-Played on Steam Deck-
This game is for a very specific niche. Somewhat jank combat, N64 aesthetic, kinda slow, not much story outside of side missions from townsfolk. Seems to be made by one guy as his first game released on steam. He's done great listening to feedback and adding things like a parry button and rebalanced the game for the better in general. Also appreciate him adding achievements after a few people including me asked for it.

Genuinely nothing that'll blow you away but it's only $5, doesn't overstay its welcome, and I liked roaming around a world that had the general look of Ocarina of Time. The look isn't a perfect match, stuff like how the main character is animated definitely feels kinda generic modern third person unity project-esque.

I liked finding secrets, doing trade sequences, getting enough money to buy upgrades, the risk vs. reward of the berserk potion that lets you do more damage at the cost of hearts dropping less. The nonlinear world design gives some amount of depth to the game as certain upgrades or potions are only obtained in certain locations or after certain events. The dungeon keys being handled more like DOOM keys in that you simply get the bronze key and that lets you open all bronze doors was a nice deviation from the Zelda formula that let the dungeons breath a bit and not feel too overwhelmingly linear. I especially liked the 4th dungeon where figuring out how to access the whole layout was somewhat of a puzzle in itself. The keys being used as checkpoints to jump ahead in the dungeon again in case you die, but the goal is to find 3 of a specific kind of enemy to slay, giving you the boss key. Dying before you get the boss key means you have to fight all 3 again but once you have that even if you die the boss is always close to the entrance.

It's not the most enthralling experience but there's not a lot I disliked about it. Its very rough "Random guy's first indie game" nature gives it a very simple kind of game design that's pretty nostalgic for me. Cut grass looking for heals and money. Find an item exploring then find who it belongs to for a reward. Biggest flaw is at times the combat is excessively focused on. Would have liked to see more interesting dungeon design like Dungeon 4 over enemy spam rooms. Especially the final area is literally just 4 huge enemy spam rooms before the final boss. You're given a checkpoint after 2 rooms but no more after that. So every time you die to the boss you have to go through the 2 rooms before it. So that kinda sucked. (Also lol can't believe I could say something near identical about Tears of the Kingdom's finale but there's less enemy variety in Tears enemy spam room than there was here) But hey, I liked the game for what it was. Would love if major game studios were still putting out games even vaguely resembling this tbh.

Very close to giving it 3 and a half stars but that's a tad high honestly, it's a very cozy 3/5 for me tho.

Valkie is a decent game filled with nostalgic nods to the N64 Zelda series. It follows the Zelda trope of, go to this dungeon, beat the boss and bring back the item to progress. There are 4 dungeons each with increasing difficulty that can be tackled in any order if you want a challenge. There are also side quests on offer for extra health and items to make things a bit easier.

It does have some input issues where the dodge or attack button wouldn't register. Another being where the character would freeze if an enemy got too close. It wasn't constant but it happened enough that it needs to be mentioned.

Whilst it doesn't bring anything new it's an ok game that can be fully completed in about 5 or 6 hours. Less time if you're not fussed about 100%. It's worth the £5 if you can put up with its minor issues.