Port Valley coming into view in 2020

Written by Jack Allin — April 23, 2019 at 13:46

A lot can go wrong on election day, and not just the final results. We'll be able to find out for ourselves just how much when indie developer WrongPixel releases its comedic point-and-click mystery Port Valley in 2020.

Everything comes in threes in the titular city: "three plots, three main characters, three difficulty modes, three mayoral candidates... three chances to unfold a bigger and complex story." It's voting day in Port Valley, and a trio of very different characters, including a "lazy Asian food delivery guy, a mysterious plumber... and someone else," find themselves confronted by host of seemingly unrelated trials. These "unusual 'heroes' will be forced to interrupt their boring lives and get ready for action before it's just too late. Work, revenge, past, political conspiracies, a banana balloon... it seems everything was meant to clash on this specific day." 

Presented in distinctly retro-styled pixel art with a point-and-click interface, Port Valley will see players cross paths with "bizarre citizens and unfold an obscure plot that seems to be tying together these apparently unrelated stories." As time progresses through a day-night cycle, the NPCs aren't simply waiting for your arrival, either, as "they also have their objectives, which may be more important than yours." The game promises puzzles to solve along the way, and a "humoristic and light-hearted tone," though that doesn't "necessarily mean this is just a comedy."

The game's release on Steam is still a fair way off, with a target launch date for Windows and Mac sometime in 2020. To tide you over until then, however, a demo is already available on Steam, itch.io and Game Jolt, introducing an alternate version the "Delivery Guy Plot" in which "puzzles have been simplified and the story has been modified" to better suit the abbreviated, one-hour experience.