Publisher Namco Bandai has released the first screenshots and details of Enslaved, the Ico-ish fruits of its partnership with Heavenly Sword developer Ninja Theory.

Described as "a mix of combat, strategy and environment traversal," Enslaved sees "strong and brutish loner" Monkey armed with "melee attacks, blocks and counters" and "takedown moves" to defend "technologically savvy but sheltered" AI partner Trip.

Co-written by 28 Days Later and The Beach writer Alex Garland, Enslaved's story seems heavily inspired by classic Chinese novel Journey to the West--made for television as kung fu-fest Monkey--with Trip hacking into into Monkey's "slave headband" to bind the pair of escaped slaves together as they travel across a post-apocalyptic USA.

Enslaved is scheduled for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2010.