Publisher FoxNext has announced that a brand-new X-Files game, The X-Files: Deep State, will launch on iOS, Android, and Facebook early next year. It marks the TV series' first video game spin-off since The X-Files: Resist or Serve appeared on PS2 back in 2004.

You might want to temper your expectations just a little though; The X-Files: Deep State is a free-to-play "mystery investigation" adventure that, unsurprisingly, looks to lie at the more casual end of the gaming spectrum, offering something between an interactive novel and hidden object game. It also appears, judging by the teaser trailer at least, to be shorn of the TV series' iconic investigative duo, Mulder and Scully.

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In Deep State, you play as an unnamed (but apparently customisable) FBI Agent, teaming up with the infuriatingly half-named Agent Dale to investigate "mysterious crime scenes that defy explanation". In more practical terms, you'll be exploring environments to uncover hidden clues, collect evidence, solve puzzles, and interrogate witnesses and suspects.

Deep State's storyline is set during spring 2010 (which places it between Seasons 9 and 10 of the TV show), and focuses, unsurprisingly, on alien invasion and government conspiracies. Interestingly however, new cases will be released on a monthly basis (which might be where the promised in-app purchases come in), and Deep State's myth-arc will be interspersed with self-contained Monster of the Week episodes.

FoxNext says that Deep State's launch will coincide with the arrival of The X-Files' 11th TV season, which begins broadcasting on January 3rd, 2018 in the US. It'll be shown on Channel 5 here in the UK, although there doesn't appear to be a start date just yet.