Valkyria Chronicles 4
Valkyria Chronicles 4 takes place in the same timeframe as the original Valkyria Chronicles, but with an all-new story focusing on Squad E of the Federation. Commander Claude Wallace and his childhood friends set out to fight in a desperate war, but bone-chilling blizzards, waves of imperial soldiers, and the godlike powers of the Valkyria stand between them and victory.
It is the year 1935 EC.
The continent of Europa is engulfed in the flames of the Second Europan War between the Atlantic Federation and the Autocratic Eastern Imperial Alliance. Although the Federation struggles valiantly against the Empire’s forces, the relentless imperial military machine threatens to consume them. With victory slipping away, the Federation executes Operation Northern Cross: a last-ditch attempt to capture the imperial capital and end the war.
Commander Claude Wallace and his loyal childhood friends in Squad E are sent to fight for the desperate operation’s success, but they will have to endure harsh bone-chilling elements, waves of imperial soldiers, and the terrifying Valkyria… and unravel a grave truth that will shake them to the core.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 Review
Valkyria Chronicles 4 comes off as Sega trying to get the series back on track, returning to its roots and leaning heavily on what made the first Valkyria Chronicles so good 10 years ago. That’s mostly a good thing, and this latest entry adds some new mechanics and balance changes that make it feel like more than just a rehash, even if some of the first game’s issues make a not-so-welcome return as well.
There’s no other strategy game quite like Valkyria Chronicles, and describing its mishmash of genres can sound like someone took a few throws at a dart board covered in game types and hoped it would all work out. It’s a JRPG set in a colorful alternate-reality World War 2, with deep turn-based tactical battles where units are controlled with semi-realtime, third-person shooter combat. Like I said, extremely weird on paper, but it works extraordinarily well in practice.
Put more simply, Valkyria Chronicles 4 feels like a tactics anime. There’s a huge focus on the story being told in the campaign, which is enjoyable for the most part over the roughly 40 hours it took me to conquer it. Compelling (if melodramatic) visual novel-style dialogue and animated cutscenes tell the exciting story of Squad E of the Atlantic Federation fighting against the Imperial Alliance, and then those fights play out in tactical battles where you use Command Points to take direct control of soldiers in the field.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 really excels in those sobering moments where it makes tough choices and leaves you to pick up the pieces. You feel like a cog in the Federation war machine because you are merely a cog in the war machine, and the story does a good job of hashing out age-old debates around ethics in wartime, necessary sacrifices, and whether or not there are truly any victors. That being said, the day to day operations of the game doesn’t always carry the same big-picture weight, and the pacing is stronger for it. Much of your active time will be spent embroiled in a military conflict of some kind; your superiors point your squad in the direction of something that needs killing, and you do it. Some may see this as a lack of opportunity for true role-playing, but the absence of freedom of choice is arguably necessary in a game where the military hierarchy is a key component of the history that it seeks to reinterpret.
Ultimately, this is a return to form for the Valkyria Chronicles series as a whole. It stays so true to the franchise’s first iteration that it’ll feel as if almost no time has passed in the decade or so since the original game first came out. In revisiting the concerns and the environments of the first, it makes the most of those parallels and invites comparison in a way that highlights its strengths. Valkyria Chronicles 4 doesn’t necessarily tell a new tale, but it doesn’t have to; for all of its clichés and expected twists, there’s a charm to the game’s unwillingness to let up as it drives you and your friends forward at a rapid clip towards its bittersweet end.
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