Mayhem in Single Valley Gameplay Preview – Lighthearted action adventure

Mayhem in Single Valley is a lighthearted action adventure game that focuses on exploration and puzzle solving.

You play the game as Jack, a young adult wanting to start a new life by attending a college far from home. Things don’t quite go according to plan and a strange shadowy entity unleashes a toxic chemical into the water supply, turning the quiet town into a zombie infested warzone.

The game is pretty straightforward. You take control of Jack as he explores his small town and tries to find a cure for the zombie plague. You can’t fight the enemies directly, but you can dodge roll out of their attacks or use your trusty slingshot to temporarily stun them. Every attack from an enemy, large or small, will result in your death. Thankfully evading them is quite easy. Each enemy has a favorite food they will eat and you can use that food item to distract the enemy as well. There is a mechanic where you can cover the food with moonshine and feed it to them to cure them. In the cured state, the animals will leave you alone. Turns out moonshine was the cure all along. The humor in the game is quite lighthearted as you can see.

Aside from running for your life from zombified animals, the main thrust of the game play loop is exploring. Each area has a puzzle to solve, as well as many collectables, so the level design encourages you to explore every nook and cranny. The collectables can be simple cosmetic items or clones. Freeing a clone will earn you one duct tape, the currency used to purchase upgrades for Jack. The upgrades are in four categories and will increase your movement based stats, inventory space, garbage lid space, and your slingshot. Picking up a garbage can lid will block one attack from an enemy and in a game where every attack will kill you in one hit, this is a pretty handy upgrade.

The puzzles are simple and straight forward but they do change up the kinds of puzzles you run into to keep things fresh. For example, in the laboratory, you summon in a cloned animal that will mirror your movements. You use the environment to your advantage as you move the clone around to step on the right switches. Later on, they make it more complicated by throwing in multiple clones and switches that raise or lower platforms.

Overall, Mayhem in Single Valley is a pretty fun action adventure game. Everything is simple and straight forward. The graphics look fantastic and the sound track is solid as well. There are a large amount of collectables that give you a reason to explore the entire level. The game is wrapped by lighthearted humor and nostalgia. It’s just a well crafted game where every aspect is pretty solid.