All week we’ve been following the rumors that Sega is planning to announce Valkyria Chronicles 3 at TGS this week, but now we have confirmation thanks to the fine folks at Famitsu. According to a leaked copy of the mag not only is the new game coming, but it will be out on January 27, 2011 in Japan (no American date yet unfortunately). Perhaps the biggest news of all, the franchise is sticking with the PSP, as it will be released exclusively for Sony’s handheld.
The new game will take place during the same time period as the original Valkyria Chronicles and follows the exploits of Squad 422, aka “The Nameless.” This group is composed of criminals, deserters and other unsavory folks, all of which are referred to by number rather than name. Right now three main characters have been revealed, Number 7, Number 1 and Number 13, and as you would expect, all of them have quite a checkered past. Each is fighting for different reasons, so it will be intriguing to see how they come together and find a common cause during the war. Not surprisingly, the Nameless often take on the Black Ops roles in the war, doing the dirty work which, if handled by the army proper could spell big trouble. Ultimately, the Nameless aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.
Interestingly enough, series producer Shinji Motoyama has said that the reason the franchise is continuing on the PSP rather than returning to the PS3 is because his team feels like they aren’t done with the handheld yet, and still have some ideas to expand the gameplay from Valkyria Chronicles 2 and make the series familiar yet fresh. Continuing the franchise on the handheld also requires less work, with Motoyama stating “In an era where everyone is busy, we felt PSP was best in order to make Valkyria Chronicles bigger.” He also believes that the team has gone as far as they can on the PS3, and before they can make another game on the machine they’d have to massively change the mechanics, so much so that they might start an entirely new series.
The new game will also return the original Valkyria Chronicles‘ sense of progression, with battles being story-based rather than mission-based. Thus, you won’t be picking your battles anymore, but rather having them thrust upon you as the story dictates. Battle commands are also being expanded and each character is gaining a “Super Mode” which will greatly aid them in battle. While Motoyama didn’t go into great detail regarding these new modes let’s just say that one of your squad members is a Valkrur and as anyone who’s familiar with the franchise knows, that’s going to turn out badly for the other side.
That’s all we’ve got for now but we’ll keep feeding more info as it becomes available. Seems this gorgeous, deep strategy franchise is going to be sticking around for a long time. You won’t hear us complain.
