Valkyrie Elysium in the test: Great combat system vs. outdated game design

Valkyrie Elysium in the test: Great combat system vs. outdated game design

After we Valkyrie Elysium were allowed to play in advance, we now had the opportunity to present the new action RPG to play through before release. In our big test, we’ll tell you how the title convinced us.

The end of the world is near

At the heart of the story is one nameless Valkyrie, which was created by Allfather Odin himself. The task with which she is entrusted by the father of the gods is also quite difficult: She is to Ragnarokimpede.

In order to complete her mission, she must four special objects procure and purify as many souls as possible. Only in this way can Odin’s powers be restored. However, the earth will meanwhile populated by monsterswhich is why the Valkyrie faces a difficult fight.

Of course, we won’t tell you how this ends here. The story itself goes on pretty predictable and isn’t staged too spectacularly, but you can see how the Valkyrie is increasingly doubting her mission quite interesting. In addition, a high replay value is ensured, because “Valkyrie Elysium” has whole four different ending sequences!

It’s the weapon/spell that counts!

Of course, the stoic warrior cannot prevent the end of the world with good words alone. Luckily she has one extensive arsenal of weapons and various spells she can use. This can be used to unleash impressive combos.

Our first impression from the demo has also been confirmed: The combat system is the greatest strength of Valkyrie Elysium!

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The battles with the Valkyrie are great fun because of the diverse combat system! ©Square Enix/Soleil

Each weapon has different abilities as well as strengths and weaknesses. Swords are almost all-rounders, while the Valkyrie can deal fast but little damage with a sword. In addition, some weapons better against certain opponents suitable. You can only equip two weapons at a time, so choose wisely what suits your playstyle.

You can find new weapons in the linear levels of the game world or receive them as a reward for particularly challenging missions. The same applies to the magic that the Valkyrie can use. Each of your enemies is not only vulnerable to one type of weapon, but has also a magic weakness. In order to be able to cause as much damage as possible, you have to exploit both in a targeted manner.

Speaking of exploiting weakness: There is another bar to the left of enemy life energy. If you have filled them completely by exploiting the opponent’s magic weakness, the monsters are paralyzed for a few seconds and are defenseless against your attacks. This is how the fights play out pleasantly tactical and you are encouraged to always vary your attacks.

The boss fights are real highlights in Valkyrie Elysium © Square Enix/Soleil

Incidentally, these weaknesses are not only possessed by the small standard opponents, but also the bosses. The confrontations against these often huge monsters are among the highlights from “Valkyrie Elysium” and turned out to be pretty demanding. The bosses are also designed much more appealing than the usual enemies, which repeat themselves in size and shape after a few hours.

Help me, heroic spirits!

The so-called Einherjar, the souls of deceased warriors. As in the older games of the Valkyrie franchise you spend a not inconsiderable part of the game time gathering a troop of heroes around you who go into battle with you.

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Each of these spirits controls one other magic. If you summon them, they will stand by your side for a short time and independently attack the enemies present. Your equipped weapon also gains one magic bonussuch as lightning, ice or fire, which we found very useful.

Your einherjar (in the background) attack on their own © Square Enix/Soleil

With the combination of different weapons, spells and your Einherjar you can unleash visually stunning chains of attacks on the screen and thus drive the hit counter ever higher. Thank you smooth animations the attacks of the Valkyrie also feel wonderfully powerful and ensure that the skirmishes are very fun and satisfying to play.

In the best action RPG manner, you can of course improve both the skills of the Valkyrie and your weapons over the course of the game. You get for defeating opponents different jewelswhich you can invest in upgrades.

You can upgrade your weapons at save points and in Valhalla. New upgrades in the three skill trees of the protagonist however, you can purchase it at any time. This not only gives you access to new attacks, but also new abilities, such as improved dodge and counter moves.

You can unlock many new skills through the skill tree © Square Enix/Soleil

In this way, you gradually transform the Valkyrie into a truly divine warrior with a repertoire of actions worthy of Odin!

The fights are therefore a real highlight in “Valkyrie Elysium” and if you are fans of games like “Devil May Cry”, “Ninja Gaiden” or the older “God of War” offshoots, you will be here definitely get your money’s worth! Only the camera didn’t always capture what was happening in tight areas optimally and we felt it was a bit of a shame not being able to switch weapons during a combo.

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Game design and technology are outdated

As much as we praised the combat system for its complexity, we now have to criticize the rest of the game’s facets. Unfortunately, the other components of the action RPG cannot keep up with the fun monster battles and seem pretty outdated.

The game world has nice corners, but mostly seems lifeless © Square Enix/Soleil

What do we mean? The levels are all very linear and the Game world seems lifeless, as if the areas were only there so that we could fight in them. Every few meters new monsters appear, which we often encounter closed arenas have to oppose. Well, we’re fighting our way through an apocalyptic scenario, but a little more charm wouldn’t have hurt the areas.

Also, there is very little to discover in the levels. We can look forward to those Search for chests go, but the rewards are often hardly worth mentioning. Unfortunately, “Valkyrie Elysium” was unable to satisfy our urge to explore in the course of our playthrough don’t wake up.

Technically, “Valkyrie Elysium” doesn’t run smoothly, but the character model of the Valkyrie is nicely done © Square Enix/Soleil

Even the optional side missions can’t pull too much out of it. You can accept small orders from souls left behind, but almost always turned out very generic are. Find an item, kill some monsters, done. Modern game design looks different.

The technology doesn’t necessarily look like that of a current-gen game either. the character models, especially that of the Valkyrie, look chic and the same goes for the art style with its cel shading look. However, the environments and standard enemies cannot keep up with the main characters.

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In addition, on the PlayStation 5 version we played, we repeatedly had reloading textures as well as objects popping into the picture to do. The stiff facial animations also don’t manage to convey emotions credibly. But the atmospheric soundtrack was able to convince us.

Reference-www.playcentral.de