WITH pop culture and the Thor movies by Disney being so prevalent in today’s society, we are all but too aware of the events that transpire in Norse Mythology around Odin and Ragnarok – but it’s easy to forget that Square Enix has dabbled in these stories since the PlayStation 1/PlayStation 2 eras with the Valkyrie Profile series as well as the smaller title on the Nintendo DS.
Now, the time has come to step into the new era on PlayStation 5 and PC with Valkyrie Elysium (which is not related in any way at all to Disco Elysium, just in case you were wondering).
I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing a few hack and slash titles in my short time with GOA but this one seemed to really hit home with me as I’ve started to appreciate the Norse Mythology a bit more these days with the likes of God of War’s and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla all taking their shot at telling the age-old tales of Odin and the end of days.
Valkyrie Elysium aims to tell the tale during the events of Ragnarok as Odin has created you, his new Valkyrie, and tasks you with heading to Midgard (earth) to cleanse the world of evil and purify it’s souls so that Odin may become more powerful to save the world.
The game starts out as most games do these days, with a good old fashioned tutorial. In saying that, it’s not part of the story, but it eases you into the whole combat system you will be dealing with over the next 15-20 hours of the game. With the more traditional hack and slash controls (unlike Soulstice, I’ve linked the review) Gamers who are familiar will be right at home with the battle system, consisting of light and heavy attacks, magics, guard and dodge, but what it does add is a button to deploy a ‘Einherjar’.
Einherjar’s are companions you will gather throughout your time in Valkyrie Elysium after you battle their dark side entities that have been left on Midgard and free their souls to assist you in your task ahead to do Odin’s bidding. They will all have an elemental attack such as fire, electricity, ice, you know, the usual stuff. Where the enemies you’ll face will all have an icon, along with a health meter above them giving you the hint at what is needed to take them down quicker.
The early missions are simple, killing your foes to purify their souls which will feed Odin and make him stronger. While on these missions you will have plenty to do such as finding hidden chests which contain all the potions required for your adventures such as health and magic refills, but also defeating enemies in Valkyrie Elysium will help refill these meters as I only really found the need for the health early on, but in the later stages of the game, I needed to hit up that menu button to down some spirit and magic so I could call on my companions for help.
You will also come across lost souls within the world whom only you can see and they will give you Subplots. There are no side quests to speak of in this game as each mission is a straight up start to finish affair. The subplots can all be accessed when returning to Valhalla and at the map, select them and return to Midgard to complete these (also, speak to your companions littered around Valhalla).
You will want to do these as the rewards are often in the form of items that will increase one of the three bars, health, magic and spirit. On occasion, you will find a new sword in these subplots, so if you want to collect them all, I suggest taking the time with these short forks in the road.
Speaking of the swords, you have the choice to level these up at save points littered across the land which will increase their stats but the real levelling up comes from actually using them. The more you use a sword or speak, the more affinity you gain with it, unlocking new moves along with getting a better ranking for said item. This also feeds into the player’s progression as you will only be able to unlock specific abilities if your sword has hit a certain ranking, meaning that you will want to use a weapon for a while.
You will definitely find your favourites, but also remember to keep on trying out new ones, the upgrade area will tell you the weapon you need to use more if that’s the case that you want to 100% your abilities.
After spending your time in Valkyrie Elysium saving and purifying souls you will eventually come across a rouge Valkyrie whom you will learn their name later in the game and fight her a few times, each time you fight, a new seed of doubt is cast to your character as to Odin’s true intentions for your missions as she is an agent now for Fenrir, the wolf daughter of Loki who has already fought Odin and escaped.
While the ‘boss’ battles in this game are generally against the same enemies and can get a bit dull fighting said enemies over and over, its the combat system that kept me saying, ‘one more mission’
The fighting in Valkyrie Elysium is pure joy and while I hold all of my hack and slash standards to Bayonetta 2, while it isn’t as good, it’s still a great time to be had travelling throughout all of the different areas you will encounter. Mostly dead cities, but you will also head to the high snowy peaks and lush forests.
The game visuals can sometimes be a bit hit and miss at times. At some points in the game, from afar, it looks like a cell-shaded style of game, but while up close the visuals look fantastic, a step down from many of Square’s many AAA titles from the past.
This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5 and there were no visual or frame rate settings to select from the game really holds up in this humble gamer’s opinion. Once I got past the nit picking of seeing enemies in the distance look cell shaded, I really enjoyed the world of Valkyrie Elysium.
Concluding, I really enjoyed my time with Valkyrie Elysium. The gameplay was superb, the voice acting was great and the story will leave you wanting to know whose ideals you will side with – Odin or Fenrir. Hopefully, the outcome will surprise you as Nora travels through Midgard, she will become more sympathetic to humans. Definitely check this game out.
