Today’s THQ Nordic Digital Showcase included another look at Jagged Alliance 3, which we haven’t seen since last year. (opens in new tab) It’s a bit of recap of what we saw last year, but there’s also a few minutes of new gameplay footage that evokes the old series pretty heavily. In it, we can see the mercenaries shooting bursts, single shots, firing on the run, and diving from cover to cover.
The biggest shock for series fans? Probably that Vicki grew out her hair. That’s a joke but also I’m 100% serious, she had a short buzz before and it was kind of a Grace Jones vibe and that was neat, but now she has dreads. Either way, I expect she’s still the dual-wielding classic car enthusiast that won my admiration in the prior games, and if she’s not I say we riot.
Why do I care? Because much of the best stuff in the now 23 years out of action Jagged Alliance series was in recruiting weird mercenaries to take on oppressive regimes, and in how those mercenaries had a web of complex relationships with each other in this bizarre alternate world of international super mercenaries. No joke, the series had two draws: Really weirdly detailed tactical gun combat and dozens of uniquely voiced mercs who all liked/hated/loved each other in spades. Most of the mercs in the new gameplay trailer are ones we’ve seen before—we’ll see if they add all 60-some of the old mercs on top of some new ones, since I see at least three names I don’t recongize—Omryn, Fauda, and Smiley.
You can find Jagged Alliance 3 on its website (opens in new tab) and on Steam (opens in new tab), where it’s still listed as “Coming Soon.” Chalk me up as cautiously optimistic, because there are a lot of ways that this fictional Central African country schtick could go real wrong, real fast.