Square Enix Announces Lord of Arcana, Monster Hunter Type Game for PSP

Square Enix has announced a new PSP game, Lord of Arcana, described as a "multiplayer action game", which shows a striking resemblance in both concept and interface to Capcom's popular Monster Hunter franchise.

The first screenshots for Lord of Arcana

Brief details about the game's world have been released. It is called Horodyn, which borders a forest. In that forest, is a powerful stone named Arcana, which is "the source of all order in the world." Players will have to defeat all sorts of monsters to acquire Arcana.

Need more information? How about a nice bullet-point list of features?

• Experience authentic multiplayer action from Square Enix, developed exclusively for the PSP system.

• Play with up to three friends to defeat tough enemies and reap rewards together, or tackle a variety of quests in single-player mode.

• Dive into the fray with simple and intuitive controls that will hook players of any skill level.

• Create one-of-a-kind avatars and produce thousands of unique weapons. The possibilities are endless.

While multiplayer PSP titles are pretty niche outside of Japan, I'm hopeful about Square Enix taking a stab at the "Monster Hunter" genre. Square makes some great PSP titles that are enjoyable for players of all nationalities... and until they say otherwise, I'm going to hope for infrastructure multiplayer support.

No release date has been given, but it should be released in Japan in 2010. The quick confirmation of a US SKU is nice, but we might not see it here until 2011.