This week, CCP Games announced a massive shakeup to its immersive VR shooter EVE: Valkyrie. A free expansion coming in September called “Warzone” will, among other things, remove the need for a virtual reality headset. By decoupling Valkyrie from its VR roots, a much wider player base will be able to log in and play CCP’s unique and beautiful shooter.




Valkyrie shares a universe with CCP’s flagship title, EVE Online. However, instead of piloting the massive and somewhat impersonal war machines of the MMO, fighting massive fleets across vast distances in space, Valkyrie sits players directly in the midst of the action. Each player controls a small, but powerful, fighter craft thrown into the middle of an intimate dogfight for control of a small, resource-rich battle zone.

In addition to removing the VR headset requirement, Warzone will add a new mode called “Extraction,” which will work as a sort of Capture-The-Flag-in-space, forcing players to navigate their way out of intricate complexes while trying to return the enemy’s “flag” to their base. Extraction is the fourth competitive game mode in Valkyrie, and the second to be added as part of a free content patch for all owners of the game.


Warzone also sports massive hardware upgrades for Valkyrie pilots in the form of powerful new ships and weapons. The basic fighter will be converted into an assault class with a variety of different weapon specializations like rapid-fire close-range weapons or long-distance sniper-style ones. The heavy and support class vehicles will get similar upgrades, and there will also be a covert ops classification of ship called the Shadow.



All of these new classes of ships are unlocked from the very start, allowing any brand new pilot to fully experiment with the game and find the play style that bests suits them. Each vessel will have an “Ultra” ability, which is charged up during the match by picking up salvage from the environment. An Ultra ability could be massive AOE damage, increased tactical information, increased mobility, or something as simple as a huge temporary boost to your ship’s primary armament.



When Warzone hits on September 26, the price of EVE: Valkyrie will be reduced to $29.99, which includes every previous expansion to the game.

