On the occasion of its release on PC this November 11, Valkyrie Elysium offers a free update adding its share of content. Two new difficulties, an additional game mode to face waves of enemies, as well as the possibility of playing the Hilde, mysterious and charismatic warrior encountered several times during the main adventure and who benefits here from a dedicated game segment.
Failing to have fully convinced us with his proposal, not doing justice to what the franchise is Valkyrie Profile, it was still fun to take advantage of the quality combat system. More Beat’em All than action-RPG, the opus concocted by the Sun teams, whose title we are impatiently awaiting Wanted: Dead, expands here with an update that clearly seeks to promote its gameplay, the major and obvious asset of the software.
Scoring in Valhalla
Still waiting for the remaster of the version Valkryie Profile: Lenneth pushed back to December, this update of Valkyrie Elysium is a good reason to dive again into the title published by Square Enix. In concrete terms, the contributions are rather significant. Not that they transcend the gaming experience, the flaws that we were able to identify during our test are still there. However, the update’s additions invite us to fully grasp the title’s rich gameplay. The two difficulties introduced will guarantee a challenge worthy of the most skilful and who, like us, had been able to find the adventure a little easy in the first difficulties.
This time it’s obvious, you shouldn’t neglect the elemental weaknesses of the enemies, but also learn to manage your resources of summons and magic. Enough to force you to bring out your best skills and surpass yourself. Following this logic of discovering the combat system in its depth, the game brings the Seraphic Gate mode. The latter consists of defeating waves of opponents in an arena until you reach the top floor and unlock a reward. The particularity is that for each floor you will have different and imposed equipment, without the possibility of changing it. This goes for equipped weapons, but also usable objects as well as your spells.
A good initiative to involve players in the gameplay and subtly force us to discover all its richness, we must experiment and adapt to situations accordingly. In the background, we can see the Seraphic Doors of Valkyrie Elysium like a training room, although defeat is present. But it is here where you can more easily express your talents in combat and develop various and varied combos. An opportunity to get out of your comfort zone.
H for Hilde
Nevertheless, the major addition of the update is of course the segment granted to Hilde. Named Hilde’s Revenge, this mode offers to embody the mysterious and charismatic warrior that we meet and face during the main adventure. A rival about whom we know little, but who played an important role in the quest for our Valkyrie. We mentioned it when testing Valkyrie Elysium, the scenario and the narration as a whole were very damaging for the game, in particular because of its belonging to the saga Valkyrie Profile, among other things.
Square Enix’s opus is much closer to a Beat’em All, between Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden, several members of the Soleil studio have also cut their teeth in the industry alongside Tomonobu Itagaki, the father of the ninja franchise. An observation noticed while browsing the adventure therefore, but also on the segment of Hilde. If the main interest is to be found in the fights, it is a shame not to have a minimum of intrigue to expose around this new head which was just waiting to be properly exploited to gain depth. And establish himself as the leading character of Valkyrie Elyisum.
But this is not the case, The Revenge of Hilde is nothing more than an expeditious forward race interspersed with a plethora of clashes. In view of the narrative problems of the main adventure of Valkyrie Elysium, basically, we can only appreciate this rhythm. And then with the number of fights ahead of us, there is time to get familiar with the gameplay of the masked warrior. Close to her sidekick Valkyrie, she is no less different. She does not have Einherjar allies, rather spectral invocations, but above all, she wields only one weapon, her axe.
The Hilde Supremacy
However, the invocations work on the same principle as the Einherjar and it also has elementary magic, the same. Same for the defensive tools which are strictly similar to those of the heroine. The divide in the gameplay really appears on two distinct points. Maneuverability and building combos. Hilde is heavier and slower, which can be disconcerting in the first fights, then her weapon adds additional slowness. Some attacks will put you in great difficulty. However, his specific combo mechanic allows him to compensate.
Although sequences will be built in the same way as with the valkyrie, you cannot, here, take advantage of a change of weapon to vary the pleasures. In exchange, Hilde can build powerful combos via the flicker mechanic. When hitting with light attacks, your ax will flicker at various times. This is the signal that must be attacked again to prolong the sequence. Basically, you can create chains of hits by having the right timing. A variation of approach which imposes to approach the fights in a slightly different way. Especially since Hilde is naturally more powerful than Odin’s valkyrie, from a scriptwriting point of view, so the enemies will be too.
What to be a little hustle on the first crossed creatures. That said, you get used to it very quickly and you will soon be comfortable. But we must admit that with several bosses to fight, Hilde’s journey brings a bit of a welcome challenge. Well, after that the lock and camera issues will once again take their toll, to the point that you’ll often be forced to enter flicker timings blind. But the pleasure of taking control of the character is still very real. We will also note a heavy drop in framerate on large waves of enemies and bosses.
With its DLC look, the update of Valkyrie Elysium is a good reason to relaunch the software. If this does not remove the faults of the game, it consolidates the content and allows everyone to progress with more comfort. Knowing the know-how of Sun on the fights, we appreciate these additions which reach out to us to experiment and discover the richness of the gameplay. Whether through added difficulties or Seraphic Gates. Finally, being able to play Hilde is a real pleasure as the character is so stylish, we discover other combos and this renews the gaming experience to a minimum.