The floodgates have opened! Hands-on impressions from recent press events in Amsterdam, LA and Taipei have started appearing all over the web, and that means we can finally reveal additional details about Killzone: Mercenary. First things first — the game is scheduled for a September 17, 2013 release in North America. We also have a brand-new trailer for you to enjoy:

Killzone: Mercenary is a new first-person shooter in the Killzone series, developed specifically for the PlayStation Vita platform and powered by the stunning Killzone engine. Starting just after the ending of the original Killzone, and revisiting many of the events from the Killzone trilogy, the game puts players in the rugged combat boots of a mercenary named Arran Danner. Danner is a former UCA-soldier who has no qualms about taking on paid contracts from the ISA as well as the Helghast.

When a seemingly routine mission to evacuate the Vektan Ambassador and his family in Pyrrhus goes awry, Danner discovers that the outcome of the war could very well depend on the fate of the Ambassador’s young son. With both sides going to increasingly desperate lengths to get hold of the boy, he begins to wonder whether the price of victory is really worth the paycheck.

Comprised of nine single-player missions — each nearly an hour in length— Killzone: Mercenary delivers a full Killzone experience in a portable package. Completed missions unlock additional replay challenges, with a host of special objectives to accomplish. The game also boasts a full-fledged multiplayer mode with six maps tailored for eight players and three different game types, including the popular Warzone mode.

In keeping with the soldier-for-hire theme, every action in Killzone: Mercenary is rewarded. The better you perform, the higher your payout – not just in the single-player campaign, but also in the multiplayer mode. The wages you collect are deposited into a single bank account, so the money you earn in the campaign missions can also be used to buy gear and weapons for multiplayer matches, and vice versa.

Killzone: Mercenary makes full use of PlayStation Vita’s considerable input and graphics capabilities. It enhances the familiar dual-stick FPS control scheme with touch controls for actions such as brutal melee, and with tilt controls for accurate sniper aiming. The game even uses the powerful Killzone 3 engine to bring its massive environments and impressive set pieces to life. But don’t just take our word for it — watch the trailer above, and check out the new screens in this post.

Stay tuned to Killzone.com and PlayStation.Blog, because we’ll have a behind-the-scenes interview with game director Piers Jackson soon.