One of the best-looking PS2 games. Was hoping for a solid 7/10 B-game but it was unfortunately more like a 6/10. Enjoyable enough, but it didn't quite come together.

The combat is a little stiff, but once you've got things unlocked it starts to feel pretty fun juggling melee with magic and summons. Feels sort of like Kingdom Hearts with some Ninja Gaiden and DMC elements sprinkled in, and it mostly works. Enemy variety felt pretty thin by the end of an already short game, so I didn't have a ton of desire to try the post-game stuff.

Level design feels like the game was pared back from more ambitious intentions - there's some Dark Souls-y backtracking opportunities but there's never really a point, and often the game precludes you from backtracking at all, which is frustrating if you miss a collectible or quest giver.

The story was fine. Pretty stripped down which is fine, but probably a big reason why Valkyrie series fans weren't hot about the game. Aesthetically, on the other hand, I found a lot to like. It's got a strange look, a mixture of heavy lines with painterly effects and a sort of plastic, doll-like quality to the character models, but it worked for me.