Listen up rookie! Your career as a pilot in Valkyrie will bring a great many varied and testing challenges whether playing alone, or with a bunch of other would-be flying legends. When you have taken delivery of your shiny new PSVR kit and your copy of EVE: Valkyrie, a whole universe of combat options will open up to you. What are they? We’re glad you asked… here’s what you can look forward to on October 13.

The Joys of Going (Han) Solo

The solo section of Valkyrie, or ‘Chronicles’ as it’s known, is a story-driven affair with each challenge representing the recovered memories of a fallen pilot. There are training modules available to enable prospective pilots to learn the basics of flying and weapons systems and more of these modules open up as players make progress and unlock additional ship classes. You start with the Fighter Class Wraith then gain access to Heavy and Support ships as you level up. Aside from the training modules, there are four main gameplay categories that Chronicles missions fall into.

Recall

These memories provide some insight into the game’s backstory while also familiarizing players with the various play mechanics they will encounter when they enter into multi-player combat. As pilots fly around they can collect audio logs called “Echoes” recorded by key characters in the EVE universe.

Scout

In this mode are no enemy ships allowing pilots to freely explore each of the maps in detail and get to know the layout in advance of any full-blown combat. Scattered around the map are Echoes which when collected relate more of the backstory and there are also salvage containers for you to collect. Scout is incredibly useful as the maps can be quite complex and full of useful shortcuts and areas of cover that the experienced pilot can exploit to his or her advantage.

Survival

Here, you are pitted against wave after wave of enemy AI-controlled ships with the dual purpose of setting a high score and getting to know the various ship classes and squad combinations. There are two skill levels, Novice and Pro, and you can take on survival challenges on all of Valkyrie’s available maps.

Test Arena

The fourth and newest gameplay mode featured in EVE: Valkyrie is dubbed Test Arena, a virtual environment for testing out any ship you want without having to worry about taking enemy damage or running out of time. You can also freely explore your environment, though you can still collide with objects so don’t fly recklessly.

The More the Merrier

Multiplayer combat is really what Valkyrie is all about. By taking part in battles with other players you can earn XP, rise up through the pilot ranks on the official EVE: Valkyrie leaderboards and unlock additional ships and upgrades. There are three ways to play online with other flesh and blood Valkyrie fans.

Team Deathmatch

Each of the two teams involved in a Deathmatch has a pool of available pilot clones. Each time you or a teammate dies and respawns, a clone is removed from the remaining total. If you manage to wipe out the opposing team’s clone pool or have more clones left when the timer runs out you claim victory.

Control

The basic premise of Control mode is the same as Team Deathmatch, each team having a finite pool of clones and each trying to deplete the enemy’s supply. However, the difference here is that the map also contains three control points. By deploying a drone near a control point, it’s possible to drain power from the enemy carrier and reduce their clone pool more rapidly. The more of these objectives you control, the faster your enemy’s resources will be depleted and the more swiftly you can achieve victory.

Carrier Assault

This is one of the newer gameplay modes to be added to Valkyrie and it’s the most explosive yet. There are three distinct stages to a Carrier Assault battle as well as a brand new co-op mode.

First, your team has to locate and take down two out of three power relay switches located around the map in order to disable the enemy carrier’s shield for a limited time.

Having done so, your team then has to attack the enemy carrier by targeting cooling nodes which will severely compromise the carrier’s defence systems. Be warned, though, you will still have to deal with the carrier’s active defence turrets and the pilots on the opposing team who will arrive to defend their carrier. Conversely, if your own carrier is compromised, you will need to rush to its defence. There’s a lot of back and forth action in Carrier Assault as the balance of power shifts so it’s crucial to have a well-balanced and well-coordinated team.

Thirdly, once the Carrier’s Core is exposed the attacking team has to access it through a trench and focus all their firepower on the Core inflicting critical damage, at which point they have a brief period in which to get away from the carrier before it explodes in spectacular fashion. The experience of flying through the perilous trenches of a sprawling space station for an attack on its core is reminiscent of a famous scene from another popular sci-fi franchise.

Co-op Vs AI

This is a great way for novice players to hone their kills and increase their confidence in the cockpit against AI opponents, away from the scrutiny of more advanced pilots.

Team Deathmatch, Control and Carrier Assault matches are available and you can play either with a random selection of other pilots, or by creating a squad of your friends.

The artifically intelligent team you will be facing is automatically balanced to complement the make-up and skill levels of your own squad.

Even though you are playing against computer-controlled opponents, you still get the same XP and currency you would in a regular match against human opponents so your progression is in no way hampered.

Wormhole mode

Each weekend a wormhole will open, and will be available to all pilots that have progressed past the Proving Grounds (Rank 5 and above). For the duration of each Wormhole event, this will offer individuals and squads an alternative matchmaking experience separate to the usual Multiplayer Combat.

A wormhole will remain open for a few days and will provide players with a new set of rules to master - maybe it's a modified game mode, unusual environments, special upgrades, new visuals... Jumping into each new wormhole should feel like a moment of exploration and anticipation.

Each wormhole also comes with its own pre-selected set of Ship Loadouts, which will automatically be assigned to your Launchtubes when you enter. Everyone gets the same set of Loadouts, fully upgraded, whether they normally have access to them or not. This provides an excellent opportunity for pilots to try out Loadouts that they might not currently have access to, or rarely fly, but also gives each wormhole its own distinct feel - its own little meta-microcosm.

See this thread for more info.

Extraction

With all these new ship options, you're bound to want new things to do with them, so we're introducing an exciting new game mode: Extraction. It's a variation on capture-the-flag that focuses on teamplay, mixes up combat and navigational challenge, and forces pilots to use the environment to their advantage. We can't wait to let you loose on it.

As you can probably gather the life of the Valkyrie is not an easy one but the rewards are immense. Good luck on your journey, pilots.