Valkyria Chronicles 4 goes to war in September

It took six blooming years for Valkyria Chronicles to appear on PC - it was worth the wait - so we should be expecting Valkyria Chronicles 4 to arrive in 2024. But no! It’s launching on PC a lot sooner than that, on September 25, the same day it releases on consoles. Well, that’s a relief. The world probably won’t be here in 2024.

Spinning another coming-of-age yarn, the series’ fourth outing sees eager beaver Claude Wallace and chums fight in the same war that’s been raging across all of the games, presumably while learning a lot about themselves, life, love and what you do when you need to poo and you’re in a tank. The answer, sadly, will not surprise you.

Here’s a quick primer from Sega:

In the year 1935 EC, the continent of Europa is split between the Federation and the Empire. As the Imperial army dominates the Eastern Theater, the Federate forces launch Operation Northern Cross, a last-ditch effort to tip the scales. The commander of Squad E will test his will against the bonds of his allies, the weight of their trust, and the sacrifices they all must make. This is a tale of a bittersweet adolescence: the failures and triumphs of young hearts struggling to find themselves amidst the chaos of the battlefield.

The Blitz battle system, which brilliantly combines a shooter with an RPG and a tactics game, returns, bringing with it a new class, the grenadier, and larger battles, both in terms of the map size and the number of units fighting. Take a gander at last week’s E3 trailer to see it in action.

Don’t worry if you skipped Valkyria Chronicles 2 and 3; they only launched on PSP, with the latter not even making it out of Japan. The story and characters are all new in Valkyria Chronicles 4, so you won’t be missing out too much.