People that love the Valkyria Chronicles series really love their Valkyria Chronicles ‒ from its painting-esque visuals to the tactical and permadeath gameplay ‒ which makes news of a fourth title and remaster hard to ignore. According to the upcoming issue of Famitsu (with translations provided by Gematsu), Valkyria: Azure Revolution will arrive on the PlayStation 4 in time for a winter 2016 release.
Players control Amleth, a commander overseeing the Jutland Kingdom’s Anti-Valkyria Unit alongside its princess. From various image scans, the game retains the water color art and steampunk-ish designs that past installments were heralded for, but gameplay will shift from turn-based strategy to real-time action.
In a Famitsu interview, director Takeshi Ozawa stated:
Battles are conducted by setting commands to buttons. They’re action-ish battles. It takes on the familiar form of recent RPGs. The maximum amount of party members is five. You control one of them, and the rest move based on a set thought process.
Other details remain scarce, but development is in the hands of Media Vision, the studio that produced the Japanese-exclusive Valkyria Chronicles III. Fans hoping to get their mitts on Valkyria: Azure Revolution early can buy a remastered edition of Valkyria Chronicles. The PS4 version includes higher-resolution graphics, all downloadable content, trophy support, and the demo for Azure Revolution. A February 10, 2016 release date has been confirmed.
News of both Valkyria games pertains only to Japan at this time, as news of North American iterations have yet to be announced. However, Sega launched Valkyria Chronicles on PC last November, once again earning praise from players, both seasoned and new.
The company had this to say on the matter:
During its first 24 hours on sale, [Valkyria Chronicles] blew all forecasts and predictions out of the water. The award-winning strategy RPG, originally released in 2008 for PlayStation 3, forced its way to the top of the Steam download charts, beating a host of brand new games to reach number one.
Did Sega assess American interests with the Valkyria Chronicles PC port first? Maybe Western fans won’t have to petition or practice their Japanese before Valkyria: Azure Revolution and the Valkyria Chronicles HD remake launch next year.