Freedom Wars 1

Freedom Wars – the new PlayStation Vita exclusive from Japan Studio – sounds awesome. Following this week’s official reveal, Sony has followed up with a full 12-page feature on the adventure in Famitsu magazine, which offers a broad overview of what you can expect from the game when it releases in 2014.

The title is set in a dystopian future where people live in competing, walled-off city states known as Panopticons. In order to keep the population under control, each person is born with a one-million year prison sentence. However, the people can reduce this by retrieving civilians from colossal foes known as Abductors.

You’ll be able to create your own character – either male or female – as well as an Accessory, a kind of computer-controlled assistant that will aid you in battle. These sidekicks can be customised even more deeply than your main hero, allowing you to select costumes, voice sets, and more. We suspect that there’s a big opportunity for microtransactions here, too.

Much like Monster Hunter or Phantasy Star Online, though, you won’t be fighting alone. The game will support up to eight players at once, and will boast both competitive and co-operative modes. It will also include Near and GPS compatibility, the latter of which will allow you to fight for your own Panopticon in the real world.

This title sounds like it’s shaping up to be a big deal for Sony, so we’re sure that we’ll be seeing more over the coming weeks – perhaps even at E3. In the meantime, check out the debut trailer embedded below, and let us know if you’re excited in the comments section.

[source famitsu.com, via polygon.com]