On the Japanese PSN, and apparently the kind folk at 4gamer.net (Thank you GameFAQs) the Valkyria Chronicles 3 demo mentioned some weeks back has finally become available.
It does indeed feature two maps, and shows off a lot of the new features to the third game. Most obviously is the world map screen, which charts progression and seemingly keeps track of the multiple paths you’ll be able to take through the course of the game. One of the missions in the demo has two ways of completing it, either by capturing the bases as per usual or be assassinating a single rather powerful foe. You’ll also get a chance to play around with a large amount of the Nameless, each actually having a pretty original outfit rather than just being slight alterations depending on the class. As well as using orders at the cost of CP there’s also now an SP bar which is used to activate the special power modes of certain units, such as Riela’s Valkyria transformation.
It feels pretty similar overall to Valkyria Chronicles II, but on a much grander scale. The demo missions allow you to deploy nine units at once, which at sometimes were spread across four surprisingly large areas. They’re still nothing on some of the PS3 original’s stages but its nice to see a return to a more elaborate war front. I’m pretty excited, and I get a feeling I’m going to like the Nameless at lot more than either Gunther’s or Avan’s squads. If you do give it a go, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments!