Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers is a twin stick shoot ‘em up where players can field up to three heroes simultaneously. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers Review Overview
What is Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers?
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers is a single-player reverse bullet hell game that allows players to field up to three heroes simultaneously and swap them around as needed. It was released through Steam on February 5, 2025 by Digital Crafter; a game studio known for their themed fighters such as Fight of Animals, Fight of Steel, and Fight of Gods.
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers is their first twin stick shooter centered around Valkyries; a formidable collection of warriors entrusted with safeguarding Earth's peace. After discovering Planetary Energy, mankind started to tap into its limitless power to achieve an era of unprecedented prosperity. But when entire groups of Valkyries vanish without a trace and monstrous hordes begin overrunning the planet, it falls to the new entry to the squad, a commander fresh from graduation, to uncover the cause and bring them home.
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers features:
⚫︎ Twin stick bullet heaven gameplay
⚫︎ Field three characters simultaneously
⚫︎ Character swap mechanics for ultimate skills
⚫︎ Loadout feature through squad formation
⚫︎ Weapon evolution mechanics
 Steam Store |
$5.99 |
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Character Swap Mechanic is Pretty Novel Each Stage Offers a Fresh Experience |
Upgrades are Frustratingly Lackluster Story Could Have Been Great Replayability is Only For Completionists |
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers Overall Score - 64/100
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers is a jarring mix of good and terrible ideas, unfortunately built on a foundation of both brilliant and baffling design choices. It feels like it tries to navigate its contradictions in an attempt to compensate for its shortcomings. However, the end result is a halfhearted product that, while still enjoyable, could have been great if it had fully embraced its strengths.
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers Story - 6/10
This is a case of a disappointing missed opportunity. Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers follows a tried-and-tested plot that has the potential to be compelling. Yet, the game fails to take full advantage of it, leaving the story to sit in a halfhearted backseat—almost as if the developers were unsure whether to expand upon it or not.
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers Gameplay - 7/10
As a reverse bullet hell Survivors-like game, this is nearly as addictive as its more popular peers. Its unique (for the genre) character-swapping mechanic adds a surprising layer of depth to its replayability. Additionally, each stage features a healthy variety of enemies and culminates in distinct boss fights. The problem? It never quite takes that final step to greatness, thanks to some of the most frustratingly average build options imaginable.
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers Visuals - 7/10
While the character artwork and stage designs are quite good, that’s where most of the praise ends. Everything else about the visuals is painfully average, including the special effects and UI design. Fortunately, there are enough visual flourishes and polish to keep things appealing—at least enough to help overlook the more uninspired elements.
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers Audio - 6/10
I love that this game has voice acting. It’s not particularly prevalent, but it’s there, and it helps give each character a distinct personality. Unfortunately, much like its visuals, everything else about the audio is mind-numbingly average. The background music is utterly forgettable, the sound effects feel like they were pulled from a generic asset library, and navigating the UI lacks any satisfying feedback.
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers Value for Money - 6/10
At first glance, Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers seems like a steal at just $5.99—until you compare it to similar games. When you do, it becomes clear that its price is actually quite average; a recurring theme for this game. Unfortunately, due to its lackluster build variety—an essential feature for a reverse bullet hell—the game’s replayability suffers. A staggering flaw, considering replayability is often the main draw of this genre.
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers Review: So Close to Getting It Right
Twin-stick reverse bullet hell (or bullet heaven, as they’re called) games are some of my favorite ways to sink time into whenever I don’t have anything urgent. They’re undemanding, barely take half an hour to finish a run, and at the same time, they let you feel the kind of power that would take a regular RPG dozens of hours of grinding to reward you with.
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers, a game I was admittedly excited about, doesn’t deliver on that.
It’s a shmup (shoot ‘em up) that’s generally indistinguishable from its peers at first glance. You control a unit with the left analog stick and aim their attacks with the right (hence the name "twin-stick shooter"). The goal is to defeat all the enemies coming at you en masse and use the experience points and items they drop to grow stronger.
Once you’ve gathered enough experience points, you’re rewarded with a random selection of upgrades. Depending on the game, you might even have some control over the results. In Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers’ case, you can eliminate certain upgrades from the list, reroll your choices for a new set, or skip choosing an upgrade entirely.
Normally, twin-stick shmups offer three kinds of upgrades: weapons, stats, and items. Weapon upgrades either give you a new weapon or strengthen an existing one. Stats are straightforward, directly improving things like attack speed, movement speed, etc. Items, on the other hand, are more volatile, often granting unique effects. For example, in HoloCure, items can make healing items drop every few seconds or knock back enemies when you take a hit.
Using these upgrades, you bulldoze through enemies and beat up bosses to win the stage. Alternatively, you die and start all over again. Rinse and repeat. Simple and fun... supposedly.
Surprisingly Solid Gimmick
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers’ unique selling point is that, instead of only controlling one character at a time, you create a team of three Valkyries and use all of them simultaneously. This gimmick affects gameplay in two major ways.
First, having three units means you start with their weapons immediately. This basically acts as a loadout, letting you influence your build and playstyle before the game even begins. For example, if you want a balanced team with good crowd control, boss damage, and survivability, you might pick Isabelle for her close-range shotgun, Kagesaki for area damage, and Code: Lily for healing. Alternatively, you could cower in a corner and let enemies run to their doom by picking Code: Enthralled Flower for her area poison, Mia for shields, and, again, Code: Lily for healing.
