Valkyrie Elysium Review

Valkyrie Profile is a series of role-playing games that was launched in 1999 for Japan and 2000 for the West, which achieved some success among RPG lovers. The saga stood out for its atypical approach to what was the traditional role, mix between platforms and turn-based RPG.

After many years of waiting by fans, it was announced at the beginning of the year Valkyrie Elysium developed by Soleil. Many were happy with the news, however, the game presents a different approach to the beginning of the saga, that of an Action RPG. Anyone who is afraid of the jump the series made should put them aside and give it a try, since, although it doesn’t follow the trail of the first installments, it offers just enough to stand out from the rest of the games in the genre.

the collector of souls

Something to note is that Valkyrie Elysium sticks to the origin of the series, as it retells a story based on Norse mythology. Also, although the premise is the same, the approach to the story is different. This allows us to enjoy the game even if we haven’t played the other titles, because the game is not a sequel.

Long ago, Odin, the All-Father, along with his brothers, embarked on a great war against the Wolf Fenrir for the existence of the worlds. At one point the war was at an impasse, when the imminent arrival of Raganarok is announced. Odin decides to create a Valkyrie in order to collect the souls of fallen warriors who were once referents, this so that they accompany the All-Father in the coming fight.

It is a simple plot that does not bet on big entanglements as the story progresses. It has a melancholy tone, and things get a little bit mattery in the second half of the game. From there, the game puts the Valkyrie to try to find out what her real purpose is in this world.

A change of focus

As I already mentioned, Valkyrie Elysium differs from previous installments in that it is an Action RPG. We drive the beautiful Valkyrie as we take on enemies in real time, as well as explore extensive maps. It is a fun and intuitive battle system type Hack and Slash that puts us to fight with a variety of weapons, magic and dynamic movements. However, the camera is sometimes a problem, especially in small spaces where we will have many blind spots that enemies take advantage of.

The game takes place in the form of missions that we must choose from a menu, and these represent the maps. At the design level, each area has a considerable extension and has different rewards and secrets to discover. We will find chests with objects, blue flowers that are the thoughts of inhabitants who have died, secondary missions that are granted by wandering spirits, among other things. Sometimes the maps are reused but it is more for secondary missions that do not usually last longer than necessary, although this may not be liked by everyone. Once each mission is finished, we will have a score that varies depending on our performance such as damage received, use of objects and repetitions.

To reach certain remote or high places, we have the ability of the Chain of the Soul that allows us to reach these places. Also, our companions can open obstructed paths using their powers. Although they are not mind-boggling puzzles, they do at least offer variety to the formula.

We have three basic skill trees that we can level up, and they offer unlockable skills. The trees are Attack, which increases both our magical power and our strength in combat; Defense, which reduces damage and offers counter moves; Support, which offers abilities like double jump and raises our health and magic stats.

Know your weapons to face your enemies

In Valkyrie Elysium, we will have a variety of distinctive weapons that the Valkyrie can use, and each weapon is handled differently. Using a sword is not the same as using a spear or a rapier, one may be faster but less powerful, while another has more range and longer execution time. Another detail is the runes, which serve as complements to weapons and offer different benefits.

The weapons have a percentage level that rises with constant use, it is called the Competence Bar and it motivates us to master them all and not always use the same ones. Also, each weapon has an individual skill tree and to unlock some skills you need to reach a certain level of proficiency. There will be weapons that will not convince us at first, but as their range of action expands, they will perform better.

Each enemy is liable to have an elemental weakness, and knowing each one is the key to dominating the battlefield. Hitting enemies’ elemental weaknesses puts them in a stunned state called “crushed”, where they are stunned for a time in addition to taking more damage. Not only common enemies can be debuffed, level and larger bosses can be applied to them, as well as a second status that doubles the time of the stun period. However, when they recover from this state, they will be immune to their elemental weakness for a short time.

Something that we will notice is that the variety of enemies is scarce, we will have the typical generic and abundant ones, the medium and less frequent ones and the level bosses. However, we will constantly be seeing the same models, only with some color variations. It is not something that tarnishes the title, but a good variety of different enemies makes us constantly rethink our combat strategies.

In Valkyrie Elysium, we have a very interesting magic system. Under the health bar, we will have a number of uses of these magic that increase as we level up. We will have different attacks, which range from fire projectiles, ice stakes and even health recovery. As we progress, we will find advanced and more powerful versions of each magic. The only downside is that the new versions have the same animations as the base spells, but it’s still fun.

comrades in arms

Like Valkyrie Profile, we will have to recruit a group of warriors fallen in battle known as Einheriar, whose skills can still be useful to us. These warriors can be summoned by the Valkyrie to help us in battle. Each Einheriar has a base element that they use when attacking, and they give us part of their power as a passive ability.

Most of the time we will fight alone, but in Valkyrie Elysium we can summon the Einheriar at any time as long as the soul bar allows it. The Einheriar will fight via AI for a limited time before leaving the battlefield. You can even adjust how long an Einheriar will stay on the field in exchange for consuming more of the Soul Gauge.

As we use them in combat, more will become stronger, thus improving their fighting prowess. Also, they have personal side quests that tell us a lot more about each other’s backstory. This also gives us additional benefits in the game.

Something interesting is that we unlock memories from the past of each Einheriar and we can see them in the main menu. Each memory is different stages of decisive moments in the lives of the warriors and gives us a deeper understanding of who they were before.

Through the eye of Odin

Regarding the technical section, we have that it is a correct game that does not make great technical boasts. The character models are very detailed, especially the main characters, however the level design is very brief and even sad, with few elements to interact with. It has a very noticeable grainy filter effect, and some popping in the vegetation.

About the soundtrack, it is directed by Motoi Sakuraba and it is charming, epic and at the same time melancholic, which is the general tone that the title exudes. It is dubbed into English and Japanese with Spanish subtitles, although we will be listening to the same dialogues of the Valkyrie while we play.