Sq. Enix holds lots of the most well-known and storied franchises in gaming historical past. Everyone knows Last Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and even considerably smaller collection like the brand new Bravely video games or the Nier titles. One collection that by no means actually acquired a real probability to shine, and hasn’t seen a correct launch in over a decade, is the Valkyrie video games. The Norse-inspired video games started in 2000 with Valkyrie Profile for the unique PlayStation, adopted by a prequel on the PS2, after which lastly one final recreation on the Nintendo DS in 2009 (not counting a cellular recreation). They had been modern video games that blended 3D exploration with fluid actions throughout a map with turn-based battles, however the not too long ago introduced Valkyrie Elysium appears to be like to revitalize the collection with a brand new path.
Followers most likely thought Sq. Enix had lengthy forgotten about this smaller franchise, and but on the Sony State of Play held in March 2022, Sq. Enix unveiled Valkyrie Elysium to the world. For many, this may be their first publicity to the long-dormant collection, and those who do keep in mind the basic JRPG will probably be equally curious as to what this new entry will probably be. These video games have deep lore and wealthy story, however the gameplay is what is going to both draw most individuals in or push them away. For all that and extra, right here’s the whole lot we learn about Valkyrie Elysium.
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Launch date
Valkyrie Elysium is slated to reach in 2022, which, if it involves cross, will probably be a refreshingly fast turnaround time from announcement to launch. As a result of Sq. Enix didn’t announce an precise date, or perhaps a month or season, that leads us to consider that there’s nonetheless a great deal of work to be finished on the sport. At greatest, we anticipate Valkyrie Elysium to come back on the finish of the 12 months, maybe as a November and even December launch, if not ending up getting pushed into early 2023.
Platforms
Valkyrie Elysium will return to its PlayStation roots after its diversion to the 3DS and cellular programs, and be launched on PS4, PS5, and PC. There’s no point out as as to if this console exclusivity is everlasting or if Xbox and Nintendo gamers will finally see this recreation on these platforms, so for now your solely choices are a PlayStation or PC.
Trailer
We solely have the one announcement trailer for Valkyrie Elysium to dissect thus far, however we additionally scrounged round to get just a few extra particulars in regards to the recreation.
Beginning with the trailer, we get just a few pans over deserted and decaying buildings till coming to a lady standing in a subject. We’re posed the query, “In an unjust world, what is going to you select?” This lady, a Valkyrie little question, then makes an attempt to recruit a kneeling soldier of some kind we don’t get a great have a look at.
The following part is all gameplay, which we’ll element beneath, however does present a pleasant vary of environments we will discover. A voiceover kicks in and warns the Valkyrie that Ragnarok is ravaging the world and that he — whoever “he” is — desires her to be his instrument to intervene and save the world from full destruction. We get a shot of the Valkyrie bowing to a blond man sitting on a excessive throne — presumably the narrator we heard earlier than — however once more by no means see his face.
After the title drop, a scene performs the place the Valkyrie calls out a foe carrying full armor and a masks and asks who they’re earlier than the trailer ends. The best way this individual smirks and the way the 2 are framed lead us to consider they are going to be rivals of some kind.
On the sport’s official website, the synopsis of the sport solely provides a tiny bit extra context to the plot we will anticipate. It reads, “Way back, Ragnarok — the Finish Occasions — loomed upon the realms. The All-Father, with the final of his power, created and emissary of redemption; her sole process the salvation of a doomed world. And thence started the story of a brand new Valkyrie…”
One of the best we will collect for now’s that you’ll play because the titular Valkyrie on a quest to someway stop Ragnarok someway.
Gameplay
Gameplay takes up about half of the trailer, and could be very completely different from the earlier entries. Traversal is probably the most related, wanting quick and fluid with loads of choices to leap and grapple round environments, however the motion is not segmented right into a turn-based RPG format as earlier than. It’s all in actual time and way more motion based mostly, and appears to circulate seamlessly with exploration reasonably than chopping to a separate battle display.
We get a great have a look at a bunch of bodily combo skills along with her sword, although they do point out that she can have entry to a number of weapons. Valkyrie can sprint, carry out a stinger, launch, and pull off loads of flashy combos that look considerably just like a personality motion recreation like Nier: Automata, although we don’t understand how deep or advanced the system is simply but.
Magic is one other large element of fight. We see numerous spells, like fireballs and calling down thunder, but in addition what appears to be like like the power to summon ghosts or spirits. At a number of factors we see that knight from the trailer preventing alongside her, and whereas he appears to be like completely human more often than not, in a single scene she calls him to her and he turns into far more spectral and translucent earlier than fading away right into a cloud of purple sparks.
Some spells appear to have a little bit of a startup after we see transient moments of Valkyrie stopping and inexperienced rings seem beneath her as if getting ready for a much bigger assault. We additionally see one second of her selecting up inexperienced and purple crystals of some form from the atmosphere, maybe replenishment for some kind of MP, summon, and even HP meters. We don’t see any HUD components, so can’t inform precisely how magic or summoning will work, if that’s certainly what is occurring.
For individuals who are taking part in on PS5, and presumably a PC that may deal with it, Valkyrie Elysium can also be stated to run at 4K and 60 FPS. Efficiency on the last-gen system hasn’t been revealed, and sure gained’t till the sport comes out.
Multiplayer
Valkyrie Elysium is a single-player recreation, no query. Even on the shop web page, it’s listed as a one-player recreation, leaving no room for interpretation. For a JRPG like this, coming from a collection that has at all times been single participant, this makes good sense to us.
DLC
We don’t anticipate Valkyrie Elysium to have any DLC. This appears like a smaller-scale undertaking for Sq. Enix, and definitely isn’t one meant to be frequently up to date. There’s at all times an opportunity they are going to add a brand new story DLC of some form, however the whole lot about it thus far, a minimum of to us, appears like this will probably be a completed bundle at launch.
Pre-order
There’s no launch date but for Valkyrie Elysium, so pre-orders aren’t accessible but. Nevertheless, on each the PlayStation Retailer and Steam the sport does have retailer pages up the place you possibly can a minimum of add it to your wishlist if you wish to be notified when you possibly can reserve your copy. Both approach, we’ll replace this part when pre-orders can be found with all these particulars, together with any completely different editions there is perhaps, so keep tuned for that.
Editors’ Selection
