Over the past few years, Square Enix’ support of the JRPG has dropped considerably. The publisher would release multiple games a year in its home country of Japan, but it seemed to really only care about Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts in the West. Fortunately, the publisher has decided to take a chance on the third game in a franchise that many might not remember.

Square Enix announced today that it intends to publish Drakengard 3 on the PS3 next year. The title, which is actually a prequel to the first Drakengard on the PS2, upholds the franchise’s hack-and-slash gameplay as well as its aerial combat that’s reminiscent of Star Fox. It also promises the same dark and twisted story that fans have come to expect from the series.

Check out the first trailer below:

If you have yet to play the Drakengard franchise, I would highly recommend it. The games have not aged incredibly well, but they did a lot of interesting things. If you want something a little more contemporary, the same development team worked on 2010’s NieR – a criminally underappreciated JRPG.

Drakengard 3 will launch in 2014 exclusively on the PS3. Square says the game will only cost $49.99, and it seems to be only available for pre-order from the Square Enix store. The publisher hasn’t yet said if the game will be available elsewhere, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see a niche game like Drakengard 3 to be only available straight from the publisher.

[Image: PlayStation Blog/YouTube]