In Mayhem in Single Valley, you take the role of a young boy about to embark on an epic adventure to better yourself through schooling, finding a job in the city, or some other non-descriptive plot point to keep you away from your hometown. Then suddenly, your entire world is thrown into chaos as a strange shadowy figure dumps toxic waste into the city’s local reservoir turning all of the local creatures into crazed, vicious animals out for blood! The bears, the fish, the squirrels, and dare I say it?! Even the bunnies! Like Monty Python’s evil rabbit on steroids!
Now, the thing you need to remember about Mayhem in Single Valley is the plot, and it is absurd. You start the game off like any other adventure game, gathering resources as you plan to venture out into the world, and then like I already stated; it is all downhill from here.
A shadow figure poisons the town’s water supply, and an individual who happened to be jogging nearby blames you for this, which the media naturally blows out of proportion.
Now you have to clear your name and most; importantly! You must protect your family, your mother, brother, father, and the most important person in your family, your dog. You realize you can’t leave just yet as you start; to traverse around town, and it is here that you; are introduced to the game’s core mechanics.
It may be an adventure game, but it primarily revolves around puzzle solving, such as throwing carrots at rabbits to keep them; occupied from eating your face or throwing acorns to keep squirrels distracted.
You don’t have a sword or anything to combat the monsters you face, and instead, it revolves around traversing the areas by dodging rolling out of the way and distracting them with their favorite foods.
Then as you make it through the first area and have learned the basics of the gameplay, you discover a way to cure the animals for food tainted with hooch. The best way to; cure any infection caused by poisoned water in this world is to make the animals drunk, and honestly, that makes sense! You treat an outside wound with rubbing alcohol. And you treat an inside wound; by drinking alcohol. It’s science!
Then as you progress through the game, you are taught how to combine items like tainting the animal’s favorite foods with hooch, but you, are also taught how to upgrade your items using duct tape. So you can improve your shoes, shirts, and the carrying; capacity of your backpack.
You can even find collectibles throughout the game for hidden achievements or if you want to spice up your music selection. There are Tamagotchi’s lying around the areas, cassettes, and if you are not sure what cassettes are, ask your parents. The only items; that have any in-game value are the cassettes, as you are able to change your music selection based on what cassette you have playing, giving you that Star-Lord vibe.
There are some areas of the Mayhem in Single Valley, that I did not like, but that is my personal issue, as this is solely dependent on player taste. I really did not care for the movement and directional controls and how I interact with the game world.
I grew up playing Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past; if I press WASD, I expect my character to move in accordance, and for the most part, your character does. But you need to use your mouse/controller to aim where to throw your items. Now for me, that is just a major; disconnect. I do not; like it, and I wish they would rework that. They probably will not rework it. But that is how I feel about it.
Honestly, that is my only issue with Mayhem in Single Valley, and I honestly may end up streaming this title. I do enjoy the gameplay outside of that one issue. The characters of the world are interesting, they got a unique story, and it does not punish you if you die; you simply restart the area you died in, and that takes away a good portion of the stress from the game. I know it is a minor thing, but it is one of the things I enjoyed most.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed Mayhem in Single Valley, and I recommend checking it out! If you or a loved one is a fan of Monty Python, unusual gameplay mechanics, or want to follow a fairly; silly storyline, then I would; recommend this title for you!
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!