I think the most interesting thing about Valkyrie Elysium is that it’s not a story about saving the world. It’s about what happens in that period where everything is ending already. Most of my time playing this game was spent in ruins, fighting the vengeful spirits that still roam the land alongside those spirits who chose to fight with me and listening to the voices that had long perished. And although Odin tells you from the beginning that your efforts are done so save it, actually walking through Valkyrie Elysiums world, the question haunted me: What is there left so save? This question is at the heart of the game. [Spoilers follow] The Valkyrie, a hollow shell at the beginning, distanced from the world she wants to save, becomes more and more involved over the course of the story – through the help of the spirits that chose to stay with her. And in the end, the player must choose what to do with that involvement. The different endings all give a different answer to the questions “What is there left to save? What is there left to fight for?”. The so-called “true ending” has a somewhat cynical answer to this: That the gods who were responsible for the worlds’ demise will not see the next one. Another ending plainly states: heterosexual love. In every ending the world we walked through in the game ends. The agency of the player is to decide what happens next.

Safe to say, the themes and story of Valkyrie Elysium actually resonated with me in a sort of way. The engaging combat system helped me to stay hooked and – I had a good time with the game! It’s not some great masterpiece but it’s an odd little game, lacking in variety, but with a lot of heart.