Developer: SEGA
Publisher: SEGA
Release: 25th September
On: Windows
From: Steam
Price: 50, $60, 60
When it first came out a decade ago, Valkyria Chronicles came off as a delightfully odd duck: a sort of doe-eyed strategy JRPG that gave the Western-dominated strategy genre a much-needed taste of pastel anime charm. But its hybrid of third-person movement with turn-based tactics was relegated to consoles until a PC release in 2016. Now, for better or worse, Valkyria Chronicles 4 offers a grand return to the grounded militarized milieu that fans of the original know and love, outfitted with many of the same strengths, but with many of the same foibles riding on the underside. In this sense, it often comes off as a incremental sequel – a Valkyria 2 for the people that never played the actual Valkyria 2 – rather than the fourth iteration of that wonderful core idea.