abilities, essentially making The Valiant also an RPG.
Some fans may not know about this, so to be clear, this THQ, now known as THQ Nordic, is actually originally Nordic Games from Vienna Austria, founded in 2011. While the original THQ had its run as developer and publisher of classic video game franchises like Darksiders and Red Faction from 1990 to 2012, Nordic made its name as publisher of games like Painkiller, and The Book of Unwritten Tales, just before acquiring the THQ name and some of its properties only two years later.
Today THQ Nordic itself was acquired by the even bigger Embracer Group, joining an even bigger conglomerate of game studios that also includes Gearbox Entertainment, Crystal Dynamics, and Eidos Montreal.
The Valiant is certainly an interesting way for Embracer to bring back the THQ name. Even if it isn’t quite the same company, if it carries over THQ’s penchant for taking chances on new or forgotten game ideas, it will certainly feel like THQ as we remember it is back again.
You can watch The Valiant’s launch trailer below.
