You can play Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 right now

The previous Valthirian Arc game from Agate International was a real pleasure, combining elements of RPGs and strategic management sims to create something very distinctive in feel. We’ve known for a while that its sequel, Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 is on the way to PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch — but those who really can’t wait may be interested to learn that you can start playing right now thanks to the brand new Early Access version on Steam.

Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 casts you in the role of the principal of a brand new hero academy. It’s up to you to run the school as you see fit; you’ll make strategic and narrative-based decisions along the way that will help determine how your school develops and how the story unfolds, and you’ll take to the field to nurture your students and help them unleash their full heroic potential.

Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 features turn-based combat with tactical puzzles to keep things interesting. There’s a strong emphasis on tactically queueing actions and moves in the right order, exploiting enemy weaknesses and making good use of your students’ skills to come out on top.

Outside of combat, there’s a wide world to explore with many different factions to interact with, so take care to try and make friends as well as beating down your enemies! The reputation of your school could well depend on how well your students conduct themselves while out on their “field trips”!

Back on campus, you’ll construct and upgrade buildings, curate your students’ course of study, attempt to improve the school’s reputation and take aim for being the best dang hero academy in the land. Your decisions will help you acquire new resources, attract new students and even unlock new job classes for your students to make use of.

The Early Access program for the PC version is set to run for about 12 months, with major updates coming every 8 weeks or so and smaller updates scattered in between. The current version represents a “small but ever-expanding slice of [the developers’] full vision”, and promises that new features and stories will be added as Early Access continues. Presently, there is estimated to be around 10 hours of gameplay, including the opening act of the story, several dungeons and the new combat system.

Valthirian Arc 2

By the end of 2022, Agate hopes to have 80% of the game available for people to play, with “a few surprises reserved for launch day”. The Early Access version is discounted, and the price will go up on the game’s full release; it doesn’t sound as if there will be a gradual price increase over time as with some other Early Access games.

As always for Early Access titles, taking a first look at Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 right now will allow you to have your say on how the game continues to develop. Each major update will be accompanied by a player survey, and the developers are actively encouraging fans to participate in discussions via various community channels. So if you like what you see but think it could be even better, feel free to offer your suggestions! Plus I’m sure a little ego-massaging wouldn’t go amiss if you just want to offer some friendly praise and encouragement.

Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 is available in Early Access on Steam right now — click here to nab yourself a copy. PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch versions will follow once the Early Access programme is complete — likely later this year or early next from the sound of things.

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Pete Davison
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