Classic PlayStation role-player Valkyrie Profile returns with a new action-oriented sequel set during the twilight of the Norse gods.
Even the most devoted followers of Japanese role-playing players can struggle to put the latest installment in Square Enix’s Valkyrie franchise into historical context. The first entry, Valkyrie Profile, arrived way back in 1999 and stood out for its combination of role-playing sensibilities and gameplay with an element of platforming, in a 2D side-scrolling, turn-based setting.
It was a minor hit on the original PlayStation, but subsequent sequels failed to impress and the announcement of a fourth console entry was somewhat of a surprise. However, Valkyrie Elysium is an almost entirely different beast, a modern action role-playing game rendered in fairly engaging 3D, with its battles purely real-time.
However, it retains a narrative thread from its predecessors, but remains deeply rooted in Norse mythology (despite Elysium being a concept of the afterlife from ancient Greece). However, while previous Valkyrie games explored the burgeoning war between gods and humans, Valkyrie Elysium immerses you in a world ravaged by war: Asgard, Midgard, and Niflheim are now ruined and nearly empty of inhabitants.
In Asgard, Odin has managed to survive the war, but he is in a very bad shape, so he uses whatever power he has left to create you, a semi-divine Valkyrie whose mission is to purify the tainted souls that haunt Midgard (manifesting in real Japanese role-playing style as demon-like enemies and bosses). As you do so, Odin slowly regains his strength and powers and begins to restore the land to its pre-war state. It’s a classic premise: the salvation of the whole world depends on you.
In practice, Valkyrie Elysium plays like a typical modern melee-focused role-player: you’re rewarded for stringing together combos (aided by a grapple-like move called a soul chain, which draws you close to enemies), adding a welcome hint from games like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. As you progress, you acquire a band of einherjar, spectral warriors with various abilities that you can summon to aid you.
The einherjar was an important element of Valkyrie Profile and Elysium also tries to keep the gameplay continuity with the original by having a bit of platforming, in which you can use your einherjar to solve traversal puzzles by generating ice platforms or bricks for example. crush that block. your way.
Valkyrie Elysium keeps its role-playing elements commendably simple, with only three skill trees – Attack, Defense and Support – the currency for which is the array of differently colored crystals that you earn by defeating enemies and finding them in chests.
You also get powerful magical attacks, known as divine arts; you can equip four of them at a time, although you’ll quickly collect many more. Much of Valkyrie Elysium’s tactical depth comes from choosing the right divine arts for the moment, especially during the challenging and usually highly satisfying boss battles.
Every enemy you encounter has an elemental weakness, so hitting them repeatedly with a divine art that exploits that weakness will bring them back to a staggered state, after which you can send your einherjar, stack yourself in it and deal a massive amount of damage . Each einherjar also has an elemental kinship, which makes them most effective against certain types of enemies.
It may sound complicated, but in practice it isn’t, and that’s one of Valkyrie Elysium’s strengths: even though it’s a recognizable Japanese role-player, you never find yourself scratching your head trying to figure out what to do. do to a seemingly untouchable boss. Overall, the combat system is very good, again because it has simplicity and intuitiveness.
Valkyrie Elysium also contains a lot of the quirkiness – often leaning towards downright wackiness – reminiscent of many older Square Enix titles. For example, your character can collect small fragments about the life of the inhabitants of Midgard by picking flowers, while also encountering ghostly trees composed of dead souls that she must purify before nearby monsters can destroy them.
There are also side missions that cleverly reuse previously visited levels, though they are few and far between. Luckily, you never really need to level grind, which is refreshing for the genre. Instead, there’s just enough variation between the missions you perform to keep the procedures from getting repetitive, but it’s a fairly close-run thing.
There’s one more glaring problem than the repetition and that is that while you get enough backstories on what happened to make Asgard so bleak and empty of humanity, the actual ongoing storyline, delivered in cutscenes, is very boring. Your character is a complete figure, bordering on religious fanaticism, and while her einherjar and other recurring characters like Hilde the evil Valkyrie strive to bring a touch of frivolity to the proceedings, the dialogue never rises above the wood.
Valkyrie Elysium is impressively playable: it’s responsive, has surprisingly good graphics, and there’s an interesting tactical advantage. In addition, it adds replayability through a number of possible story endings, which take about 30 hours to see.
That said, there is a curious void at the heart of the game; you spend a lot of time in the earlier stages wandering through huge, open levels with entire areas completely devoid of humanity and just throwing mindless enemies at you. It makes you wish your character had some sort of internal dialogue to generate a bit of narrative interaction, because otherwise the game can feel very clinical and unappealing.
Valkyrie Elysium certainly won’t go down as a classic, but it still has something to offer Japanese role-playing enthusiasts. Its simplicity also makes it a good entry point for those usually shy of the genre, although keep in mind that it doesn’t deliver the narrative richness we now expect from other examples of the genre.
It’s good to see the Valkyrie franchise making a comeback, with the ending suggesting there’s yet to be a sequel. With Elysium, it’s pretty much dragged itself into the 21st century, but we can only hope Square Enix pays more attention to the storyline and characterization next time.
Summary of the Valkyrie Elysium Review
In short: An occasionally inspired attempt to reinvent the Valkyrie Profile series, but a weak story and a dauntingly empty game world spoil the fun of what could have been a fun action role-playing game.
Advantages: Accessible but deep combat system and well-constructed skill tree. Still retains some platform style elements and the boss fights are generally good. Pretty easy on the eye.
cons: Unimpressive and unappealing story, with wooden dialogue. Too few side missions and too little variety in general, with not enough to do other than just fight.
Score: 6/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), PlayStation 4 and PC
Price: £54.99
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Soleil
Release date: September 29, 2022
Age Rating: 12
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below and follow us on twitter.
MORE: God Of War: Ragnarök Will Be The Last Norwegian Game, Says Producer
MORE: God Of War Ragnarök Story Trailer And Limited Edition Controller At State Of Play
MORE: New God Of War Ragnarök Gameplay Video Gives First Look At Svartalfheim
Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk
For more such stories, check out our Gaming page.
0 Comments