Valkyria Chronicles 4

Valkyria Chronicles 4 is the sequel I’ve been waiting for, returning to the roots of what made the first game so special. It adds a handful of new and interesting mechanics to its tactical battles, nearly all of which improve the formula in tangible ways, but otherwise plays it fairly safe. The story can feel a little bit impersonal and disconnected from the rest of the series, but the way it makes even the smallest characters important and alive is remarkable.

Ultimately, this is a return to form for the Valkyria Chronicles series as a whole. It stays so true to the franchise's first iteration that it'll feel as if almost no time has passed in the decade or so since the original game first came out. In revisiting the concerns and the environments of the first, it makes the most of those parallels and invites comparison in a way that highlights its strengths.

More concerned with its own past than its future, I also can’t help but find its systems simply more of the same. That even at its best, I’m still reminded of how it could have been better. Though, to be clear, that doesn’t make Valkyria Chronicles 4 bad. All it does is force me to admit that we can all sometimes become prisoners to our own nostalgia.