Strategy RPG Valkyria Revolution storms PS4 and PS Vita in 2017

Valkyria Revolution (formerly Valkyria Azure Revolution if you’ve been watching the title in Japan) is poised to break the blockade of being trapped in Japan and make landfall on the shores of the Americas and Europe in 2017 on PlayStation 4 and PS Vita!

Now, maybe you tried Valkyria Chronicles Remastered earlier this year, or maybe you and the rest of Squad 7 persevered through the Gallian Empire invasion back on the PS3 in 2008. Well, take one last look at those memories, because war is about to change.

Valkyria Revolution takes place in an alternate time, an alternate continent, and an alternate universe, so it’s literally a revolution from the previous Valkyria titles. There are a few common threads though: ragnite, the azure-coloured mineral with magical properties returns in this game; as are the Valkyria, the last of an ancient race of magical, and highly destructive, demi-gods.

Valkyria Revolution shows how all it takes is a single spark to start the inferno of war and you’ll get a look at that experience firsthand. Five lifelong friends consumed by personal revenge plunge an entire continent into a terrible war, sacrificing the lives of countless innocents for a cause based on twisted half-truths and outright lies. This “Circle of Five” use their combined influence in their political and military positions to motivate their small, economically blockaded homeland to rise up and become a powerful resistance against its imperialist oppressors.

Will the Circle of Five be remembered as heroic liberators, or will their selfish motives expose them as traitorous conspirators who sacrificed untold lives just to carry out a personal vendetta?

Heavy, right? That’s the story players will be chipping away at in Valkyria Revolution, but there’s also a lot of other elements at play:

It’s a ground-up look at war, and the blurred lines of morality it inevitably crosses. The game winds up asking you: Are you truly a hero? Or just the least despicable bad guy? And speaking of morality – permadeath is a returning gameplay element as well. Sure, it may be tactically advantageous to sacrifice a soldier for the good of the team, but you’ll have to be the one who bears the bad news to their next of kin.

Combat is strikingly different from Valkyria Chronicles as well. In Revolution, the turn-based action is gone in favour of an active-style of combat on a living, evolving battlefield. Tactics still play an important role, and your squad has highly customisable AI. You can adjust their battle role to prioritise a general role like Offense, Defence, and Support, or you can get way more granular and have the individuals focusing on using spells, guns, or even whether they target grunts or enemy leaders first.

Plus there’s a highly customisable weapons tree – where players can decide which upgrades they want to use to their unique, individual melee weapons, and augment that by figuring out which ranged weapon works best – and that’s anything from a pistol to a rocket launcher.

And finally, let’s not forget – this is WAR: There’s the fate of a nation and countless lives are on the line. There are plenty of contacts you’ll have to make in order to keep the military intelligence going – and your relationship with your squadmates may make the difference between getting out of a battle alive or the crushing agony of watching your country lie in ruinous defeat.

Valkyria Revolution will arrive in the Americas and Europe in spring of 2017. The PS4 version will be available both physically and digitally in all regions, but the PS Vita version will be digital-only for all regions.