Preview: Valkyrie Elysium’s combat is its sharpest edge
Valkyrie Elysium is not exactly a new Valkyrie Profile. It’s good to go in with that initial mind-set: it’s got shades of the Valkyrie franchise, but it’s a distinctly more real-time action game. In my hands-on time with the demo ahead of its release, it reminded me of modern action-RPGs way more than it did tri-Ace’s turn-based combo-stringing battles.
Developer Soleil is bringing its own mark to the Valkyrie series alongside Square Enix, and to its credit, the action made the biggest impact. It clicks into place quickly, and gives me a ton of interlinking tools to mix around and sprinkle throughout my combos. It’s this slice of the story that gives me pause, and has me wondering how the rest of Valkyrie Elysium will pan out.
After a short prologue describing the events of a looming Ragnarok and Odin’s worries, the player is put in control of a Valkyrie. Elysium doesn’t spend too much time running through the basics before putting you in the middle of combat, and it actually provides a decent number of tools up-front for fighting.
The Valkyrie has a light-heavy set-up that will feel very familiar on the Square and Triangle buttons, respectively. There’s a block and a dash, and later upgrades allow you to use these even better, parrying attacks or activating a slow-motion effect on well-timed dodges.
An energy grapple called the Soul Chain is the first stand-out, allowing the Valkyrie to zip around the field between enemies. I loved using this in combination with a launcher combo to send enemies up into the air, whip myself up to them in the sky, tack on another combo, and send them back down to the ground. A lot of this will feel familiar to those who have played a Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, and Soleil’s made it feel
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