Out of all the many strange things that Square Enix did in 2022, perhaps the most bizarre was the release of Valkyrie Elysium. Developed by Soleil, this marks the franchise’s first appearance on home consoles in 16 years. While I am not a diehard fan of the series, (I didn’t play Profile or Silmeria until 2014) I was still excited for Elysium because I enjoy when Square gets weird. I knew I was probably going to like this game; I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I love it.
Things kick off with a dramatic slideshow plus some narration to get us up to speed. The Gods had a big war with each other, pretty much everyone is dead, and Papa Odin had to retreat to Asgard after his climatic face-off against Fenrir. The world is close to being damaged beyond repair (topical) so Odin creates a new Valkyrie to serve as his emissary to the human realm. There is little pomp or ceremony for our main character’s arrival as we need to get to work immediately. Our mission from Odin is to save the world by purifying souls left to stagnate on Midgard. She won’t have to go it alone though, as she can recruit particularly strong souls to serve as her holy Einherjar.
The Einherjar are more than just weapons of war this time around as they actively talk after recruitment. They’ll provide commentary on the current objective, quip with each other, and offer a human perspective to the empty Valkyrie. Given the franchise, every Einherjar’s story is extremely sad but I like that we get to watch their journey to redemption in Elysium. It’s a really clever inversion of the way that Einherjar are treated in the original game. In Profile we watch our allies fall and in Elysium we get to build them back up. That’s something that not everyone seems to appreciate.
Two of the main criticisms contributing to Elysium’s middling reputation online is that the story is non-existent and the characters are boring. I don’t want to come across as overly dismissive but these complaints are both wrong. The game starts on such a hollow note because the Valkyrie herself is hollow. Odin created her in the opening cutscene as a tool to enact his will, her lack of a personality was not an accident. The Valkyrie and by extension, the player, does not need a justification because a tool does not question; it simply does. This slowly changes as the Valkyrie interacts with her Einherjar and becomes more human like in her thinking. She develops as a character, questions her purpose, and comes to care for her allies as more than just servants. After experiencing their Big Drama backstories, I care about them too.
That development of the Valkyrie and her friends is something you will miss by only pursuing the main questline. Refusing to engage with your party’s side content means means that you, and the Valkyrie, won’t ever get to bond with them. Want to know why Cypher feels like a failure despite his obvious skills and power? Well then you’re going to have to actually talk to him. Like any friendship, you only get out what you put in. Though it does make sense that the people complaining about character depth, while actively ignoring most of it, would make for shitty friends. Poor media literacy regarding the writing aside, I do take comfort in most people recognizing that the combat is awesome.
“Get purified in peace, or start eating that trashcan”
Elysium’s combat model starts out straightforward enough as you mix light and heavy attacks to create your basic action game combos. There are launchers, multi-hit finishers, juggling attacks, and everything else you would expect from a 3rd person character action game. You also get a dash, block, jump attacks, and a grapple to round out defensive/evasive options at the start. The Valkyrie sets out with a standard issue Valhalla broadsword, which is actually pretty fun to fight with, but her arsenal will expand to include: spears, rapiers, and an incredibly awesome energy bomb flail. Each weapon has its own upgrade path and unique moveset so every player should be able to find a favorite here. (Shout out to Bolverkr mains) As your weapons grow in power, they unlock more attacks and it won’t be long until you are: knocking enemies skyward, juggling them with a combo extender, resetting your own strings midair, and generally being a tornado of razor blades. Elysium feels great to play and I’ve only made it through your melee options.
Your kit will gradually expand to include flashy magic and party summons to dole out elemental damage. That damage does become critical as each enemy has both weapon and magic specific weaknesses. As you deal elemental damage, either with a spell or Einherjar imbued weaponry, you will fill the enemy’s Crush meter. Once that meter is maxed out, the enemy will be stunned, at which point you can beat the living hell out of them or switch to a more immediate threat. One of my preferred tactics is crushing the biggest monster and using that reprieve to kill all the grunts they brought along. The guard crush can even be enhanced further by combining a spell with an Einherjar of the same element. Casting Hail Shot while Cypher is in the field on a crushed enemy susceptible to ice will immobilize them, opening that target up for even bigger damage. Juggling your active Einherjar to exploit enemy weaknesses becomes very hectic after you acquire your full party. It only gets more ridiculous as the Valkyrie grows in power.
Let’s not forget that Elysium is technically an RPG so of course we need to be able to level our character. The Valkyrie has three development paths full of upgrades for you in: Attack, Defend, and Support. Each node requires material to unlock and takes up a certain amount of Character Points. The Valkyrie has a max CP value of 430 throughout the entire game, so you’ll have to pick and choose what abilities are most important to your playstyle…in theory. If I were to criticize the game’s design, it would definitely be here, as the max CP feels much too high. I didn’t need to actually deactivate any perks until the game was almost over.
The upgrades themselves cover everything from passive numerical bonuses to advanced combat techniques. Several of those techniques revolve around the Auto-Summon which allows the Valkyrie to release an Einjerhar without the summon menu/animation. For example, you can unlock the ability to auto-summon from a successful parry. If your timing is good then not only will you negate the enemy attack, but you will also get a free elemental strike from your assigned Einherjar. The auto-summon does not last as long as the normal version but can be triggered repeatedly. The feature isn’t exclusive to parries either, as you can also summon from a knock-down or finisher, the list goes on. Combined with your melee and magic attacks, the game allows you to stay on the offensive at all times. It’s truly great, not perfect though.
The will of the gods could use some work…
As much as I adore this game, it is not without its faults and I would be remiss not to mention them. I’ve already brought up the CP value but there’s also too many passive stat increases. Stuff like the “3% damage reduction” could’ve just been culled. Enemy variety is fine but you will be fighting an excessive amount of palette swaps, especially if you decide to go for the side quests. The bosses that precede an Einherjar acquisition suffer from some suspicious hitboxes and camera issues when targeting body parts. (The Cypher boss is a notably bad time due to that) Those are the biggest issues but I also have some minor annoyances I’ll list below:
- Can only equip two weapons at once
- Can only equip four spells at once
- Side quests must be accepted during story missions but can only be accessed from the hub
- Backtracking to pick up a collectible you missed is often impossible because of invisible walls thus requiring you do the mission again
- The camera will get stuck in a wall when cornered by enemies
- The game often fails to recognize ledges that can be grappled to
None of the above problems did much to detract from the overall experience but they still exist and they did irritate me.
In conclusion…I’m out of dialogue references…
Valkyrie Elysium is a very good game that is unfortunately tethered to a franchise whose ardent fans are not going to like it. It’s not a turn-based RPG with obtuse systems and it certainly doesn’t possess the opulence of previous entries. Elysium is a title with a very obvious budget and I think Soleil have done an incredible job with the resources they were given. The combat is among the most rewarding battle systems I came across in 2022. The story and character development has plenty of payoff for those willing to put in the work and Motoi’s OST is dead on. The levels are linear, however, I don’t think linearity is a bad word when it comes to video games. I only have so much time and I’d rather spend it looking at pretty hallways than a vast, visually un-interesting expanse. Elysium might get on my nerves every now and then but that didn’t make me love it any less.
8/10