One of the most surprising reveals from Square Enix this year came during a PlayStation State of Play event, as the company announced Valkyrie Elysium, a new entry in the long-forgotten JRPG series Valkyrie Profile. Valkyrie Elysium is an action RPG based on Norse mythology, moving away from the franchise's tactics-based roots. It's also looking to be its own standalone adventure, having no connections to previous entries in the series.
Despite these changes, a lot of the series' elements are still present in the battle system, where players have to recruit Einherjar to battle alongside the game's protagonist, the titular Valkyrie. Alongside a cast of other characters, the Valkyrie shall go on a journey to discover the secrets of the approaching Ragnarok. Square Enix recently shared more information regarding the game in a blog post, revealing three new characters in the process.
The first of these characters is Armand, a human that Valkyrie meets by chance on the ground while adventuring. He is apparently searching for something in the world of Valkyrie Elysium, though he has amnesia and doesn't know what it is that he's searching for. The other characters that were revealed are the Einherjar, which are dead warriors that the player can summon to fight alongside Valkyrie.
Whenever Valkyrie summons an Einherjar in Valkyrie Elysium, she becomes the same element as them and gains buffs to her attacks. Any Divine Arts performed by the player will also gain a bonus if the summoned Einherjar is of the same element. Some of the already revealed Einherjar include the former knight Egon, who wielded a giant sword, and the androgynous bow wielder named Cipher. Two more Einherjar were unveiled in this blog post, one being a former princess known as Kristoffer and another being a mage that goes by the name Taika. Major characters like the Valkyrie, Odin, and Fenrir were also shown off in screenshots.
Valkyrie Elysium is giving players tons of customization options, with skills entirely dependent on different playstyles. These can be honed further within a training area known as Vingolf, where gamers can summon past enemies to fight against. Divine Arts can be found from exploring the world, where they are hidden in treasure chests and other locations. With Valkyrie Elysium's release just over a month away now, and more information about the project being revealed, it is looking to be an intriguing title for not only Valkyrie Profile fans, but fans of action JRPGs in general.
Valkyrie Elysium will launch September 29, 2022 for PS4 and PS5, and on PC November 12, 2022.
Source: PlayStation Blog (via Siliconera)