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Robert Yang’s latest is a free romance that channels Brokeback MountainGet ready for some country lovin' in the Wyoming wilderness
Get ready for some country lovin' in the Wyoming wilderness
It’s been 17 years and a week since Brokeback Mountain happened, and indie dev Robert Yang has taken the spirit of the movie and turned it into a free to play romance visual novel.That Lonesome Valleylets you play out the relationship between two young herders working alone together out in the American wilderness. Yang gives a content warning for the game, which contains pixel art nudity and sex sequences. You can watch the first ten minutes of That Lonesome Valley below.
That Lonesome Valley gameplay (free gay cowboy romance game), first ~10 minutesThat Lonesone Valley is a free to play cowboy romance visual novel.Watch on YouTube
That Lonesome Valley gameplay (free gay cowboy romance game), first ~10 minutes
I still haven’t seen Brokeback, but Yang also compares the game toFirewatchandDeath Stranding, mostly thanks to the hiking. That Lonesome Valley sees sheepherders Jose and Bud gathering those most elusive of even-toed ungulates, and finding their way around their relationship in the Wyoming countryside.
This isn’t just a retread of Brokeback Mountain though. Both Bud and Jose are very aware of Brokeback, and reference it during the game. They’ll need to navigate how they feel about each other while avoiding getting physically lost, which you should be able to manage if you stick close to landmarks and follow the in-game map. Yang goes into more detail about That Lonesome Valley’s development, and the gay cowboy trope, in an interesting blog posthere.
Yang originally prototyped That Lonesome Valley as part of theGay Western Jamhe organised back in 2019, but says that it’s now complete. It should only take about half an hour to play through the game. “It doesn’t always work out, but you know, that’s life,” Yang advises. Wise words.
You can play the entirety of That Lonesome Valley for free in your browser over atitch.io. Yang’s also offering the game as a download and you can pay whatever you like. Now, I should probably go watch Brokeback Mountain.
Disclosure: Just a heads up that Robert Yang’s written some great articles for RPS before.
