Sega has announced that Valkyria Revolution (known as Valkyria Azure Revolution in Japan) will make its way to North America and Europe in 2017.

Valkyria Revolution may be part of the Valkyria franchise, but Sega is making some huge changes with the title. Revolution takes place in an alternate time, continent, and universe, though it does share a few common threads with the previous games. This includes the azure-colored mineral ragnite, and the ancient Valkyria race.

Revolution stars five lifelong friends who are consumed by vengeance and plunge and entire continent into war. Known as the Circle of Five, the friends use their combined political and military influence to motivate their homeland into rising up against imperial oppressors. Will the Circle of Five go down as heroes, or will their selfish need for revenge be exposed and their people turn on them? It's a heavy premise, and Sega promises that the story will blur the line between what's good and what's evil.

Gameplay has been heavily tweaked from Valkyria Chronicles' turn-based battle system. In Revolution, players will get to experience an active-style combat on a living, evolving battlefield. Customizable AI allows you to adjust your squad's AI to prioritize general roles, or go even deeper to have each member focus on when to use spells or guns and what enemy unit they should target. A highly customizable weapons tree gives players the ablity to decide what upgrades they want to make to their unique weapons.

Some gameplay elements that made the original Chronicles so unique. Permadeath is still something players will need to worry about, as are relationships between squad members. How you and your squadmates work together may mean the difference between glorious victory and crushing defeat.

Valkyria Revolution is out spring 2017 on PS4, Xbox One, and PS Vita. The PS Vita version will only be available as a digital download.