Valkyria Chronicles

Valkyria Chronicles, a tactical RPG set in a fictional European-style war inspired by World War II, brought a unique fusion of turn-based strategy with real-time aiming of individual soldiers. It was complemented by a distinctive visual style from the so-called CANVAS engine, which mimicked the texture of watercolor painting and sketchbook illustrations. Sega and developer Media.Vision told the story of young commander Welkin Gunther and his unit defending the small nation of Gallia against an imperial invasion, with an emphasis on the personal stories of individual soldiers and their relationships with each other.

Each turn, the player divided a limited number of action points among soldiers, and with the selected character moved freely around the battlefield in an over-the-shoulder view until the movement gauge ran out, while enemies fired in real time the whole while. The choice between a measured advance from cover to cover and a risky sprint to a better position was thus constantly present. Individual soldier classes, from scouts through engineers to anti-tank gunners, complemented each other, and each soldier also carried personal traits affecting their performance in a given situation. The storytelling framework in the form of a book, which the player literally leafs through between chapters, heightened the feeling of reading a historical chronicle rather than playing an ordinary strategy game.

Critics showered the game with praise for its originality, visual style, and sensitively written story, even though commercial success was more modest compared to its quality, especially outside Japan. Valkyria Chronicles nonetheless became a cult favorite, gained a loyal fanbase, and launched a smaller series of sequels and spin-offs. The game is still valued today as one of the most original strategy titles of the PlayStation 3 generation, and its narrative trick of a chronicle being paged through later inspired several other Japanese RPG productions.