Valkyria Chronicles

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Valkyria Chronicles + Valkyria Chronicles 4 Bundle, along with Valkyria Chronicles 4.)

Valkyria Chronicles is a Turn-Based Strategy-RPG that plays much like the XCOM games, albeit with a very different feel thanks to the wildly different presentation this game has. While those games are dark, somewhat realistic sci-fi games, this one is an alternate history game with anime-esque visuals and story.

The presentation here is one of this game’s main selling points, too. Suffice it to say, this game is absolutely gorgeous, using cel-shaded 3D visuals to give the impression of watching an anime, complete with a sketchy filter to really sell the hand-drawn look, and the voice acting and music here is well-suited to the material as well.

The game’s story is odd, apparently focusing on an alternate-reality version of the European theater during World War… 2, I think? It’s a bit hard to tell, thanks to the somewhat fantastic technology that’s used in places paired with the heavy emphasis on the importance of tanks in combat, as well as the old-fashioned aesthetic. It’s refreshingly different, and works well for the game.

As for the gameplay itself, I really enjoy doing a game like this by pairing an abstract top-down map, paired with an on-the-ground view that gives a different feel for the tactics of a ground battle. What’s more, this game does a great job of giving players the freedom to build up their own little private army of soldiers, giving each of them not only a specialty, but their own individual friendships with your other fighters.

Gameplay on the battlefield offers a few unique possibilities too, since you aren’t limited to one action per fighter, but a number of actions for your group, meaning that if you get one fighter into a prime spot, you can have them keep going at the expense of your other character’s turns, as well as that character becoming less effective as they get exhausted. There’s also the unique approach that as you move your character, enemies who take opportunity shots at you happen in real time, and won’t stop until you quit moving and enter your menu, meaning that you’ll need to think on your feet as you move – a nice way to shake up the gameplay.

Previously, I played the PS3 version of this game, and the Switch version looks pretty much spot-on for that version, although it doesn’t have the graphical upgrades of the recent PC and PS4 remaster. It does, however, have all of the original game’s DLC included with, so that’s nice.

In the end, Valkyrica Chronicles is a fine strategy-RPG for the Switch, offering up not only quality gameplay with some original approaches to the genre, but also a wonderful presentation that’s really unique, especially for this sort of game. Fans of the genre should definitely give it a look if they don’t already have a different version.

tl;dr – Valkyria Chronicles is a Turn-Based Strategy RPG that does a few unique and interesting things with the genre while delivering an absolutely gorgeous anime-inspired cel-shaded presentation. A must-have for fans of the genre.

Grade: A-

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