Valkyrie Elysium review: a cult-classic made average

digitaltrends.com:

Square Enix has been on a roll lately when it comes to reviving dormant franchises and remaking its classics. That process kicked off in earnest with Final Fantasy VII Remake, but the company has kept things moving since then. There’s been a new Front Mission here, another Star Ocean there, and now an addition to the Valkyrie series with the recent release of Valkyrie Elysium.

The inherent trouble with this new initiative is that these projects have to live up to all the expectations and nostalgia its players still strongly feel. In the case of Valkyrie Elysium‘s original predecessor, Valkyrie Profile, that’s an even larger problem due to its cult classic status. The difference between these two isn’t just the generational gap or gameplay changes, but the lack of effort and innovation that Valkyrie Elysium brings to the table in a world where we’ve seen Japanese role-playing games and action integration perfected again and again.

The largest weakness of Valkyrie Elysium comes from its extremely simple story, which boils down to “Ragnarok is coming. Go fight and save the world.” You play as Nora, a new Valkyrie who has to complete this task as ordered by Odin. She follows this command until a predictable plot twist that you’ll see from a mile away turns her against the all-father.

Everyone has a personality constructed out of cardboard, including the adventure’s main hero, Nora Valkyrie. There were no narrative hooks for me to get invested in, which made me feel like most of the development attention went to the combat and visuals instead. That wouldn’t be a problem if this was a fully fleshed-out action romp, but it struggles to deliver in that department too.

When going into Valkyrie Elysium, all I could think about was