More information on characters and the battle system of Valkyrie Elysium has appeared on PlayStation Blog. New characters include Armand, as well as the Einherjar Kristoffer and Taika. As well, the new information focuses on the basics of the battle system, such as Divine Arts and summoning Einherjar.
Armand (who is voiced by Harry McEntire in English and Natsuki Hanae in Japanese) is a male human that Valkyrie finds in Midgard. He is looking for something, but does not know exactly what he searches for.
Einherjar are characters (specifically dead warriors) you can summon in battle with your Soul Gauge. When Valkyrie summons them, she becomes the same element as them, and they buff her attacks. Valkyrie changes color depending on her element to make it easier to keep track. As well, Divine Arts of the same element of the Einherjar you’re summoning receive a bonus.
Square Enix and Soleil have teased two Einherjar characters. The first is Kristoffer (Cassie Bradley in English, Maaya Uchida in Japanese). She is a spear user and was the princess of South Lucarda. Taika (Safiyya Ingar in English, Saori Hayami in Japanese) is a mage. In life, she was a Guardian.
You can gain new Divine Arts through treasure chests and such. Once you equip them, you can build up your Arts Gauge through items or combos to unleash powerful attacks. Other abilities you can use in combat include Soul Chain, which lets you extend a string to reach and move to faraway locations on the map.
You can customize your skills depending on your play style. For those who wish to see if a particular set of abilities works for them, you can go to the training ground Vingolf. Guarding an enemy attack at the right moment will cause time to move slower. You can also obtain a large number of souls in this fashion.
Valkyrie Elysium will come out on September 29, 2022 for the PS4 and PS5. It will come out on Windows PC on November 11, 2022.
