Genre: Strategy RPG
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega

When "Valkyria Chronicles" originally hit on the PlayStation 3, its experimental, hardware-flexing post-processed colored pencil and water color aesthetic brought the game's parallel-universe World War II theaters to life, like interactive story book illustrations. The effect is still agreeable, but after a full decade the engine is more dated looking than anything, with "snagged on geometry running animations" and overall triangle and texture sophistication comparable to the two PSP sequels. The series could use a "Monster Hunter World"-style refresh.

Series composer Hitoshi Sakimoto-- not to be confused with Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto-- returns for this fourth entry, and his output in this release is as fabulous as ever. As is par the course, the battle, intermission, and base songs match the game's light-hearted war themes of bravery and camaraderie perfectly. The English voice-over work is an improvement over the second game's, which was the previous American-localized release due to the third game never having left Japan. The only knock is that, as was the case with the game's visuals, the formula is starting to feel a bit stale.

Series veterans will feel right at home with this fourth entry; once again, units are positioned and selected via a map screen, then moved about in real-time. Up to three units can be moved in tandem, and will attack together if in close enough proximity. Tanks and armored troop carriers return, and there is even a new "mortar" unit type-- the passive firing of which significantly adds to the game's sense of realism, like a video game version of a beach storming!

Where the two PSP sequels focused on subway-friendly, bite-sized missions and stages, Valkyria Chronicles 4 returns to the first game's expansive maps. In spite of its somewhat dated design, it is possibly the Switch library's best strategy RPG to date-- but that's more of a testament to the strength of the original, of which this game is a carbon copy right down to the menus, than anything new which this release contributes. This title's extremely slow, low-difficulty, tutorial-strewn first several hours might also be a deterrent to many potential players.