We were more than a little bit perplexed when we heard about this upcoming new title this morning. The original game in the Valkyria series was a critical darling with a completely unique gameplay formula and an absolutely gorgeous cell-shaded art style. Fans were already a bit disappointed when Sega abandoned that art style in the sequel in favor of an anime-aesthetic.
Now, the latest "installment" is dropping the pseudo-turn-based combat design of the two previous games as well. It will instead be a card battling game called Valkyria Chronicles Duel. You can view the announcement trailer below.
It's not that we think the game will be bad or anything like that. Both the previous installments were fantastic (despite some perplexing decisions in the second game.) But the new direction for the series is pretty surprising, considering how many fans Valkyria's strategy gameplay won over.
Sega has not yet announced any availability details, or any information about the pricing structure of the final game. For those curious, right now there are still no plans for a North American release of Valkyria Chronicles 3.
