We squirreled away a while with Valkyrie Elysium and its new demo forward of its launch this month.
The demo begins ominously with an animated sequence that explains the occasions of Ragnarok and the way Odin and Fenrir fought to the loss of life. In his final moments, Odin creates a brand new legion of warriors that are supposed to steward all of his creations. It’s implied the Valkyrie are these warriors.
There’s not numerous story introduced after this expository introduction. The protagonist’s title is even talked about and is known as solely “Valkyrie”. The gameplay begins virtually instantly and is hands-off for almost all of the demo.
Followers of the Valkyrie Profile video games shall be at a loss. The best way the demo unfolds, it’s clear that Valkyrie Elysium could have little to no connections to Lenneth or Silmeria.
The occasions surrounding Odin and Ragnarok don’t match up with prior video games and even his design is extra just like the historic depictions than the look the all-father had within the PlayStation sport.
Valkyrie Profile was a sequence of video games that started as a turn-based RPG and was regularly inching in direction of motion for the reason that first sequel on PlayStation 2. Whereas Valkyrie Elysium could appear to be a reboot, it does adapt many concepts into its full-on stylish-action fight.
The Einherjar was once recruitable social gathering members for turn-based fight, now they’re extensions of Valkyrie’s talents. Immediately summonable from mapped face buttons; the Einherjar have their very own elemental properties and trigger numerous results on foes.
Valkyrie Elysium‘s demo exhibits that with solely a few Einherjar, the fight has numerous depth and potential. Stringing combos is easy however utilizing these souls of warriors successfully mid-combo for juggling and crowd management is fertile with prospects.
Valkyrie additionally has a grapple hook the place she will be able to rapidly zip from foe to foe, masking numerous floor effectively. The circulation of fight feels easy and satisfying. Valkyrie all the time has numerous choices at her disposal, even this early within the sport in a demo no much less.
There’s some room for enchancment. Valkyrie Elysium isn’t any Satan Might Cry 5; cancels really feel a bit on the sluggish aspect which is unbecoming of a strong goddess. Her motion may really feel a bit sluggish and it takes barely too lengthy earlier than she begins her dash.
For what this demo model of Valkyrie Elysium affords, there will be ways in which the ultimate sport can broaden and refine this strong basis. The visuals received’t impress anybody.
The graphics in Valkyrie Elysium resemble one thing from the seventh console gen and have that overly clear sheen that was current in most video games from that period.
Character fashions look strong, although should not beautiful like most late era PlayStation 4 Sq. Enix video games. Valkyrie does have a horny determine and the artists clearly poured numerous care into ensuring she seemed good from most angles.
Her draping apparel does sashay and flutter, however not realistically. The workforce making Valkyrie Elysium are a small workforce and are doubtless working with strict limitations and have a deadline to satisfy. Their efforts are commendable and if this was an indie sport, it might be spectacular.
The manufacturing high quality total is all over. Some photographs look unimaginable and are dense with high-quality particulars. The ornate buildings and otherworldly vistas recommend there’s a assured inventive imaginative and prescient at work, however then Valkyrie has a very goofy Naruto-style run and Valkyrie Elysium change into comical.
With a deeper have a look at the ultimate sport, Valkyrie Elysium would possibly come collectively and really feel extra like a cohesive imaginative and prescient. There’s some shades of Stranger of Paradise right here. The uneven manufacturing values and emphasis on over-the-top brutal motion makes Valkyrie really feel like Jack Garland’s sister.
From its Darkish Souls-esque UI design and Satan Might Cry-inspired motion, Valkyrie Elysium is wanting like a combination of varied motion sport pastiches. There’s additionally a grappling hook; one thing so many video games have now that it’s turning into a cliche; even Doom Everlasting had one.
Apart from the utilization of Einherjar and Matoi Sakuraba’s music, there may be not rather a lot that connects Valkyrie Elysium to Profile. There could also be extra to it and in context issues within the demo will make extra sense, however it’s exhausting to no surprise how all these components will connect with the bigger story.
Valkyrie Elysium is set to launch first on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on September twenty ninth, whereas the Home windows PC (through Steam) model releases November eleventh, 2022.