Since every character has an ultimate skill, having three of them means you can use any of their ultimates depending on the situation. This is where the character-swapping mechanic comes into play—the only time it’s actually used—to cycle between leaders who can trigger their skill on command.
Unfortunately, the Builds Mess It Up
Even though the three-character squad feature is an awesome gimmick, it’s not enough to offset the terrible upgrades you get as you level up.
Remember the three types of upgrades I mentioned: weapons, stats, and items? Well, Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers only has the first two. Items—the most volatile and interesting upgrades—don’t exist in this game. Every time you level up, you only get a choice between weapons (which experience a boring, linear power increase) and stats (which provide minuscule bonuses to your capabilities).
In other words, progression in Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers is completely one-dimensional. The only difference between your team at the start of a match and during the final boss fight is that your attacks are faster, your damage is higher, you move faster, and your health bar is slightly tougher. That’s it. You could even argue that the entire build system starts and ends at character selection.
It’s just not rewarding at all.
And it gets worse. I mentioned earlier that you have some control over the upgrades you get, right? A game that does this well is HoloCure, which lets you reroll upgrade selections, eliminate a specific upgrade from the pool, or hold onto an upgrade so it appears again later. These options have limited uses per level-up, but the game won’t resume until you’ve actually chosen an upgrade.
Not Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers. Here, you can reroll, eliminate, or skip an upgrade, but eliminating or skipping forces you back into the game without getting anything in return. That’s right—you can level up and walk away empty-handed.
Utter harassment, in my opinion. This is even worse considering that weapon evolution—where weapons gain new properties by combining with specific stat upgrades—is directly tied to obtaining duplicates. And since duplicates are random, skipping bad upgrades can screw you over completely.
It’s a ridiculously frustrating system. What if you keep getting upgrades you don’t want? Do you just suffer through the game with 10 fewer upgrades than you should have? Sounds like a scam to me.
At Least the Stages are Fun
That said, actually fighting enemies in this game is pretty fun. Each stage has unique enemy types beyond the occasional bullet sponge, and the stage designs complement them.
For example, zombie-type enemies, which regenerate quickly, appear in maps where explosive barrels spawn. Some zombies explode on death, spread damaging bile, or… just shoot you with pistols because why not? Meanwhile, insect-type enemies, which attack in massive swarms, appear in maps where insect eggs spawn. Since players usually rely on AoE attacks to deal with swarms, these eggs punish that strategy by hatching invulnerable larvae that deal high damage when disturbed.
Boss fights are also solid, forcing you to adapt to different playstyles. The mech boss, for instance, turns the fight into full-on bullet hell with her endless streams of missiles, lasers, and summons, while the zombie boss makes it feel more like an action game, complete with telegraphed moves you can bob, weave, and dodge away from.
If Only Everything Else isn’t a Mixed Bag
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers could still be worth your spare change despite its issues—if the audiovisual experience made up for its design flaws.
It kind of does…
Okay, not really. Visually, the game is a mix of good and meh.
The character and stage designs are the highlight. The characters, while your usual ragtag group of anime-style misfits, have designs that match their personalities and playstyles. Mia, for example, is exactly how she looks with her law enforcement outfit, heavy gauntlets, and her giant shield; straight-laced and plays defensively. The stages, with the exception of the zombie stages, are well-crafted and reflect the cultures and environments of the races that inhabit them.
Too bad the zombie world is just empty and lifeless (Get it? Lifeless? Because they're zombies?) with its flat grasslands and... practically nothing else.
On the other hand, the UI looks like it was thrown together last-minute, and the visual effects feel like generic stock assets. They’re lifeless, lack personality, and exist just for the sake of having something.
The audio is worse. Voice acting is minimal and absent where it’s needed most—combat. The BGM is forgettable, making gameplay feel more like a grind than a power trip. And the sound effects? Just as lifeless as the visual effects.
Is Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers Worth It?
Unless It’s on Sale, I Wouldn’t Recommend It
At the end of the day, Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers is a game that had potential but ultimately stumbles in execution. The three-character squad system is a genuinely interesting gimmick, and the moment-to-moment gameplay can be fun, but the uninspired upgrade system, lack of build variety, and frustrating mechanics drag it down.
The stage designs are solid, and the enemy variety keeps things engaging, but everything else—especially the audio and UI—feels like an afterthought. It’s not an outright bad game, but it’s painfully mediocre, and in a genre packed with heavy hitters, being "just okay" isn’t enough.
Would I recommend it? Only if it’s on sale and you’re really craving a new bullet heaven game. Otherwise, you’re better off playing HoloCure, Vampire Survivors, or any of the dozens of better options out there.
| Platform | Price |
|---|---|
| Steam Store |
$5.99 |
Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers FAQ
Does Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers have co-op?
No, it doesn’t. Admittedly, that would be a fun addition to the game.
Can you use enemy characters in Valkye Squad: Siege Breakers?
Somewhat, yes! The bosses can be used in their Valkyrie forms much, much later on.
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Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers Product Information
 |
|
| Title | Valkyrie Squad: Siege Breakers |
|---|---|
| Release Date | January 5, 2025 |
| Developer | Digital Crafter |
| Publisher | Digital Crafter |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam) |
| Genre | Shooter, Roguelite |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | TBD |
| Official Website | Digital Crafter Website |
