An Interview with Valkyrie Drive -Bhikkhuni- PC Publisher Marvelous Europe

Outrageous all female brawler VALKYRIE DRIVE -Bhikkhuni- is coming to PC Via Steam this summer. The wild game from the creators of Senran Kagura is being brought to the new platform for Westerners by Marvelous Europe and members of the team were considerate enough to answer some questions about VALKYRIE DRIVE. Here’s what they had to say about bringing the game to PC.

https://youtu.be/CUwblHRYaFc

TechRaptor: What is it about VALKYRIE DRIVE -Bhikkhuni- that makes it such a unique brawler?

Marvelous Europe: VALKYRIE DRIVE -Bhikkhuni- focuses on a very tight cast of characters, each in their own default pair, and each with their own varied fighting-style. Valkyries fight in pairs and the abilities of the player’s character will depend on who they’re partnered up with. Mastery of the combat system takes a more aerial approach, chaining together ludicrous combos and devastating attacks. The story mode starts fun and light-hearted but will progress quickly to a much darker place, and there are many aspects that must be met in order to achieve the game’s true-ending.

TechRaptor: Why was it decided to bring the game to PC?

Marvelous Europe: Steam is a big and ever expanding market that we’re looking to explore as we move forward. Bringing this title to Steam after the launch of its sister titles, like SENRAN KAGURA, seemed like a natural approach. Giving people the chance to experience the game on a new platform outside of the PlayStation Vita is always a bonus.

TechRaptor: VALKYRIE DRIVE -Bhikkhuni- is fully remastered for PC. How is the game improved on this platform?

Marvelous Europe: For the first time people will be able to experience VALKYRIE DRIVE -Bhikkhuni- in 1080p, 60FPS. We’re also happy to announce that it has support for high native resolutions as well. Certain aspects of the game have also been upgraded in the remaster such as the character models.

TechRaptor: Do you think VALKYRIE DRIVE -Bhikkhuni- will be available on other platforms in the future?

Marvelous Europe: We don’t have any plans at this time, however we’re always listening to fan feedback regarding titles and platforms that they wish to see next. If there’s significant demand for a game on another platform, we'll try and make it happen.

TechRaptor: What were some of the challenges in localizing the game and bringing it to another platform?

Marvelous Europe: Until recently the Japanese PC market was known for a very different type of game, but that is changing and is emerging as a strong candidate for developers to consider. With this in mind. part of the challenge came from working with the developers in aiding the transition to PC who were unfamiliar with the expectations of the platform in the west - providing technical specifications, working with QA and so on. But more honestly, there wasn’t that many challenges as we didn’t have to dial anything back for the PC release or limit anything in particular when compared with the PlayStation Vita.

TechRaptor: The game will be available for Windows PC via Steam this summer. Will it be available on any other online stores? If not why?

Marvelous Europe: The game will launch exclusively on Steam. We're a small team and we need to focus our resources as efficiently as possible. It takes a lot more time and resource than you might imagine to launch a game effectively on any given digital retailer, and when it comes to market share, Steam is really the only game in town.

TechRaptor: The PlayStation Vita version was censored in many Western countries. Will the PC version be censored? What are some of the issues with bringing games with mature content from Japan to other countries?

Marvelous Europe: Although we didn’t publish the Vita version ourselves, as far as we’re aware the game was content complete with no heavy censorship. The PC version will be in line with our other western releases such as SENRAN KAGURA. There’s a different cultural normality and expectation between games released in Japan and games released in Europe, what is acceptable in one country may not be in the next, although Europe is very accepting of Japanese tropes in games.

TechRaptor: We’ve seen an increase in niche Japanese titles like VALKYRIE DRIVE -Bhikkhuni- coming West for PC recently. Why do you think that is?

Marvelous Europe: There are various reasons. As we said before, the PC market is growing in Japan, so a Japanese game is more likely to appear on PC in its home market in the first place. The Japanese market is getting tougher, so there's an increased awareness of the importance of western markets in Japanese boardrooms. We also believe that the abundance of players on Steam who are fans of Japanese games is increasing, and with so many developers bringing their projects to Steam and the like, it’s becoming a go-to platform if you like Japanese games.

TechRaptor: To what do you attribute VALKYRIE DRIVE -Bhikkhuni-’s success in the West?

Marvelous Europe: We see Valkyrie Drive as a spiritual sister to SENRAN KAGURA with a bit more of a wild-flare, there are many aspects of Valkyrie Drive that make it stand out from other traditional brawlers or games in this genre, and we believe those... aspects really help with the success of this title in the west, particularly with fans of Japanese Media, Brawlers or SENRAN KAGURA.

TechRaptor: Are there plans for any more VALKYRIE DRIVE -Bhikkhuni- DLC?

Marvelous Europe: We’re bringing across all of the previous DLC that was released on the PlayStation platform to Steam. This will be available both with and separately from the base-game on launch day. As for the future, while there is nothing set in stone, there are a couple of ideas in the pipeline...

TechRaptor: What do you see for the future of the VALKYRIE DRIVE brand?

Marvelous Europe: Bringing the game to Steam will allow a whole wave of players new and old to experience the game in a remastered format. This is where we see the future of the Valkyrie Drive brand at this moment, and we’re very excited to see how the PC market accepts this title.

Thank you to Marvelous Europe for taking the time to answer our questions! VALKYRIE DRIVE -Bhikkhuni- is coming to Steam this Summer.