Valkyria Chronicles 4 Review

The original Valyria Chronicles is a great game and I would say easily within my top ten favourite of all time. It had an emotional story, lovable characters and at the time had featured some of the best strategy gameplay that would only be rivaled by the time XCOM: Enemy Unknown was released. Sadly this means that the latest in the series, Valkyria Chronicles 4, has a lot to live up to.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 takes place at the same time as the original game, during the second Europan War (a fictional version of the European Theater of WWII). This time we follow Squad E, a new group of rag-tag soldiers who join up to fight the Imperial Alliance and their oppressive rule. The group includes the Squadron leader Claude Wallace, the Shocktrooper Kaz and the sniper Kai (among others) who were childhood friends before the war.

The squad are enlisted to help the Federation on a last-ditch effort to end the war by capturing the Imperial Capital through Operation Northern Cross, an operation that we learn in the beginning of the game had the highest casualties mark of any single campaign during the war.

We’re given the point of view of Squad E for the entirety of the operation, which includes all the dramatic flair a war-time drama can deliver to you. You see friendships and trust be built and broken and desperate last stands from both sides, it is a solid escalation of the war we’ve experienced from the first game.

This is mainly thanks to Valkyria Chronicles doing such a great job at building out characters that you care about. While I’ll admit it took me much longer to care for the members of Squad E then it did for the original team, after some missions and side stories to get to know the characters better, you start to care for the team when dramatic moments start kicking in.

The strategy RPG combat of Valkyria Chronicles remains mostly intact here, with some exceptions of a new grenadier unit, who is a welcomed addition to the long-range class which was previously only held by the Snipers. Grenadiers carry around large explosive motors which take time to set up and fire. While the damage they do is amazing, they’re glass-canons so to speak, which means you’ll have to keep a group of scouts and shock troopers around to make sure they’re properly defended.

One of Valkyria Chronicles best features makes a return, as every soldier has their own personal stat, likes and dislikes that can affect various abilities. For example, a character that “Fancies Women” will have better accuracy when partnered up with a female squadmate, or a character with Allergies will lose accuracy if near tall grass or flower beds. The system gets expanded further by a friendship system, which soldiers who likes another squadmate will be able to help with attack and defensive cover-fire if nearby.

This is one of the features that helps make Valkyra Chronicles 4 so unique – along with its hybrid of real time actions, third person aiming and turn-based battles – that no other game has manage to bring a similar experience in regards to the tension each move can cause.

Visually, everything about Valkyria Chronicles 4 is stunning thanks to the CANVAS Engine, which keeps up the tradition of the story book design. The design really shines in the levels that features vibrant colours, however even on the darker industrial and snow-covered levels looks amazing in this art style.

There is very little negative I have to say about Valkyria Chronicles 4 that isn’t more of a small annoyance, like the presentation of the game’s story and cutscenes, or the menu selection which can take some time to navigate properly on PS4 (assuming that it might be better on PC).

Yet despite all of this, I can only recommend Valkyria Chronicles 4 to those who played an enjoyed the original game. Much of the game while telling a different story, relies on the lore learnt from the previous title to really enjoy what is happening. Although if you’re looking for a great strategy RPG to get lost in, Valkyria Chronicles 4 is definitely one of the best choices available.