Valkyrie Profile

Valkyrie Profile is a role-playing game developed by tri-Ace and published by Enix, released for the PlayStation on December 22, 1999 in Japan and August 29, 2000 in North America. It draws heavily from Norse mythology, casting the player as Lenneth, one of the three valkyries of Asgard, tasked by Odin to descend to Midgard and recruit the souls of fallen warriors (Einherjar) in preparation for the final battle of Ragnarok.

The game is structured around a chapter-based system in which each chapter allots a fixed number of periods. Visiting towns and dungeons consumes periods, requiring players to manage their time across story events, dungeon exploration, and Einherjar recruitment. Recruited warriors can be trained and then transferred to Asgard to serve in the divine war, with Odin evaluating the valkyrie's selections at the end of each chapter. The game features multiple endings, including a hidden canonical ending (the A ending) that requires specific, non-obvious actions across multiple chapters to unlock.

Dungeon exploration plays out in side-scrolling 2D environments with light platforming. Combat uses a distinctive real-time hybrid of the turn-based format: each of the four controller face buttons corresponds to a party member, and players control the timing and sequence of attacks freely, enabling aerial juggling and coordinated multi-character combos. The soundtrack was composed by Motoi Sakuraba.

Valkyrie Profile received mixed-to-positive reviews at release, with praise directed at its visual presentation, battle system innovation, and mythological premise, and criticism aimed at its narrative structure, pacing, and the disconnect between its mechanical components. The game became a sought-after collector's item on the PlayStation. A PSP port, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (2006), added remastered FMV sequences and was later released digitally. A prequel, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006.