Jagged Alliance: Rage – a modern sequel to a turn-based tactics classic – will launch on September 27th according to publisher THQ Nordic. This comes as some surprise, as it feels like it was just a couple weeks ago that the game was announced at all. Because it was.

While I do have my reservations (I’m a huge fan of Jagged Alliance 2 and its still-active mod scene), Alec’s reassurances that the new one doesn’t seem too bad have helped. Fingers crossed for this one, as I don’t think my poor, battered heart could take another bad Jagged Alliance. Below, a new trailer featuring some of our old favourite mercs from JA2.

It’s good to see Ivan Dolvich back and still doing a multitude of murders, although I’m still hoping we’ll see the return of Bobby “Steroid” Gontarski, everyone’s favourite budget-priced powerhouse. Much like Jagged Alliance 2, players lead a squad of mercenaries on a seemingly suicidal mission across a small, jungle island. While to newcomers it might appear that Rage is borrowing from the interpersonal relationships that made XCOM 2’s expansion so interesting, it’s just building on the bickering, argumentative character dynamics of its 1999 predecessor.

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My main worry about this particular iteration on the series is its developer. Cliffhanger Productions may be solely focused on turn-based tactics games, but they’re most known for Jagged Alliance Online and Shadowrun Chronicles, neither of which were much good. While the latter saw some improvements through patches and DLC, I’m worried that they don’t have what it takes to do Jagged Alliance justice. I hope I’m wrong, but if nothing else, we’ve still got Jagged Alliance 2 and its ever-expanding collection of mods.

Jagged Alliance: Rage will be launching on September 27th, and will cost $20/€20. You can find the game on Steam here, and check out its official page here.