Developer: Soleil, Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5
Tested on: PS5
Valkyrie Elysium – Review
The Valkyrie Profile series is one that is beloved by many (older) gamers. The series came to life way back in 1999 in Japan and in 2000 it saw the light in the United States. Several titles spawned after the first one, but it seemed the franchise was somewhat left for dead. Now, a new Valkyrie game was released under the name of Valkyrie Elysium, and it ditched the traditional RPG format the older titles had. Instead, this title is an Action RPG with hack-and-slash mechanics, rather than turn-based battles. While this new entry did have a few fun aspects, it eventually turned out to be a letdown.
Story
Valkyrie Elysium tells the story of the events that have unfolded after Ragnarok, which is somewhat akin to the end of the world as we know it. Odin the Allfather was left wounded in the battle, and with his remaining strength, he created you, a Valkyrie. You’ll have to go to Midgard to save the lost souls. Upon arriving in Midgard, you encounter monsters that roam the world, as well as a hostile Valkyrie that tells you Odin is not to be trusted. Of course, you carry on with your mission, but you also start to wonder what is going on.
In between the missions, the story further unfolds, as Odin will give you your new mission(s). There are also small story segments before and after battles. Overall, the game’s plot feels extremely bland but it provides sufficient reason to press on.
Graphics
Graphically, Valkyrie Elysium is not really what we’d call a next-gen title. We realize that the game is also released on PlayStation 4, but even then, Valkyrie Elysium looks extremely underwhelming. The character designs aren’t that bad, but the facial animations look as if all main characters are mere emotionless puppets. It’s quite jarring to hear characters get upset to then get no visual feedback from their faces. On top of that, all of the game’s environments are almost completely empty, and you’ll find the same destructible items over and over again. The game then also tries to use very glossy textures in Valhalla, which makes sense, but it feels as if it simply doesn’t match the rest of the game. We’re not saying that the game looks extremely bad, it just looks like you’re playing an old PlayStation 3 game. We do have to give credit where credit is due: some of the enemy designs were quite interesting.
Sound
The sound design of the game is very decent. You’ll get a soundtrack that is very suitable for an Action RPG such as this one, and the sound effects are also of reasonable quality. The voice acting isn’t too bad, but we felt that the English voice cast sometimes also missed the right intonation to truly make the dialogues believable. All in all, there’s nothing truly wrong with the soundscape, it’s just not very memorable.
Gameplay
Valkyrie Elysium is a very generic Action RPG in which you’ll run through different stages to kill many different enemies and solve simple puzzles. From start to finish you’ll just slash your way through small groups of monsters while you level up your arsenal of moves, empower the weapons you use, and use the power of your Einherjar. The Einherjar are strong souls that help you in battle by manifesting their old physical forms. It’s a fun mechanic that makes the battles a bit more impressive than they actually are.
Truth be told, we almost summarized everything Valkyrie Elysium has to offer in the previous paragraph. The game feels extremely bland and somewhat boring, as you’ll just run through many very empty environments to battle a few monsters now and then. The overall controls also tend to feel awkward at times, especially when you have to interact with objects. For some reason, there’s a very annoying delay on the L2 input when performing actions. At certain points, this got so bad that we were unsure if the game registered our input at all.
Other than the aforementioned items, the game just offers nothing new. You can upgrade your equipment and your character, but most upgrades feel a bit basic. Many of the upgrades provide passive boosts or just a new combo combination for when you perform your basic attacks. All these acquired skills and boosts also have a certain CP value, and there is a limit to how much CP can be used. This means that at certain points you might have to turn off some of your skills in favor of others.
Conclusion
Valkyrie Elysium is not really a bad game, it’s just bland and forgettable. The title feels like a generic run-of-the-mill Action RPG from start to finish and the somewhat basic plot and shoddy graphics don’t make this game stand out from the crowd. While the game did have a few more interesting moments, there are far better options out there if you want to play through a good action RPG. If the overall setting interests you, you might want to consider checking this one out when it’s being offered at a hefty discount, if not, it’s best to skip this one altogether.
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